The Ideal Bartender

by Tom Bullock

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cocktails, Food and Drink

108 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2004

Reviews

[Steven Walle · Rating 4 out of 5]

good drink recipes.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a list of mix drink recipes, mainly notable for being historic / archaic.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting but very old mixology book. Written in 1917 by Tom Bullock, the head bartender of the St. Louis Country Club, it has a variety of recipes, most of whom are for drinks long forgotten. The fact that the drinks are no longer commonly being served is what makes the book fascinating.

However, it desperately needs a glossary of the terms used. There are many references to glass sizes that require looking up on the internet to understand what the recipe is calling for: Pousse Cafe, Pony glass, Rickey glass, cocktail glass, etc. While you can create your own glossary, I've run across a couple of terms I can't find on the internet.

There are some recipes, such as the eggnog, which refer to an ingredient that has no measurement. It just says "pour in the.milk slowly" but it doesn't say how much milk.

I'm not sorry I bought the book, but it definitely needs some better explanations.

[Nmcf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect little book on pre-prohibition cocktails. Would’ve loved to know more what his day to day as a Black bartender in St Louis looked like.

[Victor Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning and no bar should be without a copy!

[Rachel C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Public domain. Cocktail recipes published in 1917. Some points of interest:

- The writer was an African-American bartender in St. Louis, at the country club.
- It leads off with a number of absinthe cocktails (which should have been banned by 1917).
- There are quite a number of cocktails that contain eggs. Eggnog is pretty much the only common one left.
- Recipes call for bar sugar (which we now call superfine) and loaf sugar (which we don't make anymore). Contemporary cocktails mostly use sugar already dissolved in a simple syrup.

[Kdaca]

A recipe book worth reading based on historical value alone. If you get the $0.99 reprint via Kindle, you also might want to download the free edition published by Amazon Digital Services in May 2012 so you can read it easier and make the recipes as intended.