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Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails
We love cocktails. We have for a long time. But recently, we looked around and realized that, while cocktail bars had sprouted up across the world, good drinks still couldn't be found in the place where we had always mixed them: at home with friends. So we set out from our workshop in Brooklyn, New York, to come up with a solution.
What resulted is one part instructional recipe book, one part photo journey through our year of cocktail crafting and one part inspirational peptalk. We think we've ended up with something pretty unique: a cocktail book that expresses our seasonal and straightforward approach to drinks and entertaining, and reminds us that mixing cocktails should be simple, social, and, above all, fun.
What resulted is one part instructional recipe book, one part photo journey through our year of cocktail crafting and one part inspirational peptalk. We think we've ended up with something pretty unique: a cocktail book that expresses our seasonal and straightforward approach to drinks and entertaining, and reminds us that mixing cocktails should be simple, social, and, above all, fun.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
24 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 21, 2019
I love the simplicity and love with which Eric and Josh communicate their passion for delicious and meaningful cocktails in this book. It's a wonderful read, and there are some truly tasty recipes held within its pages! I also thought the 4 non-alcoholic drink recipes they included were an intriguing touch – I'm most excited to try their green juice recipe.
May 15, 2017
I can't wait to try a lot of these drinks
November 30, 2021
The layout and design on this book is gorgeous. Had some really interesting cocktail recipes in it too.
May 24, 2022
A lovely photo book about drinks in different seasons.
March 4, 2015
Original review posted at Layers of Thought.
Perfect for the recent cocktail renaissance, within this book you will find a fun and easy way of making 32 different seasonal cocktails. And best yet it has lots of pictures!
Eric Prum and Josh Williams are best friends and have a design company called W & P Design in Brooklyn NY. And since they love cocktails and have created a cocktail shaker called the Mason Shaker (pictured on the book’s cover), it stands to reason that they would write a book on how to make cocktails too. But don’t worry, you don’t need to purchase one of their nice $30 shakers to make yourself cocktails - you can use a clean mayonnaise jar instead!
The duo has a premise on which they base their cocktail making - it should be “fun, simple, and social”. And the book is social since all the recipes are based on making a two-drink batch so that you can share. There are 8 cocktails for each of the four seasons, many using fresh local ingredients, so there are a lot of tasty ways that you can have fun. The book is also simple, broken down into the basics of cocktail crafting with fundamentals such as stocking your bar (where they suggest 12 different types of moderately priced booze); what types of glassware to choose; what types of ice and sugar to use; how to muddle; and, of course, techniques on how to “shake”. And since the book is mostly pictures it adds even more to the simple and fun feel.
Another thing I liked about the book is that it is a paperback with those nice cover flaps which makes it easy to save your place when browsing or making several cocktails at once. The index is also accessible and broken down by cocktail name, spirits, and key ingredient. Out of the thirty-two cocktails (several non-alcoholic) some examples are the Rosemary Bourbon Sour, Spiced Rum Old Fashioned, Pickleback Me (two shots – one pickle juice and one tequila), and the Flat Ditch. The Flat Ditch is my favorite so far out of the 10 or so that we have tried – it combines dark rum, lemon juice, fresh ginger, and strong ginger beer. Another plus is that most of the ingredients (or reasonable substitutions) can be found in your local grocery store and won’t tax your wallet too much.
It’s a book that I would consider for the newbie-cocktail-drinker, or for those looking to expand their drinking repertoire from the standard wine, beer, and basic store bought cocktail mixers. It’s an entertaining guide that I’d rate 4 out of 5 stars. I am looking forward to trying more of its cocktails and recreating favorites once again.
**********
A complimentary book was received in exchange for an honest review from Blogging for Books. If you are a blogger you can get copies of books in exchange for reviews too. Just visit bloggingforbooks.org.
Perfect for the recent cocktail renaissance, within this book you will find a fun and easy way of making 32 different seasonal cocktails. And best yet it has lots of pictures!
Eric Prum and Josh Williams are best friends and have a design company called W & P Design in Brooklyn NY. And since they love cocktails and have created a cocktail shaker called the Mason Shaker (pictured on the book’s cover), it stands to reason that they would write a book on how to make cocktails too. But don’t worry, you don’t need to purchase one of their nice $30 shakers to make yourself cocktails - you can use a clean mayonnaise jar instead!
The duo has a premise on which they base their cocktail making - it should be “fun, simple, and social”. And the book is social since all the recipes are based on making a two-drink batch so that you can share. There are 8 cocktails for each of the four seasons, many using fresh local ingredients, so there are a lot of tasty ways that you can have fun. The book is also simple, broken down into the basics of cocktail crafting with fundamentals such as stocking your bar (where they suggest 12 different types of moderately priced booze); what types of glassware to choose; what types of ice and sugar to use; how to muddle; and, of course, techniques on how to “shake”. And since the book is mostly pictures it adds even more to the simple and fun feel.
Another thing I liked about the book is that it is a paperback with those nice cover flaps which makes it easy to save your place when browsing or making several cocktails at once. The index is also accessible and broken down by cocktail name, spirits, and key ingredient. Out of the thirty-two cocktails (several non-alcoholic) some examples are the Rosemary Bourbon Sour, Spiced Rum Old Fashioned, Pickleback Me (two shots – one pickle juice and one tequila), and the Flat Ditch. The Flat Ditch is my favorite so far out of the 10 or so that we have tried – it combines dark rum, lemon juice, fresh ginger, and strong ginger beer. Another plus is that most of the ingredients (or reasonable substitutions) can be found in your local grocery store and won’t tax your wallet too much.
It’s a book that I would consider for the newbie-cocktail-drinker, or for those looking to expand their drinking repertoire from the standard wine, beer, and basic store bought cocktail mixers. It’s an entertaining guide that I’d rate 4 out of 5 stars. I am looking forward to trying more of its cocktails and recreating favorites once again.
**********
A complimentary book was received in exchange for an honest review from Blogging for Books. If you are a blogger you can get copies of books in exchange for reviews too. Just visit bloggingforbooks.org.
September 4, 2014
Mason jars are popping up everywhere and I think one of the best uses is the mason jar cocktail shaker created by Eric Prum and Josh Williams. To go along with their cocktail shaker, they’ve written a fabulous book cocktails called, Shake. You don’t have to use their mason jar cocktails shaker to make these cocktails, but why not it’s fun!
This book is very written and filled with gorgeous photos. The book is divided into 5 sections: Cocktail Crafting 101, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.
The Cocktail Crafting section covers everything from stocking your bar, to glassware, to sugar and even how to muddle.
My favorite thing about the book is the photos. As a professional photographer I am very visual, and so is this book. There are photos of everything! The don’t just list the items to stock your bar, there is a big, beautiful photo with each bottle labeled. There is even a photo of ice cubes and one of crushed ice. The very best part though is the photos of the recipes. For every recipe there is a two page photo spread of the ingredients, all labeled, and then a page with a photo of the completed recipe! It truly is a visual feast! I own over 200+ cookbooks and I can say without a doubt that this book tops them all in gorgeous photography.
It’s not just a beautiful book to look at, it’s also filled with delicious sounding, doable cocktails. We have all ready tried The Indian Summer and A Mid-Winter Margarita, both were excellent! Next to try are The Spicy Mezcalita and The Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour.
Highly recommended!
This book is very written and filled with gorgeous photos. The book is divided into 5 sections: Cocktail Crafting 101, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.
The Cocktail Crafting section covers everything from stocking your bar, to glassware, to sugar and even how to muddle.
My favorite thing about the book is the photos. As a professional photographer I am very visual, and so is this book. There are photos of everything! The don’t just list the items to stock your bar, there is a big, beautiful photo with each bottle labeled. There is even a photo of ice cubes and one of crushed ice. The very best part though is the photos of the recipes. For every recipe there is a two page photo spread of the ingredients, all labeled, and then a page with a photo of the completed recipe! It truly is a visual feast! I own over 200+ cookbooks and I can say without a doubt that this book tops them all in gorgeous photography.
It’s not just a beautiful book to look at, it’s also filled with delicious sounding, doable cocktails. We have all ready tried The Indian Summer and A Mid-Winter Margarita, both were excellent! Next to try are The Spicy Mezcalita and The Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour.
Highly recommended!
September 27, 2014
Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails is co-written by Eric Prum and Josh Williams, the co-creators of the mason jar cocktail shaker. They emphasize high-quality ingredients over quantity of ingredients, and none of the cocktails had more than 5 steps to follow.
So many positives to this cocktail recipe book! First, before you even open the book, you feel the lovely matte cover. I love matte covers. I love the minimalist layout of the pages, too. Just look at that beautiful cover!
Shake opens with a few pages talking about bar basics. There are 12 "standard" spirits the guys recommend (that's totally doable) and then they also recommend a few styles of stemware/glassware to have on hand. I ended up trying four different cocktails from the book, and only had to buy one ingredient: rosemary sprigs. That's awesome. The book is subdivided by season, which is fun. I don't want to be anything less than thorough in reviewing my books, so over the course of three weeks I tried one cocktail from each season. ;)
So for the positives: I liked the short and reasonable ingredients lists. I had fun experimenting and learning new cocktails. And I enjoyed the short vignettes in each chapter where the guys talked about favorite activities. For example, in Spring they talk about attending the horse races and in Winter they share a glance inside their workshop. Beyond practical, this cocktail recipe book is also full of beautiful photographs and interesting info.
So many positives to this cocktail recipe book! First, before you even open the book, you feel the lovely matte cover. I love matte covers. I love the minimalist layout of the pages, too. Just look at that beautiful cover!
Shake opens with a few pages talking about bar basics. There are 12 "standard" spirits the guys recommend (that's totally doable) and then they also recommend a few styles of stemware/glassware to have on hand. I ended up trying four different cocktails from the book, and only had to buy one ingredient: rosemary sprigs. That's awesome. The book is subdivided by season, which is fun. I don't want to be anything less than thorough in reviewing my books, so over the course of three weeks I tried one cocktail from each season. ;)
So for the positives: I liked the short and reasonable ingredients lists. I had fun experimenting and learning new cocktails. And I enjoyed the short vignettes in each chapter where the guys talked about favorite activities. For example, in Spring they talk about attending the horse races and in Winter they share a glance inside their workshop. Beyond practical, this cocktail recipe book is also full of beautiful photographs and interesting info.
December 2, 2014
This is a really amazing book. The photography is on point, consistent almost to a fault, but captures the "local" flavor of the drinks. The recipes seem on point and I've marked a few to try out. The most helpful sections of the book, I found, were the discussions on best bottles to have stocked for the average person. So many books seem geared for the bartender or cocktail hobbyist with a large wallet. These guys made it approachable and realistic while never sacrificing quality. And they're from Brooklyn, so I have to give extra kudos.
November 26, 2016
This is a good book if you're looking for fun cocktails. The drinks are divided by seasons which makes it easy to find something appropriate. The authors are the inventors of the mason jar shaker which all the recipes utilize. You can mix them in anything though. I didn't need a new shaker but bought one anyway. I ended up loving it because you can actually see the drink while your making it. It has a hipster vibe to it but I can overlook that because the drinks taste delicious!
September 4, 2014
Original and out of the ordinary cocktail recipes with some fabulous photography; think picture book for adults. The recipes (all have photos) are simple and easy to follow. A wide range of alcohol is represented and there are some substitutions listed. Recipes are separated by season. Try the Eggnog or Margarita ones!
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
October 2, 2022
Great photos and nicely designed book. Two men with a passion for cocktails guide the reader through the necessary equipment and provide simple instructions for seasonal cocktails. Some standards and some unique cocktails offer nice options. The inclusion of fresh herbs and fruits and veggies makes the cocktails healthy, right?
February 18, 2015
What a gorgeous and fun read. These cocktails look like they are right up my alley, made with great booze and fresh ingredients. Ryan and I have been enjoying a Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour the last couple of days and will continue to do so for a few more; so good. So grateful for this gift.
April 11, 2017
Beautiful photographs and some fun cocktail ideas, but not enough of them.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews