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Jerry Thomas' Bartenders Guide: How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks
Care for a Morning Glory Cocktail, a Blue Blazer, or a Philadelphia Julep? Recipes for these and hundreds of other tasty libations appear in this landmark volume. Originally published in 1862, Jerry Thomas' Bartenders Guide is widely considered by drink historians as the first serious American book on cocktails and punches.
"A new beverage is the pride of the bartender, and its appreciation and adoption his crowning glory," declared Jerry Thomas (1830–85), the most famous bartender of his era. Known as "the father of American mixology," Thomas developed the showy techniques practiced at his saloons throughout California and New York. From hot whiskey toddies to wedding punch to "temperance drinks," this extensive compilation of timeless recipes will delight modern-day mixologists and their guests.
"There are so many bartending recipes in this book, it's doubtful you'll need any other guide." — The Paperback Stash.
"A new beverage is the pride of the bartender, and its appreciation and adoption his crowning glory," declared Jerry Thomas (1830–85), the most famous bartender of his era. Known as "the father of American mixology," Thomas developed the showy techniques practiced at his saloons throughout California and New York. From hot whiskey toddies to wedding punch to "temperance drinks," this extensive compilation of timeless recipes will delight modern-day mixologists and their guests.
"There are so many bartending recipes in this book, it's doubtful you'll need any other guide." — The Paperback Stash.
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 1862
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720 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
February 13, 2017
First, I love the cover. It's artsy in that vintage coloring way I dig so much.
The book starts with to the point bartender hints and tricks. Some I knew, some I didn't. You'd think so much of this is common sense, but you would be surprised. As example of a tip I didn't know, "As a general rule, shaved ice should be used when spirits form the principal ingredient of the drink, and no water employed. When eggs, milk, wine, vermouth, seltzer or other mineral waters are used in preparing a drink, it is better to use small lumps of ice, and these should always be removed from the glass before serving the customer." .... Since I don't have shaved ice at home, it's doubtful I'll follow this, but good to know. Unless, of course, PARTY!! There are 27 tips total.
There are so many bartending recipes in this book, it's doubtful you'll need any other guide. Plenty of cocktails and mixes - tons I haven't heard of - and each recipe includes a note of what size glass is best used.
There aren't color pictures, but there are some drawings when it's needed, which fits into the vintage colored packaging.
136 pages of just recipes and some tips, I rate this highly. It's to the point, easy to follow, and stylish in its way.
I nabbed this one from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 3, 2016
The popularizer of cocktails in the United States, Jerry Thomas is also known for his flashy style and showmanship (I strongly recommend reading the New York Times article about Thomas's influence). I'm not interested in the technical aspect of cocktails that much, or trying out my mixology skills, but I've recently started thinking about developing my cocktail taste buds, and a part of that journey might include trying out drinks at home. A couple of weeks ago I heard about The Nightjar, and speakeasy type of places are of course a must visit for a 20s lover.
I figured I'd try Thomas's book to establish myself a some sort of base of cocktail history, but I ended up getting so much more. The measurements are vague (dashes, wineglasses etc.), but I kind of like that. I usually follow food recipes neurotically, but when it comes to drinks and punches I don't really care how much ingredients there are, as long as the end result tastes good and is kind of what it's supposed to be.
Thomas has not only included recipes for individual drinks, but also for parties and bottling purposes, and the directions for making the syrups and tinctures needed in the drinks. The names of drinks were already fun back then, at least when bartenders started to experiment a bit more instead of just throwing sugar into brandy, gin, or whiskey. Philadelphia Fish-House Punch, Bimbo Punch, Sleeper, White Tiger's Milk, Locomotive etc. One should not forget the temperance drinks either, although I highly doubt you would find Thomas's book on those folks' bookshelf.
Fun details are scattered throughout: the recipe for Quince Liqueur was apparently given to Thomas by some mysterious lady ("This is a delightful liqueur, and can be relied upon, as it is from a recipe in the possession of a lady who is famous for concocting delicious potations."), Royal Punch includes calf-foot jelly (yummy!), the English drinks "have not yielded the satisfaction expected or desired", and the mint juleps were apparently taken seriously in the south ("[W]e have knowledge of several old-fashioned gardens where the mint bed under the southern wall still blooms luxuriantly ; where white fingers of household angels come every day about this time of the year and pluck a few sprays of the aromatic herb to build a julep for poor old shaky grandpa, who sits in the shady corner of the veranda with his feet on the rail and his head busy with the olden days.").
I'd imagine this to be useful in the future, but until I get around buying the paper copy, I'll just browse the online version. The drinks that grabbed my attention on the first read: Brandy Cocktail, Saratoga, Morning Glory, Brandy Daisy, Santa Cruz Rum Daisy, Mint Julep, Pineapple Julep, Knickerbocker, and West India Couperee (ice cream!).
I figured I'd try Thomas's book to establish myself a some sort of base of cocktail history, but I ended up getting so much more. The measurements are vague (dashes, wineglasses etc.), but I kind of like that. I usually follow food recipes neurotically, but when it comes to drinks and punches I don't really care how much ingredients there are, as long as the end result tastes good and is kind of what it's supposed to be.
Thomas has not only included recipes for individual drinks, but also for parties and bottling purposes, and the directions for making the syrups and tinctures needed in the drinks. The names of drinks were already fun back then, at least when bartenders started to experiment a bit more instead of just throwing sugar into brandy, gin, or whiskey. Philadelphia Fish-House Punch, Bimbo Punch, Sleeper, White Tiger's Milk, Locomotive etc. One should not forget the temperance drinks either, although I highly doubt you would find Thomas's book on those folks' bookshelf.
Fun details are scattered throughout: the recipe for Quince Liqueur was apparently given to Thomas by some mysterious lady ("This is a delightful liqueur, and can be relied upon, as it is from a recipe in the possession of a lady who is famous for concocting delicious potations."), Royal Punch includes calf-foot jelly (yummy!), the English drinks "have not yielded the satisfaction expected or desired", and the mint juleps were apparently taken seriously in the south ("[W]e have knowledge of several old-fashioned gardens where the mint bed under the southern wall still blooms luxuriantly ; where white fingers of household angels come every day about this time of the year and pluck a few sprays of the aromatic herb to build a julep for poor old shaky grandpa, who sits in the shady corner of the veranda with his feet on the rail and his head busy with the olden days.").
I'd imagine this to be useful in the future, but until I get around buying the paper copy, I'll just browse the online version. The drinks that grabbed my attention on the first read: Brandy Cocktail, Saratoga, Morning Glory, Brandy Daisy, Santa Cruz Rum Daisy, Mint Julep, Pineapple Julep, Knickerbocker, and West India Couperee (ice cream!).
April 8, 2013
Oh, how awesome it would've been to live during "Dr." Jerry Thomas' time. The second portion of his guide includes a detailed sketch of how to build your own still, as well as several signature recipes for cordials and liqueurs. Beautiful.
July 15, 2016
I received this book as an advance reader copy from NetGalley.
According to the Bibliographical Note on the interior cover, this Dover edition is an unabridged republication of the 1887 printing of a work originally published in 1862. This is important to keep in mind while reading the book for two reasons. First, the typeface is antique and so the ink appears thicker on some letters than others, which can sometimes transform the act of reading into the art of deciphering. Lowercase h’s and lowercase n’s can look an awful lot alike in this typeface. Second, the recipe selection is reflective of the period in which the book was written. For example, there are no entries in the index for “martini” (it skips from “Martinez Cocktail” to “Medford Rum Punch”) yet there is almost a full double column page listing of punch recipes and five different shrub recipes. There are also an abundance of gin cocktails and whiskey cocktails, but no vodka cocktails (the V section of the index ends at “Victoria Punch”) or tequila cocktails (the index skips from “Temperance Drinks” to “Thirty-Second Regiment Punch”).
In a quaint historical quirk, the Index takes the place of a modern Table of Contents at the beginning of the book. And it is a quite comprehensive index – listing cocktails alphabetically by their name and by the key ingredient, which is usually in the name. I’m confident that if you were looking for a specific recipe, you could find it in this index because it is so well constructed. For example, “Philadelphia Fish House Punch” was listed in the index at least three times: once under F for “Fish House Punch, Philadelphia;” twice under P for “Philadelphia Fish House Punch” and for “Punch, Philadelphia Fish House.”
The six pages of Hints and Rules for Bartenders are very amusing. Rule number one is nothing short of awesome. It is something that modern bartenders sometimes forget: “An efficient bartender’s first aim should be to please his customers.” Of course, there is some charming elaboration on exactly how to please the customer. After that, there are hints and rules about the cleanliness of ice, the type of ice to put in a drink, the ornamentation of fancy drinks with seasonal fruit, heating glasses prior to serving a hot drink, dissolving sugar in hot and cold drinks, combining eggs and/or milk with hot wine or spirits, caring for and handling of certain types of bottles, casks and kegs to prevent breakage and spoilage, and other information useful to a turn of the nineteenth century bartender. Some of the information – especially the care and handling instructions for glass bottles – has become outdated by modern technology, but I was surprised by how much of it still rings true.
The Bartender’s Guide follows the Hints and Rules for Bartenders. This is about 110 pages of drink recipes, including sections for “Temperance Drinks,” “English Fancy Drinks,” “Syrups, Essences, Tinctures, Colorings, Etc.,” “Prepared Punch and Punch Essences,” and “Prepared Cocktails for Bottling.” Aside from the distinct sections, the recipes seem haphazardly organized – definitely not in alphabetical order – although recipes of the same type seem to be grouped together. Each recipe is clearly labeled with its name. Immediately below the name of the drink is the type of glass used to mix the drink - small bar glass, ordinary bar glass, large bar glass – or, in the case of punches, the number of people served by the recipe. The recipe ingredients themselves are measured in dashes, teaspoonfuls, tablespoonfuls, wine glasses and pony glasses for single drinks. For party drinks, like punches, the recipe ingredients are measured in gills, pints, quarts, and bottles. Because this is a book for bartenders, the recipes for liqueurs, syrups, and the like produce gallons of the stuff. For example, the Quince Liqueur recipe yields one and a half gallons. “Gum syrup” is a very popular ingredient in the single drink recipes. Fortunately, there is a recipe for it in the Syrup section of the book: it is nothing more than highly concentrated simple syrup. Raw eggs show up in the single drink and party drink recipes more times that I would have imagined – and not only in the six different recipes for Egg Nog. Some ingredients are very familiar, like Angostura bitters and Jameson’s Irish whiskey. Other ingredients are very uncommon nowadays, like Batavia arrack, orgeat syrup, isinglass, and calf’s foot jelly. The recipe steps are straightforward; they explain how much of what kind of ice to use, whether to shake or stir, whether to strain, what type of glass to serve in, and what type of garnish to serve with. Sometimes there is a bit of ephemera after the recipe explaining the origin of the name of the recipe or other related trivia. Occasionally, there is an illustration if a recipe requires a special preparation, like the Brandy Crusta or the Pousse L’Amour.
Because of the esoteric measuring units used in the single drink recipes, Google saved me from getting stuck when I wanted to try them. The Drinks Mixer website (http://www.drinksmixer.com/guide/1-4-...) had a helpful measurement chart that converted “dash,” “pony” and “wine glass” into fluid ounces. It would have been great if the publisher had included this chart in the book! According to this chart, a dash is 1/32 fluid ounce, a pony is 1 fluid ounce, and a wine glass is 4 fluid ounces. Since a teaspoon is 1/8 fluid ounce, a dash then converts to ¼ teaspoon. So the Manhattan Cocktail – one of my mom’s favorites – became possible after I acquired a small bottle of rye whiskey. The recipe in the book resulted in a very generous 5 ounce cocktail, which was unique but delicious. I used a homemade Orange 44 liqueur instead of the Curacao and Bitterman’s Burlesque Bitters instead of Boker’s Bitters because that was what I had on hand. And I definitely did not add the gum syrup – or anything else for that matter - as an extra sweetener.
Since I had acquired the small bottle of rye whiskey and had a lemon lurking in my fruit bowl, I also tried the whiskey sour recipe. I am no stranger to the whiskey sour, as I’ve used both my mother’s recipe and substituted whiskey in my sister’s amaretto sour recipe. Mom’s recipe uses equal parts frozen lemonade concentrate, water, and whiskey; and Jane’s recipe uses two parts Rose’s lime juice to three parts liquor. Therefore, strong taste of the rye and the tartness of the lemon juice in the book’s recipe was very different for me. The problem could have been that I read “1 large tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar” literally to mean a contemporary level teaspoon measurement of confectioners’ sugar, so my drink was not sweetened enough. Be it a matter of personal taste or a problem of execution, I could barely finish the drink. I’m half tempted to try the recipe again using a small spoon (as opposed to a soup spoon) from my silverware drawer to measure the confectioners’ sugar and see if that would be an improvement. Then again, while I do have half a lemon to use up, I do have other cocktails to try.
Since I had already put a dent in my vermouth bottle and had located my bottles of bitters, over the next two days I also tried the Vermouth Cocktail (4 ounces of vermouth with 2 dashes of Boker’s bitters) and the Fancy Vermouth Cocktail (4 ounces of vermouth with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and 2 dashes of maraschino). I used the Bitterman’s Burlesque Bitters to replace the Boker’s Bitters in the Vermouth Cocktail, but I kept the Angostura Bitters in the Fancy Vermouth Cocktail. The gentlemen at the well stocked local liquor store were fascinated by my quest to recipe test an 1862 bar book but were at a loss as to what maraschino was; the best they could do was point me to a jar of Luxardo maraschino cherries and suggest that I use the liquid out of that. When I got home, I used the magic of Google to discover that maraschino is a bittersweet almond flavored liqueur made from Marasca cherries grown in northern Italy and Croatia. I went down a rabbit hole of other drinks containing maraschino and other uses for the liqueur (including making maraschino cherries) and decided that it might be worth investing in a bottle. So I had planned to venture out to check the shelves at the beverage superstore on the other side of town, but my schedule didn’t work out that way. The Fancy Vermouth Cocktail was very good with the liquid from the jar of Luxardo maraschino cherries.
Overall, the appeal of this book is more as a historical artifact than an actual modern bar reference. If it had a measurement conversion table and brief descriptions of some of the more exotic liqueurs and ingredients, it would definitely be more useful for modern mixology. As a 100% faithful reproduction, it is up to the reader to use the all knowing Internet to do his conversions and research. However, I read this book from cover to cover, and found it very interesting.
According to the Bibliographical Note on the interior cover, this Dover edition is an unabridged republication of the 1887 printing of a work originally published in 1862. This is important to keep in mind while reading the book for two reasons. First, the typeface is antique and so the ink appears thicker on some letters than others, which can sometimes transform the act of reading into the art of deciphering. Lowercase h’s and lowercase n’s can look an awful lot alike in this typeface. Second, the recipe selection is reflective of the period in which the book was written. For example, there are no entries in the index for “martini” (it skips from “Martinez Cocktail” to “Medford Rum Punch”) yet there is almost a full double column page listing of punch recipes and five different shrub recipes. There are also an abundance of gin cocktails and whiskey cocktails, but no vodka cocktails (the V section of the index ends at “Victoria Punch”) or tequila cocktails (the index skips from “Temperance Drinks” to “Thirty-Second Regiment Punch”).
In a quaint historical quirk, the Index takes the place of a modern Table of Contents at the beginning of the book. And it is a quite comprehensive index – listing cocktails alphabetically by their name and by the key ingredient, which is usually in the name. I’m confident that if you were looking for a specific recipe, you could find it in this index because it is so well constructed. For example, “Philadelphia Fish House Punch” was listed in the index at least three times: once under F for “Fish House Punch, Philadelphia;” twice under P for “Philadelphia Fish House Punch” and for “Punch, Philadelphia Fish House.”
The six pages of Hints and Rules for Bartenders are very amusing. Rule number one is nothing short of awesome. It is something that modern bartenders sometimes forget: “An efficient bartender’s first aim should be to please his customers.” Of course, there is some charming elaboration on exactly how to please the customer. After that, there are hints and rules about the cleanliness of ice, the type of ice to put in a drink, the ornamentation of fancy drinks with seasonal fruit, heating glasses prior to serving a hot drink, dissolving sugar in hot and cold drinks, combining eggs and/or milk with hot wine or spirits, caring for and handling of certain types of bottles, casks and kegs to prevent breakage and spoilage, and other information useful to a turn of the nineteenth century bartender. Some of the information – especially the care and handling instructions for glass bottles – has become outdated by modern technology, but I was surprised by how much of it still rings true.
The Bartender’s Guide follows the Hints and Rules for Bartenders. This is about 110 pages of drink recipes, including sections for “Temperance Drinks,” “English Fancy Drinks,” “Syrups, Essences, Tinctures, Colorings, Etc.,” “Prepared Punch and Punch Essences,” and “Prepared Cocktails for Bottling.” Aside from the distinct sections, the recipes seem haphazardly organized – definitely not in alphabetical order – although recipes of the same type seem to be grouped together. Each recipe is clearly labeled with its name. Immediately below the name of the drink is the type of glass used to mix the drink - small bar glass, ordinary bar glass, large bar glass – or, in the case of punches, the number of people served by the recipe. The recipe ingredients themselves are measured in dashes, teaspoonfuls, tablespoonfuls, wine glasses and pony glasses for single drinks. For party drinks, like punches, the recipe ingredients are measured in gills, pints, quarts, and bottles. Because this is a book for bartenders, the recipes for liqueurs, syrups, and the like produce gallons of the stuff. For example, the Quince Liqueur recipe yields one and a half gallons. “Gum syrup” is a very popular ingredient in the single drink recipes. Fortunately, there is a recipe for it in the Syrup section of the book: it is nothing more than highly concentrated simple syrup. Raw eggs show up in the single drink and party drink recipes more times that I would have imagined – and not only in the six different recipes for Egg Nog. Some ingredients are very familiar, like Angostura bitters and Jameson’s Irish whiskey. Other ingredients are very uncommon nowadays, like Batavia arrack, orgeat syrup, isinglass, and calf’s foot jelly. The recipe steps are straightforward; they explain how much of what kind of ice to use, whether to shake or stir, whether to strain, what type of glass to serve in, and what type of garnish to serve with. Sometimes there is a bit of ephemera after the recipe explaining the origin of the name of the recipe or other related trivia. Occasionally, there is an illustration if a recipe requires a special preparation, like the Brandy Crusta or the Pousse L’Amour.
Because of the esoteric measuring units used in the single drink recipes, Google saved me from getting stuck when I wanted to try them. The Drinks Mixer website (http://www.drinksmixer.com/guide/1-4-...) had a helpful measurement chart that converted “dash,” “pony” and “wine glass” into fluid ounces. It would have been great if the publisher had included this chart in the book! According to this chart, a dash is 1/32 fluid ounce, a pony is 1 fluid ounce, and a wine glass is 4 fluid ounces. Since a teaspoon is 1/8 fluid ounce, a dash then converts to ¼ teaspoon. So the Manhattan Cocktail – one of my mom’s favorites – became possible after I acquired a small bottle of rye whiskey. The recipe in the book resulted in a very generous 5 ounce cocktail, which was unique but delicious. I used a homemade Orange 44 liqueur instead of the Curacao and Bitterman’s Burlesque Bitters instead of Boker’s Bitters because that was what I had on hand. And I definitely did not add the gum syrup – or anything else for that matter - as an extra sweetener.
Since I had acquired the small bottle of rye whiskey and had a lemon lurking in my fruit bowl, I also tried the whiskey sour recipe. I am no stranger to the whiskey sour, as I’ve used both my mother’s recipe and substituted whiskey in my sister’s amaretto sour recipe. Mom’s recipe uses equal parts frozen lemonade concentrate, water, and whiskey; and Jane’s recipe uses two parts Rose’s lime juice to three parts liquor. Therefore, strong taste of the rye and the tartness of the lemon juice in the book’s recipe was very different for me. The problem could have been that I read “1 large tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar” literally to mean a contemporary level teaspoon measurement of confectioners’ sugar, so my drink was not sweetened enough. Be it a matter of personal taste or a problem of execution, I could barely finish the drink. I’m half tempted to try the recipe again using a small spoon (as opposed to a soup spoon) from my silverware drawer to measure the confectioners’ sugar and see if that would be an improvement. Then again, while I do have half a lemon to use up, I do have other cocktails to try.
Since I had already put a dent in my vermouth bottle and had located my bottles of bitters, over the next two days I also tried the Vermouth Cocktail (4 ounces of vermouth with 2 dashes of Boker’s bitters) and the Fancy Vermouth Cocktail (4 ounces of vermouth with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and 2 dashes of maraschino). I used the Bitterman’s Burlesque Bitters to replace the Boker’s Bitters in the Vermouth Cocktail, but I kept the Angostura Bitters in the Fancy Vermouth Cocktail. The gentlemen at the well stocked local liquor store were fascinated by my quest to recipe test an 1862 bar book but were at a loss as to what maraschino was; the best they could do was point me to a jar of Luxardo maraschino cherries and suggest that I use the liquid out of that. When I got home, I used the magic of Google to discover that maraschino is a bittersweet almond flavored liqueur made from Marasca cherries grown in northern Italy and Croatia. I went down a rabbit hole of other drinks containing maraschino and other uses for the liqueur (including making maraschino cherries) and decided that it might be worth investing in a bottle. So I had planned to venture out to check the shelves at the beverage superstore on the other side of town, but my schedule didn’t work out that way. The Fancy Vermouth Cocktail was very good with the liquid from the jar of Luxardo maraschino cherries.
Overall, the appeal of this book is more as a historical artifact than an actual modern bar reference. If it had a measurement conversion table and brief descriptions of some of the more exotic liqueurs and ingredients, it would definitely be more useful for modern mixology. As a 100% faithful reproduction, it is up to the reader to use the all knowing Internet to do his conversions and research. However, I read this book from cover to cover, and found it very interesting.
May 15, 2020
Non aspettatevi di trovarvi le ricette dei più famosi cocktails o long drinks. Se volevate prepararvi un "Rusty Nail" come la IBA (o AIBES se vi volete attenere alle regole italiane) comanda, questo libro non fa per voi.
Se invece siete curiosi sui beveroni di fine ottocento (ben 80 ricette dedicate al punch!) allora é un altro discorso. Le misure sono espresse in galloni (!), quart, dram, libbre e spesso le quantità sono per usi semi-industriali.
La ricetta per il "Punch del Duca di Norfolk recita più o meno così: "Mettere la scorza di 30 limoni e 30 arance – tagliata molto sottile e senza la parte bianca – in 20 quart di Brandy francese. Lasciare in infusione venti ore. Fare bollire 30 quart di acqua e lasciarla raffreddare, aggiungere 15 libbre di zucchero doppiamente raffinato; dopo aver mescolato con molta cura versare l’acqua zuccherata sul Brandy con le scorzette, aggiungendo il succo delle arance e di 24 limoni".
Io, ex-barman AIBES, l'ho trovato molto interessante ma dubito che lo possa essere per un pubblico piuttosto vasto.
Se invece siete curiosi sui beveroni di fine ottocento (ben 80 ricette dedicate al punch!) allora é un altro discorso. Le misure sono espresse in galloni (!), quart, dram, libbre e spesso le quantità sono per usi semi-industriali.
La ricetta per il "Punch del Duca di Norfolk recita più o meno così: "Mettere la scorza di 30 limoni e 30 arance – tagliata molto sottile e senza la parte bianca – in 20 quart di Brandy francese. Lasciare in infusione venti ore. Fare bollire 30 quart di acqua e lasciarla raffreddare, aggiungere 15 libbre di zucchero doppiamente raffinato; dopo aver mescolato con molta cura versare l’acqua zuccherata sul Brandy con le scorzette, aggiungendo il succo delle arance e di 24 limoni".
Io, ex-barman AIBES, l'ho trovato molto interessante ma dubito che lo possa essere per un pubblico piuttosto vasto.
August 3, 2023
Daadwerkelijk bijna 130 paginas aan recepten, wel ook leuke uitleg over hoe drankjes werden geserveerd en waar ze vandaan kwamen. Interessant om te zien, maar heel veel recepten zou je nu echt niet meer kunnen serveren.
Door de beperkte middelen toen de tijd hadden ze wel leuke oplossingen.
"Kook water met suiker totdat de rook pijn doet aan de ogen, dan is het klaar."
Door de beperkte middelen toen de tijd hadden ze wel leuke oplossingen.
"Kook water met suiker totdat de rook pijn doet aan de ogen, dan is het klaar."
October 28, 2018
This is definitely for the history buffs interested in how we’ve come from there to here in the world of cocktails, cordials, punches, etc. This is point A on the journey. Well worth the read!
June 15, 2021
The first guide to mixed drinks, this is essential for anyone interested in the history of cocktails as well as making them. Cheers!
Read
January 30, 2022Cocktails and the tools of the trade have changed for the better in the latter years. but this book is interesting for its history.
February 4, 2024
The cocktail Bible. An absolute necessity for all cocktail lovers. This book may be from 1862, but many of the cocktails are still popular today.
March 25, 2024
The recipe value is way lower than Craddock’s Savoy Guide, but the history is on par. So many punches!
September 8, 2025
milk punch recipe! amazing!!
November 18, 2020
Jerry Thomas Bartenders Guide How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks by Jerry Thomas
144 Pages
Publisher: Dover Publications
Release Date: July 20, 2016
Cooking, Food & Wine, Cocktails, Classic Cocktails, Entertainment
This book was originally published in 1862. I have a copy of that book on a shelf in my dining room with my other cocktail books. I had to get the book since my husband’s name is Jerry Thomas. It is ironic that my husband has the same name as the man known to be the inventor of the cocktail.
The book is printed as it would have been in 1862 with typewriter font. There are categories that hark back to vintage times: Temperance Drinks; Fancy English Drinks; Syrups, Essences, Tinctures, Colorings, Etc.; Prepared Punches for Bottling; and Prepared Cocktails for Bottling. A lot of the cocktails use whole eggs or egg whites in them.
We have been using this book to learn more about classic cocktails. Who knew an original Mint Julep did not have bourbon in it? This is a great book for anyone that like cocktails or wants to learn more about classic cocktails.
144 Pages
Publisher: Dover Publications
Release Date: July 20, 2016
Cooking, Food & Wine, Cocktails, Classic Cocktails, Entertainment
This book was originally published in 1862. I have a copy of that book on a shelf in my dining room with my other cocktail books. I had to get the book since my husband’s name is Jerry Thomas. It is ironic that my husband has the same name as the man known to be the inventor of the cocktail.
The book is printed as it would have been in 1862 with typewriter font. There are categories that hark back to vintage times: Temperance Drinks; Fancy English Drinks; Syrups, Essences, Tinctures, Colorings, Etc.; Prepared Punches for Bottling; and Prepared Cocktails for Bottling. A lot of the cocktails use whole eggs or egg whites in them.
We have been using this book to learn more about classic cocktails. Who knew an original Mint Julep did not have bourbon in it? This is a great book for anyone that like cocktails or wants to learn more about classic cocktails.
August 28, 2016
The title of this book got me excited as it sounds like an actual bartender has written this& is sharing his recipes for old & new cocktail recipes. My only problem, & the only reason I've given this book a 3-star rating is....my digital copy is in such fine, teeny tiny print, I have no idea if Jimmy Thomas is a famous world renowned bartender or if he's just a next door neighbor that's making up his own cocktails he enjoys drinking. I'm sure he's a legitimate bartender working at a very busy bar somewhere, but I'm unable to read any of his introduction to really know
The drinks themselves ( although also in such a fine print) I'm able to easily see some of the recipes & come to conclusion they're simple to make for the most part, as long as you have a fully stocked bar with most of the usuals a bar would contain. I know I saw some recipes for old fashioned drinks that we've all heard of, but might not know exactly how many parts of each liquor to use in order to make it. I also saw some recipes that looked very easy to make, sounded good, & would be nice to add at your next cocktail party. Add a few new ones to the old ones & people will start flocking to your home as opposed to the local bar, that may or may not know how to make some of the newer named drinks I saw
It is quite unfortunate my digital copy is of such poor quality that it makes me not really want to keep it on my iPad to try mixing some, since I'd most likely need bright lighting & a magnifying glass to read some of them. I also didn't really see an easy table of contents that would put the drinks in any sort of order to be looked up easily BUT just because I didn't see it in its super fine print, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There may very well be a table of contents & an order to things. I just can't see it all that well.
It saddens me, as I don't really believe this book deserves the 3-stars, but in good conscience, since I can barely read it, I just can't give it more stars. I got my digital copy from net galley & Dover Publications in return this is my honest review, to which I'll add---I looked again, I see an index, alphabetically listing drinks. I think part of this book is a reprint from 1887!!!!! Again, this was all lost on me at first read but further looking found that information. It still is such fine print I cannot read the introduction as to who this bartender is/was which might make this even more exciting & interesting
The drinks themselves ( although also in such a fine print) I'm able to easily see some of the recipes & come to conclusion they're simple to make for the most part, as long as you have a fully stocked bar with most of the usuals a bar would contain. I know I saw some recipes for old fashioned drinks that we've all heard of, but might not know exactly how many parts of each liquor to use in order to make it. I also saw some recipes that looked very easy to make, sounded good, & would be nice to add at your next cocktail party. Add a few new ones to the old ones & people will start flocking to your home as opposed to the local bar, that may or may not know how to make some of the newer named drinks I saw
It is quite unfortunate my digital copy is of such poor quality that it makes me not really want to keep it on my iPad to try mixing some, since I'd most likely need bright lighting & a magnifying glass to read some of them. I also didn't really see an easy table of contents that would put the drinks in any sort of order to be looked up easily BUT just because I didn't see it in its super fine print, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There may very well be a table of contents & an order to things. I just can't see it all that well.
It saddens me, as I don't really believe this book deserves the 3-stars, but in good conscience, since I can barely read it, I just can't give it more stars. I got my digital copy from net galley & Dover Publications in return this is my honest review, to which I'll add---I looked again, I see an index, alphabetically listing drinks. I think part of this book is a reprint from 1887!!!!! Again, this was all lost on me at first read but further looking found that information. It still is such fine print I cannot read the introduction as to who this bartender is/was which might make this even more exciting & interesting
July 12, 2016
This book was sent to me by netgalley for an honest review. Over 100 years old it was written by a true artist of his trade, perhaps the man who in New York began this trade.
I have heard him referred to as 'the professor'.
The book was difficult to read only in that it has old style font and I was reading an online copy so had to move the page all over the place, enlarge, shrink etc etc.
I actually read the book from cover to cover and enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot.
This book makes you realize just how much the lost art of bartending and all it truly entails is lost for most bartenders today and also shows you just how we morphed into today's drinks and where they all originated from.
What a classy time this was back then. There is no 'sex on the beach' in this book!
Of course to be able to make some of these, which I did indeed try, I had to 'google' often.
Some of the cordials and liquors are not around any more and may not be in any main stream booze shop, however are available online if you are prepared to hunt.
This book put me on the path to libation enlightenment!!!
P.S. I honestly can say I have never reviewed a book so old, written before my grandparents were even born! How dare I give it anything but 5 stars, seriously!
July 26, 2016
To say this book is anything but fantastic is just wrong. The ebook copy I received was a little difficult to read, but who cares! I read this book cover to cover, dying to try all these drinks. I am going to bring my kindle with me next time I get to a bar. A MUST have for any drink enthusiast! When I see it on the shelf, I am going to pick up a paper copy too!
"Care for a Morning Glory Cocktail, a Blue Blazer, or a Philadelphia Julep? Recipes for these and hundreds of other tasty libations appear in this landmark volume. Originally published in 1862, Jerry Thomas' Bartenders Guide is widely considered by drink historians as the first serious American book on cocktails and punches.
"A new beverage is the pride of the bartender, and its appreciation and adoption his crowning glory," declared Jerry Thomas (1830–85), the most famous bartender of his era. Known as "the father of American mixology," Thomas developed the showy techniques practiced at his saloons throughout California and New York. From hot whiskey toddies to wedding punch to "temperance drinks," this extensive compilation of timeless recipes will delight modern-day mixologists and their guests."
*I was given this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
"Care for a Morning Glory Cocktail, a Blue Blazer, or a Philadelphia Julep? Recipes for these and hundreds of other tasty libations appear in this landmark volume. Originally published in 1862, Jerry Thomas' Bartenders Guide is widely considered by drink historians as the first serious American book on cocktails and punches.
"A new beverage is the pride of the bartender, and its appreciation and adoption his crowning glory," declared Jerry Thomas (1830–85), the most famous bartender of his era. Known as "the father of American mixology," Thomas developed the showy techniques practiced at his saloons throughout California and New York. From hot whiskey toddies to wedding punch to "temperance drinks," this extensive compilation of timeless recipes will delight modern-day mixologists and their guests."
*I was given this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
Read
July 29, 2016I received this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
Unless you were a party animal in the mid-to-late 1800s, you will probably learn something from this book. You may enjoy looking up some ingredients that have fallen out of fashion. I looked up “orgeat syrup” and learned that you pronounce it like “or-zha” (like Zsa-Zsa) and supposedly it tastes like liquid marzipan.
If you think that’s cool, then check out this book.
If you fell asleep reading that, you're probably not going to fix your friends a Currant Shrub or a Brandy Smash, anyway, so don't bother with this book.
(Also: the tincture recipes are interesting!)
Unless you were a party animal in the mid-to-late 1800s, you will probably learn something from this book. You may enjoy looking up some ingredients that have fallen out of fashion. I looked up “orgeat syrup” and learned that you pronounce it like “or-zha” (like Zsa-Zsa) and supposedly it tastes like liquid marzipan.
If you think that’s cool, then check out this book.
If you fell asleep reading that, you're probably not going to fix your friends a Currant Shrub or a Brandy Smash, anyway, so don't bother with this book.
(Also: the tincture recipes are interesting!)
June 26, 2010
This is a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book.
This book, which was originally published in 1862, is an invaluable resource to anyone interested in the history of cocktails. It's also essential for any bartender who wants to expand his craft and experiment. Most of the drinks herein would be much too sweet and heavy for my own cocktail tastes, but some sound quite tasty, and it seems like a good jumping-off point.
This book, which was originally published in 1862, is an invaluable resource to anyone interested in the history of cocktails. It's also essential for any bartender who wants to expand his craft and experiment. Most of the drinks herein would be much too sweet and heavy for my own cocktail tastes, but some sound quite tasty, and it seems like a good jumping-off point.
July 24, 2017
As I study for my bartender's certificate, I found this book to go above and beyond the learning I've received. It is chock-full of information that I'm hoping sticks in my brain and the tips and tricks are amazing (even if it's common-sense type info). The cocktail recipes are brilliant and I can't wait to use myself as a guinea pig. I might even consider breaking down my hermit-like existence and begin entertaining just to use the recipes here!
January 1, 2017
Wow that was indeed a guide on how to mix all kinds of drinks! I can't wait to try some of these!
I would love if there were some pictures in-between the text though.
I would love if there were some pictures in-between the text though.
Read
August 17, 2016Got this as a gift for javaczuk, who has an endless fascination in the art of mixed drinks, especially those in earlier days. We are working our way through this and the other books I got for him for our anniversary, at a steady, but healthy rate. Since bartending is a part of the manuscript he is writing, it's all research. God help my liver.
introduced
February 2, 2009Note that this edition contains an appendix (40 pages in miniscule type) with transcriptions of every significant contemporary newspaer article I was able to find about Mr. Thomas, including a couple of actual interviews.
November 6, 2011
Bartenders geeking out on this reissue, by the first recognized bartender in america. Great read if you are into the history of cocktails in America during the late 1800's. America's golden age of imbibing
February 10, 2009
An invaluable source of information, made even more valuable with the addition of David Wondrich's introduction and end notes concerning the life of Jerry Thomas.
April 25, 2013
Some interesting drink recipes, I shall have to try them out.
May 9, 2014
Also includes the facsimile of Christian Schultz's Manual for the Manufacture of Cordials, Liquors, Fancy Syrups, &c. &c.
December 29, 2014
Nice cover. But content-wise, I could just download an app or Google the drinks.
Want to read
July 4, 2015I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13461643
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13461643
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