Tropical Standard: Cocktail Techniques & Reinvented Recipes

by Garret Richard, Ben Schaffer, Dave Arnold (Foreword)

Transforming tropical drinks with powerful techniques from the modernist bar

Weaving together lessons from the craft cocktail revival, history of the tropical canon, and today’s cutting-edge bar techniques, master mixologist Garret Richard and award-winning cocktail writer Ben Schaffer provide a unique handbook for the tropical cocktail’s next wave.

Clearly detailed are crucial techniques including how to balance syrups, flash blend, handle carbonation, tackle tinctures, cordialize citrus, and power up juice with acid adjusting. Over the course of 84 recipes, vintage cocktails like the Rum Barrel, Mai Tai, and Ray’sMistake are reimagined just as future classics are revealed, including the Beachcomber Negroni, Winter in L.A., and Field of Mars. These drinks honor founding legends such as Donn Beach, Trader Vic, and Harry Yee as well as modern icons, including Dale DeGroff, Audrey Saunders, Julie Reiner, Jeff Berry, and Dave Arnold.

By equipping both home bartenders and professionals with the skills to forge their own paths to cocktail creativity, this groundbreaking compendium sets a new tropical standard.

Genres: Cocktails, Cookbooks

288 pages, Hardcover

Published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Alex Mestas]

Absolutely essential. Smuggler’s Cove meets Liquid Intelligence.

I’ve learned so much and bettered my home bartending game immediately after reading.

[Garrett]

Tropical Standard is, well, a new gold standard in the tiki cocktail book scene. Each recipe is expertly researched, contextualized in history, and complicated with alternative approaches. Don't worry if you don't own a restaurant grade centrifuge (yes, there's a whole chapter with drink recipes that require this extremely expensive piece of equipment), because there's plenty of other doable drinks that require humbler tools like a drink mixer, or even an old fashioned Boston shaker.

[Rae Gholson]

Fantastic!