The Craft of the Cocktail Everything You Need to Know to Be
a Master Bartender, with 500 Recipes
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Text copyright © 2002 by Dale DeGroff
Photographs copyright © 2002 by George Erml
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, New York, New
York
Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc.
CLARKSON N. POTTER is a trademark and POTTER and
colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeGroff, Dale.
The craft of the cocktail / Dale DeGroff.—1st ed.
1. Cocktails. 2. Bartending. I. Title.
TX951 .D39 2002
641.8’74—dc21 2001057791
eISBN: 978-0-307-76227-6
v3.0
My life has
unfolded like a
day behind the
bar. The regulars,
the unexpected
guests, the
solitary drinker
methodically
working toward
his end, the
group
spontaneously
celebrating
another day on
the planet. I fell
in love with bars
because of the
uninhibited,
disordered, and
surprising way
life unfolds at
the bar. The only
logical
progression in
my life has been
the wealth of
characters who
have crossed my
path, leaving
their sweet, sour,
strong, and weak
for me to
ponder. I
dedicate this
book to all the
friends and
strangers who
took a moment
to tell a great
story and send
me on my way.
INTRODUCTION
The History of the Cocktail
The Ingredients of the Cocktail
The Tools, Techniques, and
Garnishes of the Cocktail
PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND
SOURCES
MEASURES
BASIC RECIPES
PROOF IN THE
NUMBERS:
STANDARD
ALCOHOL CONTENT
MIXING TERMS
AND TECHNIQUES
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SPECIAL
THANKS
INDEX
By age twelve, I knew exactly where I wanted to live
when I grew up: Big things happen in big places,
and New York City was the biggest. Luckily, my
father had instilled in me an unreasonable supply
of optimism, which buoyed me through learning a
city that could swallow you up without a trace. This
optimism, along with a few good friends and dumb
luck, was about all I had when I arrived in New
York in 1969.
Within a year, I went to work for my best friend’s
brother, Ron Holland, a principal in a small
creative ad agency called Lois, Holland, and
Callaway. Everyone’s favorite account at the agency
was Restaurant Associates. Besides a ording Ron
and his partners the golden opportunity to work
with the legendary restaurateur Joe Baum, it also
enabled them to dine and entertain their clients at
the very best restaurants in town. In short, a dream
account. My chief occupation at the agency was to
get in on as many expensive free meals as was
humanly possible, which was easy given Ron’s
generosity. It did not take long to get hooked.
Every Sunday we’d meet for brunch at Charley O’s
at Forty-eighth Street and Rockefeller Plaza in the
heart of Manhattan, assembling just before noon.
The old blue laws forbade serving alcohol before
noon on Sundays, so the stroke of midday was much
anticipated. Ron Holland and his partner, the
legendary art director George Lois, had worked
closely with Joe Baum creating Charley O’s. It was a
terri c room, full of dark mahogany and leaded
glass, with a long bar along the east wall and a
beautiful oval window looking out on Rockefeller
Plaza. On the walls hung photographs and quotes
from great writers and great drunks; Ron’s own
Grandma Holland, who pronounced on her death
bed, “I’ll keep drinking them as long as they keep
making them,” was on the wall too, her wisdom
right alongside Robert Benchley and Errol Flynn.
Charley O’s was a bar for everyone from writers to
gamblers, secretaries to politicians, all drawn there
by solid drink, hearty food, and tremendous good
cheer. Charley O’s was where Pat Moynihan threw
his yearly St. Paddy’s-day breakfast; it was where
Bobby Kennedy announced his candidacy; and it
was the beginning of my love a air with the New
York Bar & Grill.
If there was one single pivotal day in my life that
determined my future, it was when I volunteered to
ll in for a bartender who failed to show up for a
party that Charley O’s was catering at Gracie
Mansion, the home of New York City’s mayor. The
manager was frantic and asked whether anyone
knew how to tend bar. None of the old-time barmen
wanted to work a thankless, tipless gig; I lied and
said I was a bartender. But before dashing o to the
mansion, I rushed over to Mike Flynn, the head
bartender, and asked, “By the way, how do you tend
bar, anyway?” There was very little time, but Mike
was a kind and sympathetic soul. He wrote out a list
of common drinks and how to make them, and gave
me some pointers on how to pour. In what seemed
like seconds later, I was behind the bar at Gracie
Mansion. Mayor Abe Beame was presenting the keys
of the city to Rupert Murdoch, so all the top people
in the Beame administration and a number of other
prominent New Yorkers were attending. All of a
sudden, it dawned on me that I was center stage and
this was a captive audience. It was only a makeshift,
poorly stocked bar, and I never really had to make
anything that fancy, but there was something about
being behind that bar that felt just right. I don’t
know how Muhammad Ali felt the rst time he
climbed into a ring, or how Louis Armstrong felt
the rst time he picked up a trumpet, but for me, I
knew I was standing in a very familiar and cozy
place. I was home.
In 1987, when Joe Baum opened the Promenade Bar
in the newly restored Rainbow Room, I was o ered
the unique opportunity to create a classic bar in the
old style. I was ten years into my bartending career
with two great bars on my résumé, the original
Charley O’s and the Hotel Bel-Air. I had an intuitive
understanding of what a great bar could be, but I
still had much to learn about what made a great
drink. What followed was a journey back in time to
learn how to re-create the classic cocktails in the
classic style. There wasn’t anyone around who
remembered how to do it. Using only fresh and
natural ingredients meant doing away with fast and
easy pre-made mixes and guring out how to
achieve just the right amount of sweet and sour,
strong and weak. It meant searching for out-of-print
cocktail books and experimenting with hundreds of
recipes, adjusting them to a modern palate and
today’s larger portions.
And so began my quest for just the right cocktails
with just the right recipes. What I learned while
rediscovering the lost art of bartending is what I
will share in this book: a treasure of recipes that
will tantalize your palate, enliven your parties, and
inspire you to embark on your own journey to
discover new and exciting ways to mix drinks.
Cheers!
