This book is one of the top drink mixing resources for the home bartender. Mr. DeGroff's approach to bartending is a culinary one; at his bar, taste is king, with restrained but elegant garniture. The book is loosely organized alphabetically by drink name, but there are subsections that deal with drinks thematically. One of my favorite "featurettes" is his idea for a Bloody Mary Buffet, where guests create their own beverages. Little touches like these make this book ideal for the home bartender wanting to throw an elegant occasion.
The elegant layout somewhat masks the thoroughly researched nature of the work-- a look at the bibliography reveals a goodly number of cocktail books that could represent a good history of beverage-craft in the United States.
An excellent book.

I think this is one of the finer introductions to home bartending. The book is intelligently divided into three portions: 1) an introduction and background on materials and methods of bartending 2) a colour catalogue of selected cocktails and 3) the drink list reference section. Each section complements the others. The color section was the most useful for me because it contained historical notes which helped me remember the drink recipes better. (...)