Carey Jones - Be Your Own Bartender: A Surefire Guide to Finding (and Making) Your Perfect Cocktail

Carey Jones and John McCarthy

with a foreword by J. Kenji Lpez-Alt

THE COUNTRYMAN PRESS

A division of W. W. Norton & Company

Independent Publishers Since 1923

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BY J. KENJI LPEZ-ALT

You dont always need a reason to enjoy a delicious cocktail, but you should have a reason to pick one drink over another.

Theres a reason why I usually fall back on a few of my favorite cocktails when Im at home: I know Im going to like them. Theres also a reason why I let a good bartender shake me up something new when Im at a fancy-pants cocktail bar. With their experience, Im bound to find something exciting andeven betterperfectly tailored to my mood.

Likewise, theres a reason why my old friend Carey Jones is the first person I call when I need to figure out the perfect drink for my next party, and why John McCarthy was who I called when my restaurant needed a new cocktail program. These two know their drinks, and more importantly, they know what I want to drinkprobably even better than I do.

With Be Your Own Bartender, Carey and John have created a fun and delicious way to bring that custom cocktail experience homewhether you want something strong and boozy or light and refreshing; whether youre willing to put in some extra time or just want something thatll get you buzzed with minimal effort (weve all been there); whether youre drinking with friends or drinking alone (weve all been there too). Out there somewhere is a perfect drink for every occasion and every mood. Carey and John are going to help you find it.

What are you having?

The bartender catches your eye and walks over to your end of the bar. Its your turn. Whatll it be?

Sometimes we just dont know the answer right on the spot. On a summer Friday? It might be a spicy cucumber margarita. A frigid winters night by a roaring fire? That calls for a stiff drink of bourbon, honey, and clove. And for your New Years party: what better than a sparkling cocktail for a crowd?

For every mood, every event, and every taste, theres a perfect cocktail. And its our goal to help you find it.

WHERE DO I START?

Well, thats up to you. You can start with a spiritvodka, rum, tequilaor start with an occasion.

If you know its a rum cocktail youre afteryoure just not sure whatflip to the beginning of the rum chapter. Here, well lead you through a series of questions: Do you want a light, tropical cocktail or something more substantial? Do you prefer bitter drinks or cocktails bright with citrus? Is ginger appealing or off-putting? (And are you showing off a little or just making something simple?) Each choice is yours, guiding you directly to a single drink. Its almost as if you designed it yourselfbecause, in a way, you did.

Not wedded to a single spirit, but youre throwing a brunch, hosting a party, or mixing drinks for the family over the winter holidays? Follow these themed flowcharts in a choose-your-own-adventure journey to find the ideal cocktail.

As craft cocktails have become increasingly popular, more imbibers than ever are excited to try their own hand at making creative drinks. But the array of optionsspirits, syrups, juices, bitterscan be overwhelming. Its our aim to lead you immediately to a drink that you love, even if its a different spirit than youre used to or a combination of ingredients you might never have thought of. The best way to be a home bartender: learn one drink at a time.

And if these drinks inspire you to experiment on your own? Have at it! By taking a tour through the enormous realm of cocktail possibilities, you may start to come up with ideas yourself.

And who are you?

Ah, good question. John McCarthy is a mixologist who has spent more than a decade running bars in New York City. His wife Carey Jones is a seasoned cocktail writer. True story: We met when Carey wrote about a cocktail menu of Johns. (As he likes to say, She reviewed me.)

Together weve written a cocktail column for Food & Wines website for more than four years, dubbed Liquor Cabinet Roulette, targeted toward the home bartendersay, folks who love Campari but cant come up with a drink to make with it, or who might hope to make a cocktail for their birthday party but dont quite know how.

We believe cocktails should be fun. They should be as complex as they need to be, but no more. They should be quirky and boundary pushing in some cases; nostalgic and familiar in others.

Thanks to Johns mixology background, each of these drinks is of a professional caliberwed put any one of them on a cocktail listbut designed for the home bartender.

We hope this book has a cocktail (or ten) for everyone: the Aperol Spritz fan, the mezcal nerd, the cocktail skeptic, the amaro collector, the man whos never mixed anything more complex than a gin and tonic, the woman who hasnt sipped anything but a martini since 1962.

Whoever you are, whatever you drinkand whatever your skill levelweve got a cocktail for you.