Eric Prum - Shake A New Perspective on Cocktails

Do you remember your first cocktail party? I do blurrily. It centered around a worn bar somewhere upstairs in a frat housea major upgrade from the basement. We probably dressed up, and we definitely had a good time. As for the drinks? Id be hard-pressed to cite any options that went much beyond vodka, and __________.

Oh, am I glad to have grown up and out of those supposed cocktail days. Adulthood has brought with it the joys of brown liquor, cocktail bars, and a continuous stream of professionally mixed libations that not only make for a good time, but taste damn good, too. Even better? Ive gotten to write about the many delicious drinks out there for the sipping in both San Francisco and New York, two cities with full-blown cocktail obsessions. You know youve made it when you get to have a drink (or five) and call it work.

But heres the thing: often, it felt like the good drinks were reserved for the bars, while drinking at home with friends was still limited to frat house concoctions. Its too wide a divide, between the Jack-and-gingers of your home bar and the smoked, barrel-aged, rare batch tequila flips with housemade bacon-infused unicorn hair bitters of the professional cocktail world. Thankfully, Shake is here to help fill that gap.

When I met Eric and Josh after moving to Brooklyn, I knew pretty much instantly that they were guys who spoke my language. I was then, and still am, blown away by the knowledge, enthusiasm, and passion that these two have for creating and crafting new drink concepts. Not surprisingly, ours was a friendship that was built around good drinks, good food, and plenty of laughter. The thing is, the drinks were always delicious, whether we were sitting down to dinner or pre-gaming a night out in the burg.

And that is exactly what Shake is all about: that cocktails can and should be delicious and fun, for all occasions. Its a collection of thoughtful, seasonal, and undeniably tasty cocktail recipes that are accessible enough for anyone to make. Shake brings the delicious cocktails of the bar homeand has a blast doing it. But you dont have to take my word for it. Grab your shaker, pick a page, and get cocktailing. The only really necessary ingredient is good friendstheyll make the good times just about inevitable.

Sourced from cage-free unicorns that are unharmed in the plucking process.

We love cocktails. We have for a long time. But recently, we looked around and realized that, while cocktail bars had sprouted up across the world, good drinks still couldnt be found in the place where we had always mixed them: at home with friends.

So we set out from our workshop in Brooklyn, New York, to come up with a solution. What resulted is one part instructional recipe book, one part photo journey through our year of cocktail crafting, and one part inspirational pep talk. We think weve ended up with something unique: a cocktail book that expresses our seasonal and straightforward approach to drinks and entertaining, and reminds us that, above all, mixing cocktails should be fun, simple, and social:

Cocktails should be fun. If theyre not fun, why make them?! How do you keep them fun? Be creative. Use interesting ingredients you find at the market. Improvise on a recipe you have mastered. Take cocktails with you on the go (we have included an example of how we do this each season).

Cocktails should be simple. Your ingredient list for a cocktail should include, at maximum, five itemsand try to keep your ingredients seasonal and fresh!

Cocktails should be social. Drinking alone is acceptable on some specific occasions, like after a bad breakup, or while waiting for others to drink with. But theyre so much better when theyre shared. Cocktails naturally bring people together. Dont believe us? Just try bringing makings for a delicious cocktail to the next house party youre attending and see what happens.

Our genuine hope is that this book inspires you to take delicious cocktails out of the bar and into your handsand helps you do just that. So, grab some friends, turn the page, and start shaking up drinks in a whole new way.

Eric & Josh

Here are the fundamentals of how we make our cocktails, from what kinds of liquor we always have on hand to the best way to shake a drink. This isnt a comprehensive AZ of how to make cocktails, just a handful of simple, key points that will make your drinks all the more delicious.

Winter in New York can be brutal, especially for two guys from Virginia. We get through the coldest of months by mixing up stiff cocktails and celebrating the holidays with good friends. Drinks like the Sage Advice and our Nog are filled with the best flavors of the season, from winter sage to festive spices. Oh, and we tend to hang out in our workshop in Brooklyn and drink whiskey. Lots of whiskey.

When spring arrives, so do fresher ingredients, and our cocktails are fueled by the likes of sweet blackberries, tart rhubarb, and fragrant lilac blossoms. The highlight of our spring: were off to the races, rickeys and juleps in hand.