Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions [A Cocktail Recipe Book]

by Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan

Overview

From the authors of the bestselling and genre-defining cocktail book Death & Co, Cocktail Codex is a comprehensive primer on the craft of mixing drinks that employs the authors’ unique “root cocktails” approach to give drink-makers of every level the tools to understand, execute, and improvise both classic and original cocktails.

JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • WINNER OF THE TALES OF THE COCKTAIL SPIRITED AWARD® FOR BEST NEW COCKTAIL OR BARTENDING BOOK • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“There are only six cocktails.” So say Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Kaplan, the visionaries behind the seminal craft cocktail bar Death & Co. In Cocktail Codex, these experts reveal for the first time their surprisingly simple approach to mastering cocktails: the “root recipes,” six easily identifiable (and memorizable!) templates that encompass all cocktails: the old-fashioned, martini, daiquiri, sidecar, whisky highball, and flip. Once you understand the hows and whys of each “family,” you'll understand why some cocktails work and others don't, when to shake and when to stir, what you can omit and what you can substitute when you're missing ingredients, why you like the drinks you do, and what sorts of drinks you should turn to—or invent—if you want to try something new.
 
Praise for Cocktail Codex
 
“Learn the template, and any cocktail you can think of is within reach.”—Food & Wine

“Too bad all college textbooks weren’t this much fun.”—Garden & Gun

“A must for amateur and pro mixologists alike.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“If Dora the Explorer turned twenty-one, split herself into three people, and decided to write the Magna Carta of booze books, this would be the result. And, unlike every other book you’ll read this year, Cocktail Codex is packed with actual knowledge you can use in the real world. Please, please, can Cinema Codex be next?”—Steven Soderbergh, filmmaker

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607749714
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	10/30/2018
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	336,407
File size:	95 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Alex Day and David Kaplan are the co-owners of the Los Angeles-based Proprietors LLC, a fullservice hospitality company (Death & Co, Nitecap, Walker Inn, Honeycut, the Normandie Club, and more). Nick Fauchald is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and publisher of print and digital products.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION 

This book isn’t a study in cocktail history; that work is best left in far more capable hands (looking at you, David Wondrich, Gary Regan, and others). Nor is it a scientific study of cocktails (thanks, Dave Arnold!). Our six root cocktails are less a historical lineage than an approach to understanding the fundamentals. By studying each of these six drinks, you will learn the mechanics of a particular family of cocktails as well as important lessons in technique and ingredients that will elevate your overall cocktail game. We’ve spent much of the last fifteen years not only studying cocktails but also teaching them to countless other bartenders. In that time, we’ve found that this strategy—teaching these six drinks, studying their DNA, and explaining how they’re connected with other drinks—is a proven method that demystifies the overwhelming diversity of cocktails. 

This is where the written recipe enters the real world, where the abstract becomes real, and where the exactitude of technique can make the difference between a good cocktail and a great one. All great artists—from painters and poets to cellists and chefs—begin by studying the classics in their chosen field, and then they emulate and practice those classics until they’ve developed their own signature style and can create original works. We take a similar approach, examining each root cocktail, studying how others have made variations on each recipe—by substituting one ingredient for another or adding a touch of something new and flavorful—and considering what each new variation accomplishes. 

Throughout the book we use a handful of terms that help explain the function of an ingredient (or collection of ingredients) in every cocktail. Together, three areas  of focus—core, balance, and seasoning—help illuminate the inner workings of cocktails. We define the core as the primary flavor component of a drink. The core can be one ingredient or many. In the case of the Old-Fashioned, this is whiskey, while in the Martini, the core is comprised of both gin and vermouth. While the core is the heart of any cocktail, every cocktail is balanced by ingredients that enhance the drinkability of the core by adding sweetness, acidity, or both. Finally, we season our cocktails with ingredients that complement or contrast the core, adding intrigue and dimension. These three components (core, balance, and seasoning) are fundamental to understanding how cocktails work—and once you do, creating new cocktails is fantastically easy. 

***

Should you be here for recipes alone, flip toward the back half of each chapter, where we offer variations on each root recipe, as well as recipes for members of that cocktail’s extended family. If fancy gear and advanced techniques are your game, each chapter concludes with a section on next-level techniques that can help you reimagine familiar ingredients and create new ones, delving into topics such as sous vide infusions and syrups, clarified juices, alternative acids, carbonated cocktails, and more. 

You can read this book from cover to cover or just cherry-pick at your leisure. And while we’ll be thrilled if you discover a handful of recipes that become new favorites, we hope you’ll dig deeper than that. If you take the time to master these six classic cocktails—the Old-Fashioned, Martini, Daiquiri, Sidecar, Whisky Highball, and Flip—you can master them all.

Editorial Reviews

07/02/2018
Bar mavens Kaplan and Day reunite with writer Fauchald in this excellent follow-up to their 2014 guide, Death & Co. Here they offer a deconstructionist deep dive into the crafting of cocktails, complete with flowcharts and attention paid to each element of the process, from the balancing of flavors to the temperature of the glassware. They begin with the concept that there are six root cocktails from which all others descend: the old-fashioned, the martini, the daiquiri, the sidecar, the whisky highball, and the flip (“a drink comprised of booze, sugar, and whole egg”). Each of these gets its own chapter wherein the classic version is analyzed and followed by variations. For example, the old fashioned, at its essence, is defined as “booze that’s been sweetened with sugar and seasoned with bitters.” Proceeding ingredient by ingredient, as if adjusting the levels on a sound board, the drink’s components are manipulated. Bourbon is replaced by raisin-infused scotch in a Golden Boy; maraschino liqueur becomes the sweetener in a Fancy-free; and toasted pecan bitters replace the traditional aromatic in a Night Owl. The classic martini, meanwhile, becomes the Dean Martin with addition of brandy and two types of vermouth. Experienced cocktail makers looking to take a deeper dive into mixology will find this to be a wonderfully detailed volume.(Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Learn the template, and any cocktail you can think of is within reach.”—Food & Wine

“Too bad all college textbooks weren’t this much fun.”—Garden & Gun

“A must for amateur and pro mixologists alike.”—Chicago Tribune (Ten Best Cookbooks of the Year)

“If Dora the Explorer turned twenty-one, split herself into three people, and decided to write the Magna Carta of booze books, this would be the result. And, unlike every other book you’ll read this year, Cocktail Codex is packed with actual knowledge you can use in the real world. Please, please, can Cinema Codex be next?”—Steven Soderbergh, filmmaker
 
“Alex, Dave, Nick, and Devon do an incredible job at teaching us the basic building blocks of modern cocktails. Their unique insight gives us the tools to master the classics and create new recipes. This book is a must for all young bartenders and veterans alike.”—Leo Robitschek, Bar Director, The Nomad
 
“Cocktail Codex gives the drink enthusiast a comprehensive, fun, and complete look into the fundamentals of cocktails and the illustrations, stories, and background information give the reader a look into the world of professional drink making at its best. I strongly recommend picking this book up and flipping through the pages with your favorite cocktail in hand.”—Grant Achatz, Chef/Co-Owner Alinea, Next, the Aviary, the Office

From the Publisher