The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual: Secret Recipes and Barroom Tales from Two Belfast Boys Who Conquered the Cocktail World

by Sean Muldoon, Jack McGarry, Ben Schaffer

Overview

Winner of the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail & Bartending Book

Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog in Lower Manhattan has dominated the bar industry, receiving award after award including World's Best Bar, World’s Best Cocktail Menu, World’s Best Drink Selection, and Best American Cocktail Bar. Now, the critically acclaimed bar has its first cocktail book, The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, which, along with its inventive recipes, also details founder Sean Muldoon and bar manager Jack McGarry’s inspiring rags-to-riches story that began in Ireland and has brought them to the top of the cocktail world. Like the bar’s décor, Dead Rabbit’s award-winning drinks are a nod to the “Gangs of New York” era. They range from fizzes to cobblers to toddies, each with its own historical inspiration. There are also recipes for communal punches as well as an entire chapter on absinthe. Along with the recipes and their photos, this stylish and handsome book includes photographs from the bar itself so readers are able to take a peek into the classic world of Dead Rabbit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544373204
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/13/2015
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	203,721
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

SEAN MULDOON is the cofounder and managing partner of the Dead Rabbit in New York City, and formerly the bar manager of the Merchant Hotel in Belfast. The Merchant was declared “World’s Best Cocktail Bar” in 2010 at Tales of the Cocktail, and the Dead Rabbit won three awards at Tales of the Cocktail 2013, including “World’s Best New Cocktail Bar.” In 2014, the Dead Rabbit won two further awards at the event, including “Best American Cocktail Bar.” The Dead Rabbit is the expression of Sean’s lifelong dream to combine sophisticated cocktail service with the rich tradition of the Anglo-Hibernian pub.

In his role as bar manager at both the Dead Rabbit and the Merchant Hotel, JACK McGARRY became internationally known for his extensive historically-based beverage programs. For each project, Jack thoroughly tested thousands of recipes from scores of cocktail books from the mid-nineteenth century, which sometimes involved making 50 to 70 versions of a single drink before one was deemed the best. In July 2013, Jack was honored with the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail "International Bartender of the Year" award, making him the youngest-ever recipient and only the second in America.

BEN SCHAFFER has been “the voice” of the Dead Rabbit since even before its launch, writing all its promotional materials, including advertising, website, and social media. In November 2012, Ben co-founded the consulting firm The Best Bar in the World with Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry to offer their hospitality expertise worldwide. Based in New York City, he works as a writer, creative director, and consultant for companies in many industries, including beverages, finance, and the not-for-profit sector.

Editorial Reviews

09/07/2015
No animals were harmed in the creation of this collection of classically inspired nogs, fizzes, smashes, and toddies. Dead Rabbit is a downtown Manhattan drinking establishment, considered by many critics to be one of the world’s best places to sip a flip. The name comes from the Irish gang that once controlled that neighborhood, and Muldoon, the bar’s founder, and McGarry, its manager and bartender, hail from Belfast, Ireland, where they ran the prestigious Merchant Bar. The first 50 pages of this collection are given over to their story of learning the ropes, making it big, and risking it all in America. If it is not quite Angela’s Ashes, it is a compelling read for bar-history aficionados. The drink recipes are all original variations of old-timey potables, broken out into 11 chapters that follow a time line across the mid-19th and early-20th centuries. They range from a low-key communal punch to a highfalutin gin and vermouth bijou with a couple dashes of absinthe. Despite all the European influence and Americana, the ingredient lists are often vast and obscure. For instance, an 1862 mix of hard cider and rum known as a stone fence is reimagined here with Calvados, bitters, crème de poire, green chartreuse, and cidre bouché. But for dedicated mixologists, this will only serve to encourage. Agent: Allen O’Shea Literary Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Winner, Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award 2016 — Best New Cocktail & Bartending Book "Long before they had a place to hang a sign, Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, barmen from Belfast, Northern Ireland, had the name for their bar in Lower Manhattan: the Dead Rabbit. And in their new book, the story of these two men, who have become admired cocktail-makers, makes a good read. So do the recipes and their lively explanations." —The New York Times "If you like your cocktails classic and with a side of old timey New York City swagger, this is the cocktail book for you."  —Epicurious "For anyone interested in cocktail culture, it's a fascinating read." —Tasting Table "Tells the story of how the bar came to be, and the drinks that make this place so special."  —The Kitchn “Enduring change, or legacy for that matter, is only possible when the existing order in its entirety is taken into consideration before adaptations are made. And here we have it. In concept and execution, The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, which chronicles the stewardship of Sean Muldoon and creativity of Jack McGarry, is a peerless, over-the-shoulder case study in how history is used to make history; with twists and turns in the modern plot nimbly portrayed by Ben Schaffer that recall the turbulent times of the bar’s brazen namesake.” —Jim Meehan, author of The PDT Cocktail Book   “Sean and Jack have created a ‘hundred year bar’ they call The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog; their quest to be the best has gifted New York with these rooms of endless delight. Once before in the last century two partners, Jack and Charlie, made a similar kind of magic at 21 West 52nd Street, still open and just a half-dozen years shy of a hundred years. Pick up The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual and find out what makes a ‘hundred year bar.’ ” —Dale DeGroff, author of The Craft of the Cocktail   “If ever a cocktail book was a grimoire of occult potionology, it’s this one. Sean Muldoon’s fierce determination to excel and Jack McGarry’s intensely focused artistry of the bar shine through in every recipe here, be it for one of The Rabbit’s characteristic virtuoso riffs on the classics or for one of its sublime originals.” —David Wondrich, author of Imbibe and Punch —

From the Publisher

★ 08/01/2015
Muldoon, Jack McGarry, and Ben Schaffer's manual begins with the story of Muldoon's unlikely journey from pulling pints in rough Belfast pubs to the vanguard of the craft-cocktail renaissance. Along with McGarry, whom he met at his award-winning Merchant Hotel bar in Belfast, Muldoon crossed the ocean to open the Dead Rabbit in New York in 2013, with the bar named for the gang that once prowled the local lower Manhattan neighborhood. Despite the seriousness of the cocktail talent, both bar and book feel relaxed. Many familiar elements of modern cocktail books are here, from the photographs of drinks streaming from a frosty shaker to the notes on glassware and ingredients. But the glasses are a clue that this is no simple retread of the classics; alongside rocks, glasses, and coupes, the Dead Rabbit's shelves contain porcelain cups, punch bowls, and proper Irish coffee glasses (six ounces, tulip-shaped, no handle.) The drinks are historic with a twist , adventurous, and clearly described, and the chapters make a poetic list: "Fixes and Daisies," "Cups and Cobblers," "Juleps and Smashes," "Flips," "Possets," and "Nogs." VERDICT Like the best Irish bartender, this book is warm, welcoming, full of great stories, and dedicated to excellent drinks.—Joanna Scutts, Astoria, NY

Library Journal