The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft (Revised and Updated Edition)

by Gary Regan

Overview

A thoroughly updated edition of the 2003 classic that home and professional bartenders alike refer to as their cocktail bible.

Gary Regan, the "most-read cocktail expert around" (Imbibe), has revised his original tome for the 15th anniversary with new material: many more cocktail recipes—including smart revisions to the originals—and fascinating information on the drink making revival that has popped up in the past decade, confirming once again that this is the only cocktail reference you need.

A prolific writer on all things cocktails, Gary Regan and his books have been a huge influence on mixologists and bartenders in America. This brand-new edition fills in the gaps since the book first published, incorporating Regan's special insight on the cocktail revolution from 2000 to the present and a complete overhaul of the recipe section. With Regan's renowned system for categorizing drinks helps bartenders not only to remember drink recipes but also to invent their own, The Joy of Mixology, Revised and Updated Edition is the original drinks book for both professionals and amateurs alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451499035
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	946,491
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

A columnist for Daily Beast, Gary Regan's work has been featured in Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, and Imbibe, among others. He is the author of The Negroni, The Bartender's Bible, The Book of Bourbon and Other Fine American Whiskey, The Bourbon Companion, New Classic Cocktails, The Martini Companion, and The Joy of Mixology. He regularly consults with major spirits producers and marketers such as Diageo, Pernod-Ricard, and Heaven Hill, and he travels the world holding workshops, judging cocktail competitions, and making public appearances. He lives in the Hudson Valley in New York.

Read an Excerpt

A Message to Bartenders of All Stripes

Since the first edition of The Joy of Mixology became required reading for bartenders at many craft cocktail bars around the globe, I thought that I'd take this opportunity to address those of you who are new to tending bar, so you'll know what you're getting yourself into.

Many of us find ourselves called behind the bar so we can be a "startender," complete with tattoos, piercings, and hordes of adoring fans who come back night after night to taste our concoctions. I found out quickly that you have a helluva lot of legwork to get through before you even begin to approach that kind of status. Before you gain the fame, you gotta pay your dues. Big time.

If you're new to bartending, be willing to start out as a barback, lugging ice and cases of beer up from the basement, cutting garnishes, polishing bottles, and doing all of the drudge work while others get the big bucks, and walk home with the best-looking girl or guy in the place.

When you finally do get behind the bar, as a bartender or as a barback, your first job is to learn how to watch. Watch the seasoned professionals as they go about their business. Notice how both of their hands are busy at all times. See how they can pour gin with one hand and open a bottle of IPA with the other.

Learn from the pros as they manage the guests at the bar, and listen to their interactions. Learn how to deal with angry customers, how to cope with complaints, how to crack wise, and make people smile as they go about their jobs.

When the time is right, ask questions. Find out why the pros do what they do, how they prioritize when faced with multiple tasks, and how they steer potential troublemakers toward the door without an angry word being spoken.

Most important: LISTEN. We don’t know it all. We'll never know it all. Be prepared to learn something new every day for the rest of your life.

And if you manage to become a full-time bartender, the rest of your life will surely be interesting, to say the least.

With Lotsa Love,
gaz regan

Editorial Reviews

FEATURED IN IMBIBE'S HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

"A comprehensive study of the bartending art." 
–Robert Simonson, PUNCH

"For the 15th anniversary of one of the modern cocktail movement's pioneering books, Gary Regan released this gorgeous update, complete with new recipes and revisions of some of the originals." —Imbibe 

"The first time I read The Joy of Mixology when it was published in 2003, I was so focused on Gary Regan's theory of mixology and insightful bartending tips that I all but overlooked the "joy" part. As I re-read his modern classic fifteen years later, I can't help but smiling over and over as his bawdy, boundlessly curious, and mischievous personality that permeates the text. Gary—or Gaz, for his new friends—approaches the craft of the cocktail with glee, and we all should be grateful he's shared with us how he got there." 
–Jim Meehan, bartender, journalist, and author of Meehan’s Bartender Manual and The PDT Cocktail Book 

"For me, Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology was the book that started it all—the seed that sprouted the craft cocktail revolution."
—Jeffrey Morgenthaler, author of Drinking Distilled and The Bar Book

"They say that lightning never strikes twice, but I’m here to tell you that it does. When Gary 'Gaz' Regan sent me The Joy of Mixology back in 2003, I knew it would become a game-changer for our industry.  Not only have I been regularly recommending it ever since, but I also utilize it as a powerful reference whenever training new bartenders.  It's a seminal piece of work, and required reading for anyone interested in cocktails as a profession, or a hobby.

A lot of advancements have been made in our industry since the publication of the first edition. Not only is the core content as fundamental today as it was in '03, but the updates in this revised edition guarantee that this book will remain on my must-read list for many years to come. Gaz has wonderfully captured new techniques, concepts and recipes, and it will continue to teach and inspire today's bartenders as it did for me back then."
—Audrey Saunders, mixologist and owner of the Pegu Club 


"Gary Regan writing about bars and bartending is like the suspension cables writing about the bridge that hangs from them. He's more than just an insider—he's essential infrastructure, as every page of this new edition of his pivotal book proves." 
—David Wondrich, cocktail historian and author of Imbibe! and Punch

"[The Joy of Mixology] was a really awesome lead-in to just a relatively unpretentious way of learning how to make drinks and what's important about the job. 
—Munchies

"As a long-time mentor to myself and countless other cocktail slingers both past and present, Gary Regan has updated what was once an essential read to a required one for anyone who’s interested in what it takes to be a great bartender. His knowledge of the guests' experience—its humor, its seriousness and our role in it—will help mold the front lines for generations to come."
—Frank Caiafa, author of The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book

"Thoughtfulness, mindfulness, meditation . . . listening and really seeing your surroundings . . . these words and phrases may not sound like something out of a mixology book, but they are now! From a very special soul 'Gaz' Regan, who sees the barroom as a place to imbibe and celebrate our humanity, this new edition of The Joy of Mixology is as irreverent and funny as ever—filled with great recipes for drinks and lessons for life."
—Dale DeGroff, author of The Craft of the Cocktail and The Essential Cocktail

"This is the cocktail book I've had to re-purchase the most often. It is the cocktail book I lend out the most and never get back. That either shows how amazing the book itself is, or how bad my bartender friends are. Either way, its pages of advice, history, and flavor charts are well worn on my bookshelf." 
—Hallie Arnold, professional mixologist 

"If you want to graduate to the next level, this book helps you to categorize cocktails so you can actually go on to create your own drinks." 
—Joe DeLuca, founder of the United States Bartenders' Guild

"Several bartenders mentioned Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology and its taxonomic approach to 'families' of mixed drinks as a helpful memory aid. If you master the basics—how much spirit to how much modifier and sweetener for a handful of drink families—then you can focus on the specific ingredients, and turn to the 'family' ratios for measures."
—The Daily Beast

"The Joy of Mixology categorizes drinks into an almost taxonomic breakdown of how drinks relate to one another, rounding out anyone's cocktail knowledge into a more complete and analytical look at how drinks have developed." 
—The Phoenix New Times 

"[The Joy of Mixology] changed my entire outlook on bartending . . . it really opened my eyes to the connection we have as far as using beverages as a way to really create a social bond among people." 
—Mills Higgins, mixologist at The Anchorage in Greenville, SC

From the Publisher