Jerry Thomas’ Bartenders Guide, published in 1862, is often cited as the first book on mixing drinks.
But recipes have appeared in less formal ‘cocktail’ books before that.
The first American cookbook, The Virginia Cookbook, by Mary Randolph, published in 1824, for example, features recipes for cordials; while a resident at Oxford University, Richard Cook, wrote Oxford Night Caps in 1827 (primarily as a pamphlet which then became a book) for students as a guide to some of the drinks enjoyed in their halls.
But Thomas’ was really the tome that launched a thousand ships. Immediately on opening, you find an illustration of Thomas throwing a theatrical Blue Blazer. The former principal bartender at New York’s Metropolitan Hotel and St Louis’ Planter’s House lived quite a life, and it is told rapturously in the introduction by journalist Herbert Asbury, before launching into recipes for punches (and lots of them), daisies, juleps, and more, all with the signature Thomas flair.
This book continues to inspire bartenders over 150 years later. Jim Meehan, one of NYC’s most revered bartenders, in the introduction to his own brilliant book, Meehan’s Bartender Manual, describes first encountering the book at the Pegu Club in the early Noughties. Back then, he says, not many bartenders would have even known it existed, but in the hands of Meehan, it gave his work new meaning and gave him a blueprint for how to run a bar at a world-class level.
Meehan also namechecks three other books that proudly sat on the shelf at the Pegu Club: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, by David Embury (1948), which he describes as “the first theoretical book about mixology”; Charles H Baker’s The Gentleman’s Companion (1939), a travelogue of Baker and his pals featuring the food and cocktails they consumed along the way; and The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) by Harry Craddock – one of the most iconic in the canon.
Turning the Page
The 2000s saw an explosion in cocktail book publications, not only recipe books, but those that interrogate the cocktail’s place in society, look at mixed drinks in a granular way, and often rewrite their assumed history too. Books like Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O’Meara and The Cocktail Parlor by Dr Nicola Nice address the fact that when it comes to their role in cocktail history, women have often been erased from the story. Indeed, over the last ten or so years, there have been far more women writing cocktail books too: Alice Lascelles, Zoe Burgess, Zara Madrusan, Julie Reiner, to name but a few.
Books like Liquid Intelligence by Dave Arnold are scholarly and revered, showing how mixology is just as much a science as it is an art, while The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails by David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum is exhaustive in its scope of this corner of the drinks world. Cocktail books can also act as catalysts for making certain cocktails go viral. Lascelles’ The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon is largely responsible for the surge in this classic cocktail’s popularity.
Some are also bypassing traditional routes by self-publishing their passion projects. I’ve been lucky enough to edit two such books: Bubbles: A Guide to Carbonated Cocktails, by Valentino Girotto and Bart Miedeksza, and HYPER Drinks, a love letter to local ingredients and how to use them in cocktails by Angelos Bafas.
Beyond Beverages
While a cocktail book’s job is, first and foremost, to help you, the reader, learn more about mixed drinks and how to make them, they also play a vital role in chronologizing changes in tastes, the movement of people, and even politics. Books published nearer the beginning of the 20th century, for example, are much more likely to feature the punch heavily, due to it being considered the first ‘proper’ cocktail (its first known reference going as far back as 1638, but pick up David Wondrich’s Punch for the full story).
In books published around the mid-1920s, you’ll also find a notably heavy use of eggs in cocktails – nogs, sours, fizzes – as was the post-Prohibition craze for this ingredient, perhaps, it has been said, to mask the poor-quality spirits coming out of that difficult time for drinkers in the USA. The emphasis on ice has changed, too. While older cocktails do mention ice (it would have been available to use around the 1840s), it is more sporadic and specified in a couple of ways (shaved, or simply ‘ice’). Some modern books have entire sections dedicated to what is now considered a standalone ingredient.
Where and when cocktail recipes appear in print also tells us a lot about their origin stories. In the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book by William James Tarling (published in London), a recipe for something called a Pictador (tequila, lime, Cointreau) appears 16 years before the first mention of the Margarita (which uses the same ingredients). We could say, then, that the Margarita was invented not in Mexico, not in the US, but in England.
Cocktails fall in and out of favor, too, and we can track this through their inclusions in (or, indeed, exclusions from) books. Take the Pousse Cafe, for example, an incredible layered drink made famous by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book featuring numerous recipes for this almost-forgotten cocktail in its ‘Fancy Drinks’ section.
Robert Vermeire, in his Cocktails: How to Mix Them (1922) also pays homage to this lesser-spotted phenomenon across several versions, which, for someone reading and making cocktails from these books today, feels like discovering an old album for the very first time.
One thing all these books have in common, though – whether one or 150 years old – is that they celebrate the skill, knowledge, and expertise it takes to make truly excellent drinks. Whether you’re making a Brandy Crusta from the 1850s or a Cosmopolitan from the 1980s, learning how to do it from the people who deemed it important enough to write it down and print it will make you a much better cocktail maker, at home or in the bar.
And you might just learn some history while you’re flicking through those booze-stained pages, too.
Cocktail Books Through the Decades
1920s: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails, by Harry MacElhone (1922)
One of the most influential cocktail books in this list, Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails was written by Dundee-born bartender Harry MacElhone, who went on to run one of Paris’ most famous bars, Harry’s New York Bar. It is economical in its information – the nearly 300 recipes aren’t as precise as you’ll find in modern books, and don’t expect any photos – but MacElhone’s range is astounding. Alongside MacElhone’s original recipes like Harry’s Pick Me Up and famous house cocktails such as the Bloody Mary, you’ll find everything from the classics (Martinis, Old Fashioneds) to Sherry Flip, Fish House Punch, and Cider Cup.
1930s: The Savoy Cocktail Book, by Harry Craddock (1930)
Corpse Reviver No. 2, White Lady, Jabberwock, Thistle: Harry Craddock is one of the most prolific and respected bartenders of his generation. This is the book he wrote while at the helm of the American Bar at London’s iconic Savoy hotel. Craddock, originally a Brit who tended bar in the US before returning to England in the wake of Prohibition, filled the pages of this book not only with what are now some of the cocktail world’s most trusted recipes – rickeys, daisies, slings, shrubs, juleps, and cobblers – but with quips and tips, as well as the most beautiful Art Deco illustrations.
1940s: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, by David A Embury (1948)
David A Embury’s much-loved cocktail book is more than cocktail recipes; it’s a pseudo-manifesto of how the tax attorney-cum-mixologist believed cocktails should be made – as well as when (and indeed, when not) to drink them. Categorizing drinks into aromatic or sour, before further breaking them down into three types of ingredients – base (spirit), modifier (aromatics, sugar, eggs), and flavoring or coloring agents (liqueurs, bitters) – Embury’s approach is an early example of teaching the fundamentals of cocktail making. Chapters range from ‘Pertinent Pointers’ to ‘Six Basic Cocktails’ and ‘Glassware, Gimmicks and Gadgets’.
1950s: The U.K.B.G Guide to Drinks, by The UK Bartenders’ Guild (1955)
Founded in 1934, the UK Bartenders’ Guild is one of the oldest (still existing) organizations of its kind. Twenty years after its inception, it produced its own guide to drinks. At the top, it addresses the young bartender with tips on bar layout, glassware, and equipment, before addressing cocktails at home and running into cocktail styles and related recipes, before detailed histories on wine, spirits, and liqueurs, as well as where to buy them. The ‘Wine as you dine’ section and its accompanying vintage chart are real highlights. You can even recreate some of the winning cocktails from the Guild’s numerous competitions.
1960s: Cocktails and Mixed Drinks, by Charles A Tuck (1967)
Written by the head bartender of the Piccadilly Hotel (now The Dilly), Charles A Tuck, this book is a real sign of the times. In his foreword, Tuck refers to the fact that readers are in more prosperous times and are therefore more able to make cocktails at home. The recipes that follow are split into some of the more recognizable categories – daisies, flips, and sours – but two that stand out as ahead of their time are a specified ‘non-alcoholic’ page (albeit with two recipes) and sangarees (a type of low-ABV cocktail akin to a sangria). Be sure to flick to the back page where a quick cheat sheet – or ‘ready reckoner’, as the author calls it – gives a quick glimpse of the spirits and garnishes needed for most of the classics.
1970s: On Drinks, by Kingsley Amis (1972)
Not a cocktail book in the strictest of senses, but English novelist Kingsley Amis’ writing on the act – or indeed, art – of drinking is an honorable member of the canon. In the first of three drinks books, he touches on many aspects of drinking in a series of essays on topics ranging from hangovers to home bars, drinking overseas, and everything in between. It is, of course, smattered with cocktail recipes from Old Fashioneds to the more obscure, like Evelyn Waugh’s Noonday Reviver. Accompanying illustrations from cartoonist Nicolas Bentley make this a must-have on any bon vivant’s bookshelf.
1980s: The Sainsbury Book of Cocktail & Party Drinks, by Joe Turner (1983)
There is a time and place for historical deep dives, philosophizing over shaking vs straining, and learning how to perfectly balance a cocktail. But the nostalgic simplicity of this 1980s hardcover is a breath of fresh air when it comes to just knowing how to sling 100 alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks together for a party. From the Martini four ways to Bloody Marys, Black Russians, and Cider Cups, these are foolproof recipes using ingredients easily found on your supermarket shelves. I could hang nearly every single photograph in this book on my walls too – pure 1980s ambrosia.
1990s: Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log, by Jeff Berry and Annene Kay
For screenwriter-turned-cocktail historian Jeff Berry, it all began with the Navy Grog cocktail. A quest to find the origins of the drink he so loved at Trader Vic’s in Beverley Hills turned into a full-blown rabbit-hole-sized obsession with ‘Tiki’ (although the preferred term is ‘tropical’) drinks. Berry and wife Annenne’s love letter to the category is this beautiful book which begins with a deep dive into Polynesian pop culture before sharing 80 recipes – some printed for the first time – to make at home. Throw in some nostalgic 50s and 60s artwork and this a real celebration of one of the most special cocktail genres in history.
2000s: Imbibe!, by David Wondrich (2007)
Cocktail historian, scribe, and authority on most things mixed in a glass, David Wondrich had written numerous books before Imbibe!, but being one of the first I read in the early days of my cocktail writing career, it’s my pick of the bunch. Taking on the not-so-small task of telling the story of the pioneer of the American bar, Jerry Thomas, Wondrich skillfully weaves historical facts with recipes, bar tool illustrations with excerpts of newspaper articles, and fills in technique, recipe or ingredient gaps with the knowledge he acquired through a career dedicated to the cocktail. On mixing your 5pm pre-prandial libation, you’ll soon be asking ‘WWJTD?’ (What Would Jerry Thomas Do?)
2010s: Regarding Cocktails, Sasha Petraske with Georgette Morger-Petraske (2016)
This was a difficult decade to choose just one book from, but such has been the influence of the late, great Sasha Petraske on today’s bartending industry, it had to be Regarding Cocktails. Brought to fruition by Petraske’s wife, spirits writer Georgette Morger-Petraske, after his untimely death, it features 85 drinks of his own creation from the bar that made him famous, Milk & Honey, NYC. Petraske has shaped what we now know as bar culture today, and one of his recipes is making modern cocktail history.
2020s: The Madrusan Cocktail Companion, by Michael and Zara Madrusan (2025)
Shortlisted for the 2026 Fortnum & Mason Drinks Book award, this behemoth of a cocktail bible comes from the brilliant minds of Australian bar royalty Michael and Zara Madrusan, who have scoured their extensive library of books (dating back to 1862) to produce a compendium of a whopping 2,800 cocktails. Alongside fun quotes, home bartending tips and, well, literally any advice you need to make a decent drink at home, the pages have also been graced by the great and the good of the international bar scene: from Ivy Mix and Lynetter Marrero, to Jim Meehan, Alex Day and Jeff Morgenthaler.
