The one-bottle cocktail More than 80 recipes with fresh ingredients and a single spirit

Hoffman, originator of the Serious Eats: Drinks section of the Serious Eats website, offers 83 cocktail recipes that require no liqueurs, bitters, or vermouths. A trip to the local green market and a bottle of vodka, gin, rum, tequila, brandy, or whiskey are all that are required for concoctions such as the Phuket, a blend of honeydew, vodka, sugar, and lime garnished with mint leaves and cilantro. Hoffman calls on bartenders from across the country for their favorite concoctions. Kristina Magro of Chicago's Pub Royale stirs things up with the Gincident, which combines gin with blueberry syrup, lemon juice, basil, and rosemary, and New Orleans mixologist Laura Bellucci conjures a Sidecar Named Desire, a pairing of cognac and apricot jam. Chapters are organized by type of liquor, but each section ends with notes on acceptable substitutions should one, for example, prefer rum over tequila in the grilled margarita (which features the juice of grilled lemons). Hoffman includes a chart of drinks by season and occasion in which she suggests, for example, that the Sassy Flower (mescal, lemon juice, and hibiscus-rosemary syrup) is as appropriate for a Super Bowl party as it is for Valentine's Day. Cocktail photographer Kelly Puleio triggers the thirst center with close-ups of these bright and potent refreshments. The recipes might be time-consuming, but they are fun and imaginative, especially for home bartenders looking to up their game. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Modern-day cocktails with a laundry list of ingredients and complicated directions can discourage many home bartenders. Hoffman, drinks writer for Serious Eats, has created a guide for novices and those looking to improve their technique. Her drink recipes use only one bottle of spirits and rely on spices, vinegars, fruit, and other common ingredients to build flavor. The author culls the recipes from professional mixologists around the United States. The recipes are simple; only a few have additional subrecipes for unusual syrups (such as thyme or bitter tea) and premade combinations (such as strawberry gastrique or cranberry cinnamon shrub). Hoffman divides the recipes by spirit (e.g., vodka, gin, rum) and provides suggestions for alternatives when needed. She also gives a guideline on tools to have handy. Technically, these drinks are not cocktails, but the colorful pictures illustrate that these elegant libations will not be refused for just using only one bottle. Verdict Although this is not an essential guide, anyone looking for a drink mixing guide will find a lot to appreciate.-Ginny Wolter, Toledo Lucas Cty. P.L. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

INTRODUCTION  THE RULES Every one of the eighty-three drinks in this book calls for just one bottle. That means the vodka in your freezer, or gin, agave spirits like tequila and mezcal, rum, pisco, Cognac, bourbon, rye, or Scotch. None of these drinks require bitters, vermouth, or liqueurs. There's no amaro, no aperitif wine, no absinthe. Just one bottle of booze--which you might already have in your liquor cabinet or on your mantel--and ingredients you can find at your favorite grocery store. These drinks call on herbs and fruit, vegetables, spices, vinegars, honey, maple syrup, soda, and other common ingredients to build complex, unusual flavor profiles. Cocktail historians might point out that the technical, "official" definition of a cocktail includes a base spirit, a sweetener, bitters, and water (usually of the chilly sort). So, I suppose, if we're being very literal, these are drinks (or sometimes highballs or sours, fizzes or smashes) and not cocktails. But there are all sorts of things that can add a bitters-like experience (and depth of flavor) to a beverage: citrus pith, say, or tea, spicy cinnamon or ginger or black pepper, or the quinine that's in your tonic water. I'm fine with calling these drinks by whatever name you want, as long as we both have something cool to sip while we argue about it. To build this book, I reached out to some of the most creative bartenders in the Bay Area, where I live; in New York, where I started my drinks-writing career; and in Portland, where I was raised. I gathered and tested recipes from fantastic bar directors and drinks creators based in Chicago, Seattle, London, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Minneapolis, among other cities. These industry stars are pros at balancing flavors and giving each drink that essential element of surprise.  Excerpted from The One-Bottle Cocktail: More Than 80 Recipes with Fresh Ingredients and a Single Spirit by Maggie Hoffman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.