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Cocktails By Flavor - Over 340 Recipes to Tempt the Taste Buds
by Salvatore Calabrese
Sterling
ISBN 1-4027-5305-5
Published June 2008 - Spiral/Hardcover - 224 pages - $14.95

This is my favorite kind of book.  Not necessarily the cocktails, it's the spiral-inside-a-hardcover aspect that I love, especially when it's a "work" book.  Now, who doesn't love a cocktail?  It doesn't have to be an alcoholic cocktail either.  Award-winning cocktail expert and bartender Salvatore Calabrese presents these 340 cocktail recipes to have fun with.  His book offers the tools you'll need, along with glassware, storing spirits and wine, and garnishes, then he discusses the base spirit flavors and offers an "a to z of flavors" to help us.  The flavors include bitters, fruits, herbs (?), nut flavors, spices (?), sweet & creamy, unusual flavors, vegetables, and wine flavors.  (Question marks indicate my raised eyebrows.  Maybe I'm completely out of the loop.)  No longer are there only a handful of cocktails on offer, although recipes for all-time favorites such as the Bloody Mary, the Rusty Nail, Mint Julep, Manhattan, or Piña Colada are given.  But, have you heard of these cocktails before?  Charlie's Nightcap, Black Dog, Corpse Reviver, Tantric Jam, Maiden's Prayer, Tropical Butterfly, Rosemary Cooler, Tennessee Squirrel, Chili & Honey Cocktail, or a Sassy Salmon?  Me either.  I do fancy a Beet-ini, a Life Saver, a Melon Fizz, or a Tequila Slammer.  There are a few non-alcoholic cocktails here too.  If you like sweet or sour, salty or spicy, you're bound to find something to your liking in this stunning book.  Calabrese says, "Basically, a cocktail consists of the spirit base, the modifier (aromatizer), and the coloring agent, or special flavoring."  So, with all the flavors out there, your combinations are endless.
Visit Calabrese's website.
Conclusion - A fabulously interesting and very useful book come your next party.