--- title: Cocktails & Mixology description: Mixology is the craft of balanced drinks. You will learn the classic cocktails and their families, technique and tools, spirits knowledge and how to develop your own recipes. category: trades-crafts subcategory: cooking-and-culinary difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/cocktails-and-mixology --- # Cocktails & Mixology Mixology is the craft of balanced drinks. You will learn the classic cocktails and their families, technique and tools, spirits knowledge and how to develop your own recipes. ## Available Resources 4 Books • 1 Websites ## Books ### 1. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails **Author:** David Wondrich, Noah Rothbaum (eds.) An alphabetical reference of about 1,150 entries written by more than 150 bartenders, distillers and historians, edited by David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum. Covers spirit production, categories and regions, bar tools and techniques, classic drinks and key figures. It is the one scholarly, edited reference on how each base spirit is made and how it behaves, which is what lets a mixologist substitute ingredients intelligently. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199311137?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** spirits, cocktail-history, distillation, bar-techniques, reference ### 2. Imbibe! (Updated and Revised Edition) **Author:** David Wondrich David Wondrich's history of 19th-century American drinking, told through Jerry Thomas, author of the first bartender's guide. Covers punches, sours, fizzes, toddies, juleps and the original cocktail, with period recipes adapted for modern ingredients. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399172610?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** cocktail-history, jerry-thomas, punch, classic-cocktails ### 3. Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail **Author:** Dave Arnold This is the technique and science pick. Dave Arnold, founder of the Booker & Dax bar, explains the physics and chemistry of drinks: ice, dilution and temperature during shaking and stirring, sugar-acid balance, clarification, carbonation and infusion. Includes measured data and more than 120 recipes. It is the only rigorous, quantitative book on why techniques work, including measured dilution and temperature and sugar/acid ratios. That understanding is what lets a learner move past copying recipes. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393089037?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** cocktail-science, dilution, clarification, carbonation, drink-balance ### 4. Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions **Author:** Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan The Death & Co team argue that nearly every cocktail descends from six root drinks: Old-Fashioned, Martini, Daiquiri, Sidecar, Whisky Highball and Flip. Each chapter explains that root's balance, then shows how ingredient swaps produce variations and original recipes. This is the framework pick. The root-cocktail model covers two parts at once: cocktail families, and developing your own recipes by changing core, balance and seasoning. Recommended to both beginners and professionals, which is rare. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/160774970X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** cocktail-families, drink-balance, recipe-development, classic-cocktails ## Websites ### 1. Difford's Guide **Author:** Simon Difford This is the free recipe reference. Simon Difford's database of more than 6,000 cocktail recipes. Each entry gives measured specs, glassware, method and history notes, alongside guides to spirit categories and technique. A learner needs a reliable place to look up a spec, and Difford's recipes are tested and dated. Free to browse; Premium only adds advanced ingredient search and removes ads. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails **Tags:** cocktail-recipes, classic-cocktails, spirits, bar-techniques ## Youtubes ### 1. Anders Erickson **Author:** Anders Erickson Anders Erickson, who tended bar professionally for 20 years, demonstrates classic and modern cocktails with exact specs. Videos cover shaking and stirring technique, home-bar tools and ingredient substitutions. Short episodes suit beginners building a repertoire of core drinks. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@AndersErickson **Tags:** home-bar, classic-cocktails, shaking-and-stirring, cocktail-recipes --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/cocktails-and-mixology