The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail - Liquid Intelligence

It's a fascinating and immensely helpful book for those who want to make not just good cocktails but great cocktails. Even if you only care about an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan, Dave's pages (yes pages) on these two are amazingly useful. Sure, you can just use the pages of recipes and formula tables to make your drinks but really this is a book for those who want to know a bit more about what makes a good drink. Dave tackles everything from the basic classics that require nothing but booze, ice and shaker to more specialized processes using liquid nitrogen and a centrifuge.
The tone is very much approachable. This is not written like a chemistry book. More like chatting with that smart, enthusiastic, funny and opinionated college buddy of yours. So many times the author just says "hey, if you don't care to know about XYZ, then skip ahead a few pages to the actual recipe". It's a fun read and really the clear ice instructions alone are more than worth the price of this book. My Old Fashioned and Negroni have never looked classier or garnered as much praise when served to friends.

You could say this is "too much information" for the home bartender, and for some it probably is. He discusses some techniques that I am unlikely ever to use. But it's fascinating and well written. The section on ice makes the book worthwhile by itself.

This book is an amazing reference guide for everything bar tending! It tells you everything from how to make completely clear ice to which bar tools are essential, with great recipes and tips scattered throughout.

Given as a gift to my boyfriend for Christmas. He likes that this reads more like a science textbook about drink making than your everyday bar book. The author tells you how to both make the drinks in your home and in a super scientific, advance bar with centrifuges and the like.

Given as a gift to my boyfriend for Christmas. He likes that this reads more like a science textbook about drink making than your everyday bar book. The author tells you how to both make the drinks in your home and in a super scientific, advance bar with centrifuges and the like.

This is a textbook on drinks science. There are some intriguing recipes and techniques, but ultimately you are on your own after reading this. Useful for the average bartender? 3 stars out of 5. But for the reference volume it is, a full 5 stars.

Great book if you are interested in the science of cocktails. Lots of attention to detail such as a whole section on ice and how to make the perfect crystal clear cubes. If you want to start a cocktail lab, this is the book!

I've been listening to Dave Arnold's "Cooking Issues" podcast on the Heritage Radio Network for 2+ years now, and whenever I'm in New York I visit his bar creation "Booker and Dax." I can say this guy knows how to make a drink. What is spectacular about this book, though, is that in addition to the recipes you learn how to be a better drink craftsman. The book is filled with good techniques, but also the science behind everything from ice to carbonation. Just reading a few chapters on the bus ride home made me realize things I've been doing wrong. Trust me, this book will help you make cocktails with better texture, better temperature, and the most important--better bubbles.

Well, there certainly is a lot of useful information in this book. However, when it comes down to it, the drinks are no good. I get that taste is subjective, but I literally have not made a single cocktail from the recipes provided that I have enjoyed. Even his take on classics destroys the spirit of the drinks. Yeah this an interesting scientific take on drink mixing, and for certain things, it is extremely useful, but as far as recipes go, I'd recommend Dale DeGraff. Sometimes theres just no substitute for good taste.

Not a whole lot of knowledge gained from the material. Tells you how to make clear ice but you'd have to tear out your freezer to do it...and spend some quality $ in the process. Some decent ideas for cocktails are included, such as making a saline solution to add to your recipes (just like seasoning your food), but unless you've got what I imagine as thousands of dollars of equipment lying around to perform what's proposed please check your local library before spending twenty or so bucks on the book.

Really surprising read! I picked this up expecting a book on cocktail techniques, recipes, and ideas, and instead found it to be a narrative of one man's quest to be as self-congratulatory as possible. Spoiler alert: he succeeds brilliantly at portraying himself as a real academic through subtle references to the trappings of science -- everything from sitting in on an organic chemistry lecture to borrowing time on a centrifuge from his buddy, his old pal, a Real Scientist. And all of this posturing while also ironically portraying HIMSELF as the keeper of real scientific knowledge that is inaccessible to you, the reader, without him! Such panache.

I almost forgot that the book was about cocktails based on how much he talks about himself (see the attached photographic excerpt from the first pages -- I knew I was in for a real treat!). My favorite quote from the book: "I joke that I don't respect people who can't juice quickly -- but I'm not really joking ... Many years ago I was taught the secrets of the hand press [juicer] by my San Francisco bartender friend Ryan Fitzgerald. He is still faster than me, and I hate him for it." Wow! So not only does the author look down on people who AREN'T as skilled as him, he also resents people who are MORE skilled with him! What a lovable science nerd who is totally not trying to overcompensate for being thoroughly mediocre by namedropping famous people! How could anyone help but love this book!

I highly recommend this read if your goal with cocktails isn't to enjoy them or share them with others but to engage in the hobby in a way that will give you a sense of smug superiority, all while wrapping your arrogance in quote science unquote.

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Okay, sarcasm aside, this books is Just Okay (hence the three-star rating). It does actually have some good ideas and takes on cocktails, and is useful in an encyclopedic way, but it's just that all the useful information is too wrapped up in too many layers of this effusive self-praise for the book to be enjoyable. Speaking as an actual, professional scientist with a terminal degree from the number one degree-granting institution in my field (how's that for arrogant), the "science" in this book is ... well, it's Just Okay. It's a shame that at times he gate-keeps science like he's the warden of Real Arcane Knowledge (e.g., in his spiel on why ice in cocktails can chill things below 0C/32F he describes enthalpy and entropy as "two difficult and oft-misunderstood concepts at the heart of thermodynamics" -- they aren't, anyone with a high-school chem education can understand them at the same level as the author apparently does). At other times the "scientific" mantle that he puts on is as obvious and as obviously ill-fitting as the too-big blazer he wears in several of the photos of himself plastered all over the book (e.g., his "analytic" fitting of dilution as a function of ABV in Excel of all things, with no error bars, goodness-of-fit parameter, description of why he chose a parabola for the fit function or why ABV is the independent variable, or even a figure -- this would not pass peer review and I'd be laughed at it I submitted it), but he never seems to let that dampen his self-regard.

I started keeping track while reading and while the vast majority of statements directed at the reader are either imperatives ("do X") or admonitions ("if Y happens, it's because you did X wrong. I TOLD you how to do X."), most statements involving himself are (naturally) aggrandizing or humblebrags ("My wife and I decided to go to a restaurant in Times Square. Why? CERTAINLY not because we knew [famous chef] had [done something presumably important with food or whatever, who knows]. No, we went because [equally ridiculous reason designed to drive home the point that author is a Real Nerd, lol]"). It just wears on you after a while and your only options are to buy into it and try to pretend that you're in on the stupid joke, or call it out for what it is. So by all means, if you want a book that will get you into the Emperor's New Cocktail Club, buy away. But I might suggest something a little more practical and enjoyable if you're buying this book as a hobbyist and wanting to get something other than the author's disproportionate sense of self-assurance out of it.

The book has four sections. Two on basic, traditional cocktail techniques, one on "novel" techniques like carbonating and using LN2 (to be fair, the author DOES have a healthy scientific respect for the power -- and dangers -- of LN2, which I appreciated), and one section where he just "riffs" on different topics to "see where they take me." The fourth section begins "I love apples."

I didn't read it.

I honestly haven't really read the book throughly, but I'm giving it 5 stars because physically the book is well made and arrived in perfect condition. The book's pages are nice and thick with what seems(and smells) like quality paper. The pictures are bright and makes you want to drink the drinks. Since I haven't actually read it, I can't judge based on the content, grammar or writing.

So thanks to this book, I'm sitting here drinking the best whiskey sour I've ever had in my life. I used the cheap bourbon (as instructed) instead of the good stuff. It uses an egg wash to reduce tannins and increase head retention. It uses a 20% saline solution to change the flavor profile and make it pop without tasting salty in the least....Reducing the shaking time to 20 seconds, changing the size of the ice cubes in the shaker and straining the chips at pouring reduced the dilution to a perfect level. YES it is a dramatic and noticeable difference! Make one your way and make one HIS way and try them side by side....he even tells you to do that in the book. He knows his stuff.

Just buy it. Stop looking for something and buy this. If you like Alton Brown or American Test Kitchen.....this is your book. This is real science and how to apply it to make your life better. People are going to wonder how you do "it". when you pour them a drink like they've never had. You can make it as simple or as complex as you like....here are the tools to make liquid magic.

I'm going to have fun with this. You will too. =)