The Best Cocktail Books for Music Lovers and More – Billboard
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It’s National Cocktail Day! The unofficial holiday, observed annually on March 24, was created in 2013 by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway, but you can celebrate your favorite adult drinks all year round.
Awards season is in full swing, so if you’ve been thinking about hosting watch parties for the Oscars, Grammys, and other occasions — or have been looking for affordable gift ideas — we’ve put together a book list of deliciously alcoholic cocktails that you must own.
Our delicious range includes recipe books perfect for music lovers, movie buffs, reality TV fans and anyone who loves a good cocktail. And don’t worry if you don’t drink alcohol: many recipes can be replaced with non-alcoholic spirits, and we’ve added a selection for non-alcoholic cocktail drinkers. See more below.
Booze & Vinyl: A Spirit’s Guide to Good Music and Mixed Drinks
It’s all in the name! Alcohol & Vinyl is the ultimate guide to a rich listening session coupled with tasty drink recipes. The book is organized for different types of music and moods. Each entry features linear notes with musical highlights from select albums and “Side A” and “Side B” cocktail recipes that complement the mood and imagery of the music in the lyrics, or connect the drink to the ‘artist. Some of the 70 albums featured include sergeant. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, purple rain, sticky fingers, born to run, sick permit, appetite for destruction, Polar, like a virgin, Low-end theory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Hotel California, Buena Vista Social Club, Back to black, animal sounds and vampire weekend.
Buy: $18.41 at Amazon.com.
Can I fix you a drink?
T-Pain has teamed up with mixologist Maxwell Britten for an epic cocktail book named after his 2007 hit single. Can I fix you a drink? features 50 shaken, stirred, and mixed drink recipes that have been carefully selected to reflect a feeling from one of T-Pain’s hits. Some of the drink options include Shawty, a bourbon-based drink on the rocks and topped with a lemon twist, and the vodka-based 1 Up cocktail, which is made with vodka, fresh lemon juice, pineapple juice, crushed ice, and club soda.
Buy: $18.16 at Amazon.com.
Gone with the Gin: Cocktails with a Hollywood Flair
Gone with the gin is a must-have cocktail book for movie buffs and cinephiles. Written by Tim Federle, this 152-page cookbook makes a great gift and the perfect edition for movie night. The list of awesome movie-themed drinks includes Whiskey Business, Bonnie & Mudslide, Fight Club Soda, Ti-tonic, A Sidecar Named Desire, The Big Le-Brewski, Monty Python and the Stoli Grail and Bloody Mary Poppins.
Buy: $12.47 at Amazon.com.
Hip-hop cocktail book: drink like your favorite rappers
Want to drink like your favorite rapper? hip hop cocktail book, by Blue Monday Press, is an illustrated book of drink recipes inspired by the rap game. The book features cult cocktail recipes inspired by Notorious BIG, 2Pac, The Beastie Boys, Ghostface Killah, Ludacris, Tone Loc, Kanye West, Lil’ Kim, Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Tech N9ne, Capone-N-Noreaga, Master P , E-40, Mobb Deep, Cypress Hill and more. Find drinks like the name “Funky Cold Medina” by Tone Loc, “Brass Monkey” by the Beastie Boys, and “Gin & Juice” by Snoop.
To buy: $16.62 on Etsy.com.
AF fancy cocktails: drink recipes from a couple of professional drinkers
Vanderpump Rules stars and Ariana Maddox and Tom Sandoval have released a cute cocktail book full of drink recipes and tons of photos. Fancy AF: Drink recipes from a couple of professional drinkers is divided into “classic vs. trash” drink recipes, as well as chapters on hitting and recovery. Many recipes can be made with everyday household items, while others described in the book require specific materials such as a cocktail shaker, colander, bar spoon and pestle, and certain glassware.
Buy: $13.84 at Amazon.com.
The Drunken Botanist
Alcohol and botany go hand in hand. From Agave to Wheat, Amy Stewart’s The Drunken Botanist serves up a fascinating literary concoction of biology, chemistry, history, etymology and mixology. With 50 drink recipes and gardening tips, The Drunken Botanist is divided into three sections and explores topics such as fermentation and distillation, herbs, spices and flowers, and a seasonal range of botanical blends and garnishes you can get from your garden (or grocery store) . Find recipes for martinis, margaritas and mojitos as well as specialty drink recipes.
Buy: $13.89 at Amazon.com.
Alcohol-free cocktails: alcohol-free cocktails with taste and style
Do without alcohol? Mcocktails offers a fun collection of over 80 chic and colorful drinks that look as good as they taste. Let yourself be tempted by citrus concoctions, seasonal specialties and festive and chic cocktails made without alcohol. This visual guide to mocktails includes fun drink names like Lychee-tini, Lavender Bubbly, Blueberry Cardamom Smash, Thai Daiquiri, and Pomegranate Apple Spiced Cider. The book is also filled with beautiful photographs and a list of essential tools and components to create a great drink. For more alcohol-free books, check out Zen Proof: 90 alcohol-free recipes for mindful drinking and Sec: delicious craft cocktails and other clever concoctions.
