I have looked through thousands of cookbooks, so when a new book stuns me, it has to be special. If you love cocktail books, then Difford’s Encyclopedia of Cocktails is a must for you. A must.

The book is overwhelming with a gargantuan 2600 cocktail recipes. The standards are all there, but matched with new ideas that will certainly trigger your bartending instincts. Like the Alice in Wonderland below: orange liquor and tequila, chilled and then layered in a glass. Alice is the essence of a margarita, but sans lemon, lime, sugar syrup or ice. Just the booze, just chilled, just brilliantly layered and presented.

This is a serious, important book. Besides the drink recipes, there is a beautifully photographed section on bartending basics. Followed by another section explaining all those exotic metal tools that are supposedly for bartending but that we all secretly know really belong to a dentist. There’s a short summary of the different types of glasses, but this summary I can understand. Then pages and pages on the garnishes you can use — remember, you see before you taste. And thankfully a short list of the key bottles to stock your bar with.

In the back of the book there is even more information. An ingredients index lists the different cocktails out of the 2600 that use a particular ingredient like Kahlua. A fifty page Ingredients Appendix gives details on hundreds of spirits and liqueurs — from the generic like “vodka” to the very specific like “Zen Green Tea Liqueur.” No, I haven’t gone Zen yet but I’m checking at my local liquor store.

And, for us history buffs, there are several pages of cocktail history, starting in 1732 and taking us sip by sip to the present.

Difford’s Encyclopedia is simply an awesome contribution to the cocktail scene. And I’ve saved the best recommendation for last. How is your imagination? How is your color blindness? I actually have a bit of both. Often, I am challenged when I read about a cocktail and wonder what it is going to look like. Will it appropriately match my appetizers or meal? If the cocktail has Midori, I can expect green. But combinations of unfamiliar components can mystify you. A Rhubarb and Lemongrass Martini sounds charming, but what color is going to come up: red, green, …?

Difford’s has a full color picture of every beverage. And they display each one in a gloriously matching glass. Yes, they use the standard stemware they talked about at the start of the book, but scattered throughout the book are some glassware gems: modern, Deco, and possibly Martian. Each page of this book is a bit of a visual museum.

My first shot out of Difford’s is this Alice in Wonderland. A wonder it is to drink. One down, 2599 to go.

Alice in Wonderland

Yield: 1 beverage

Ingredients:

• 1 shot Grand Marnier
• ½ shot Don Julio resposado tequila
• Lime wedge for garnish

Preparation:

Refrigerate ingredients. Then layer into the glass by first adding the Grand Mariner then the tequila. Garnish with the lime wedge.

Source: Difford’s Encyclopedia of Cocktails