If you’re wondering how to improve your summertime cocktail game, look no further! Here are ten awesome books completely devoted to optimizing your poolside happy hour.
All through Italy, people enjoy their negronis and Aperol Spritzes alongside stuzzichini, which are small bites or snacks. Restaurants provide the stuzzicihini at no extra cost, but these dips, toasts, and pastries are hallmarks of hospitality, and perfect for entertaining at your own happy hour.
All the classic cocktail recipes were created during Prohibition—but that was because homemade booze tasted so bad you couldn’t just drink it straight. Now, we can have it all, and we can do it while watching our favorite classic films. This Turner Classic Movies book pairs films with cocktails, and it gives you the perfect recipes for creating them.
If you’re looking for a punny 90s throwback, try this book! Each chapter is based on a mood of music, so if you’re feeling anything from grungey to pure pop, you’re sure to find a drink that suits you well.
Recommended reading for anyone trying to host anyone. Not only does it offer 100 easy entertaining recipes, but here you’ll find party planning advice, etiquette, and how to run the span of a small happy hour to a backyard barbecue to an epic holiday soiree!
Just because you’re roughing it camping doesn’t mean you have to drink just whiskey from a plastic bottle! This book is full of cocktails to enjoy outside—and some of them are even foraging-friendly!
Here are over sixty cat-themed cocktails, organized by different topics and trivia that are all feline related. It also teaches how to stock your bar just right for when you’re entertaining yourself and your pets.
Time to level up your cocktails and mocktails with gamer-inspired recipes! This book includes vibrant illustrations and instructions on how to combine all your components into one, controller-friendly glass.
This book is genius: would I like a fancy cocktail directly after a stressful day of work? Of course I would! But I’m most likely to go for the thing that’s the coldest, the closest, and the readiest. This book fixes that need: with recipes you can make in advance for yourself and your guests, you can stick the pre-prepped bottle in the freezer and the drinks will be ready when you are.
In this book, Edward Lee goes deep into the subject of bourbon. He talks about its history, what to look for in a label when you’re buying, and even how to taste it like a professional. This book also contains fifty recipes on how to cook with your favorite spirit! And, of course, it has the best Old Fashioned recipe you’ve ever tried.
Before you head to the beach, check out this book that contains everything you need to know about tequila. You’ll learn how it’s made, how it’s fermented, how it’s classed into five categories, and how to tell which of the producers you should know and explore. If you’ve ever wondered why there are so many celebrity tequila brands, you can learn the answer here.
Drink up!
Mary Kay McBrayer is the author of America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster. You can find her short works at Oxford American, Narratively, Mental Floss, and FANGORIA, among other publications. She hosts the podcast about women in true crime, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. Follow Mary Kay McBrayer on Instagram and Twitter, or check out her author site here.
