Bourbon and Rye Cocktails: The History of American Whiskey in 73 Recipes [A Cocktail Recipe Book] - Hardcover

Simonson, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1984863339 ISBN 13: 9781984863331

Verlag: Ten Speed Press, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

Explore the storied history of American whiskey through more than 70 bourbon- and rye-based cocktail recipes, from award-winning author and New York Times and Wall Street Journal cocktail and spirits writer Robert Simonson.

A must-have for whiskey enthusiasts and cocktail aficionados, Bourbon and Rye Cocktails chronicles the rich, centuries-long history of American whiskey and offers a curated collection of expertly crafted cocktails.

Using a timeline format with entries spanning the late eighteenth century to today, award-winning spirits writer Robert Simonson spotlights the key moments (Prohibition, the rise of modern craft distilleries), pioneering personalities (Elijah Craig, Abe Overholt), and legendary brands (Buffalo Trace, Old Forester, Maker's Mark) in the history of American whiskey. 

Most timeline entries are accompanied by a related cocktail, for a total of 73 simple recipes contributed by some of the best bartenders in America. Recipes include riffs on classic cocktails—the Old-Fashioned, Manhattan, Mint Julep, Sazerac, Whiskey Sour—as well as new favorites such as the Barrel Hopper (refreshing and boozy with chocolate bitters and cinnamon), Autumn Leaves (a hot toddy, but cold), The Ninth Ward (a tropical quaff featuring fresh lime and elderflower liqueur), and Soba Sour (starring buckwheat tea, sherry, and honey).

Sporting stylish illustrations and a wealth of whiskey knowledge, Bourbon and Rye Cocktails is a worthy addition to every home bartender's bookshelf.

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Robert Simonson is the author of seven acclaimed books on cocktails and cocktail culture, including The Old-Fashioned, A Proper Drink, 3-Ingredient Cocktails, The Martini Cocktail, Mezcal and Tequila Cocktails, Modern Classic Cocktails, and The Encyclopedia of Cocktails. He has written about cocktails, spirits, and bars for the New York Times since 2009, publishing more words about cocktails than any writer in the history of the newspaper. As such, he was the primary contributor to The New York Times Essential Book of Cocktails. In 2022, he and his wife, Mary Kate Murray, co-founded the well-read Substack newsletter The Mix with Robert Simonson, which was nominated for a Tales of the Cocktail Spirted Award in 2023 and won an IACP Award in 2024. Simonson began writing a cocktail column for The Wall Street Journal in 2024, and also contributes regularly to New York Magazine, Imbibe, Men's Journal, Esquire, and Vinepair.

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Introduction


It’s said that no one knows more about the architecture in Chicago than the city’s taxi drivers. Similarly, hop into a cab in Louisville, Kentucky, and you’re going to get an earful of whiskey.

My Uber driver’s favorite bourbon was Buffalo Trace. I learned this within a minute. I was in town to attend a bourbon convention and to research this book. I had pushed the “quiet ride” button on the Uber app but Mike, the driver, began chatting anyway.

Buffalo Trace came up because I said I was going to be touring the distillery, which is situated in a valley near Frankfort. “No, you’re not,” said Mike. “Buffalo Trace is under water.” I looked out the car window. There was snow on the ground. There had been heavy snowfall the day before, then rain.

“I follow Buffalo Trace,” said Mike. He held up a plastic bag. Inside was a bottle. While waiting for a ride earlier, he had darted inside a liquor store and found a bottle of Buffalo Trace for $22. I said that was a good price for that brand; in New York it goes for $37, if you can find it. Mike said Buffalo Trace is almost impossible to find because the Sazerac Company, the distillery’s parent company, which is based in New Orleans, ships all its whiskey out of Kentucky. Everybody wants Buffalo Trace.

Mike also liked E.H.Taylor, Jr., and Eagle Rare, both made by Buffalo Trace. I like Eagle Rare myself. I asked if he had seen a bottle of Eagle Rare on the shelves recently. He said no. Bourbon is just too popular these days.

He asked what I liked. I said Michter’s; I like their bourbon and rye equally. I said I thought rye, in general, was better if you were mixing cocktails and bourbon was better if you were drinking it by itself. Mike agreed.

Mike said he has a son in Los Angeles who drinks a beverage with THC and mushrooms in it. He shipped some to Mike. “I tried it. It was okay,” Mike said. “With bourbon, there’s a predictability to it. You know what kind of ride you’re going on. With THC, you don’t know how long that ride is going to last.” It wasn’t for him. Mike likes a glass of bourbon.

I told Mike part of the reason I like bourbon is because it comes with a story and a history. THC has no story.

The story of bourbon is a good one. A long one. So is the story of rye whiskey. Both are American stories, as bourbon and rye are our homegrown spirits. This book will attempt to tell those stories.

Currently, those stories have happy endings. Since 2000, bourbon production in Kentucky has increased by 360 percent. Sales reached $5.3 billion in 2024. Every distillery and brand is expanding. Rye whiskey has enjoyed similar and even more surprising growth, going from near extinction at the turn of the century to a time when every distillery producing bourbon must now devote a certain number of days to rye production to satisfy demand. There were once three rye brands on the market; there are now many dozens.

Bourbon and rye owe much of their explosive growth to the cocktail bartending community, which in the aughts began championing the spirits (especially rye) and mixing them into finely tuned drinks. This should be no surprise to anyone. No spirit succeeds in the United States except on the back of a cocktail or two.We are a cocktail country, after all; we invented the cocktail and are justly fond of our creation.

And so, this book on bourbon and rye will tell the stories of those spirits through cocktails. Seventy-three cocktails, to be precise, each drink recipe illustrating a different chapter in the rich, centuries-long history of American whiskey. The chapters are plotted along a timeline, beginning with the building blocks of the spirits (grain, barrels, aging, techniques, geography), then the famous drinks (Old-Fashioned, Manhattan, Sazerac); historical figures from the early days of American whiskey (Elijah Craig, Abe Overholt, Dr.James Crow); mid-history milestones (the Bottled-in-Bond Act, Prohibition, the Taft Decision); storied brands (Buffalo Trace, Maker’s Mark, Pappy Van Winkle); and the more recent advances and developments of whiskey production (the Bourbon Trail and craft distilleries). By the end of the book, the tale of America’s native whiskeys will have been told.

Note: I sourced these recipes with my wife, Mary Kate Murray, cofounder of my Substack, The Mix with Robert Simonson. We used a variety of criteria when choosing which cocktails to include in the book. Some cocktails are classics and were thus natural inclusions. Others made historical sense and tied in neatly to the entry in which they are featured. And still others employed particular bourbons and ryes that are intrinsic to the section in question. A select few are original cocktails that make their debut here and won’t be found in any other book. Whenever the creator of the drink is quoted in the headnote, those comments are original to this text.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Ten Speed Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1984863339
• ISBN 13: 9781984863331
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar