Shake, a new perspective on cocktails- a review

Personally, I am more of a wine girl, it’s my husband that drinks cocktails and hard liquor. After seeing this book and the Ball Shaker at Sur la Table last weekend in San Jose, I started to get really excited about reviewing this book.

The first recipe we read in the book was the Mint Julep recipe, like most southerns we love a good sweet bourbon recipe. And we were both intrigued by one ingredient, lemon juice. It never crossed our minds to include lemon juice in our mint juleps!
I also also really intrigued by the ‘Nog recipe. I have never been one for egg nog, honestly the idea of raw egg just turns me off. But this recipe calls for ice cream and no egg! Let’s just say that vanilla ice cream has been added to the grocery list.
Just ask my husband, and he will tell you I like a good sweet Moscato and any summer berry so when I saw the Frenchie, I knew I had a new favorite cocktail!

I really like how this book is arranged, by season. So it’s easy to find local fresh ingredients at the market. Eric and Josh also explain what to have in your liquor cabinet and what kinds of glasses to serve in, (Yes it totally matters) the difference between cube and crushed ice, sweeteners, and what it means to muddle and shake.

We chose to try a few of the recipes in the book, so that in my review of the book, you may have a better idea of the drinks inside. Now, most of the drinks are alcoholic. I have no idea how you would make them taste similar without the alcohol. But there are 2 (yes 2) drinks that are non alcoholic. One is the Mexi-Cafe an iced coffee drink that I have enjoyed pretty much since day one. My husband’s favorite is the Mint Julep, although we did try the Rosemary Maple Syrup Bourbon. I am sure the ‘Nog will be a staple during the holiday party season, and I look forward to also having the Frenchie before summer completely fades away.

Overall, I totally recommend this book to the cocktail lover in your life. Be sure to gift them with this book and the Mason Jar Cocktail Shaker available from Sur La Table, or from Amazon HERE.

Have fun mixing!

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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