16 Best Cocktail Books That'll Complete Your Home Bar Cart

Everyone has their own “falling in love with cocktails” story. Mine is a bit peculiar: It was from watching Tom Cruise in Cocktail. (Could the craft of whipping up concoctions be this cool?) Yours might be more: From a blue martini you had in a Mykonos beach bar, or a $20 mint julep you had at a world-class destination like Death & Co or Katana Kitten. Though we can probably all agree that there comes a time when we need to learn making some drinks ourselves, so we can stir up those 20-bucks-worthy cocktails at home, hopefully with the same panache as a young Tom Cruise.

To start, considering reading some cocktail books written by actual bartenders that'll teach you both the techniques and hundreds of recipes. Cocktail books are essentially 101 course textbooks that'll show you how to stack a home bar cart with barware supplies and ingredients. You'll dive into some good texts with great photography, and get using bartending kits and mixing drinks under your belts before you finally stock up your home bar.

We’ve rounded up 16 best cocktail books that’ll really teach you how, no matter if you're a mixologist who already knows how many corpse revivers there are, or a budding barkeep who've just discovered the ramos gin fizz. From classic manuals to graphic guides, these cocktail books are all, shall we say, spirited.