Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails by Eric Prum with Josh Williams | Cookbook Review

(This book has a matte cover!  I love the feel of matte covers!)

Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails is co-written by Eric Prum and Josh Williams, the co-creators of the mason jar cocktail shaker.  They emphasize high-quality ingredients over quantity of ingredients, and none of the cocktails had more than 5 steps to follow.  

So many positives to this cocktail recipe book!  First, before you even open the book, you feel the lovely matte cover.  I love matte covers.  I love the minimalist layout of the pages, too.  Just look at that beautiful cover!

Shake opens with a few pages talking about bar basics.  There are 12 "standard" spirits the guys recommend (that's totally doable) and then they also recommend a few styles of stemware/glassware to have on hand.  I ended up trying four different cocktails from the book, and only had to buy one ingredient: rosemary sprigs.  That's awesome.  The book is subdivided by season, which is fun.  I don't want to be anything less than thorough in reviewing my books, so over the course of three weeks I tried one cocktail from each season.  ;)

For Fall, I tried the Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour.  I think this was my favorite.  It was warm and slightly sweet and very sour and very me.  I think it's safe to say that bourbon is our fave liquor.  And this was my first time making a sour without sour mix.  I liked knowing where the sour came from (lemons) versus the probably chemical-filled sour mix.  I think this is the cocktail pictured on the front of the book.

For Winter, I tried the Mid-Winter Marg.  It's a grapefruit margarita but here's the twist: the glass is rimmed with a mixture of dried crushed chili peppers and salt!  Zing!  I thought it was delicious, and definitely warming.

(My Mid-Winter Marg, happily consumed in mid-autumn.)

For Spring, I tried the Blackberry Fence Hopper.  Isn't that a fun name?  It was a great drink.  This one will join my repertoire of faves, but with a slight modification.  According to Shake, you combine liquor, lemon juice, honey, and muddled berries in a shaker and pour over ice, then top off with seltzer water.  I'm not usually a fan of layered drinks.  It feels like you're drinking pure seltzer for a bit then-wham-hit the hard/good stuff.  So I think in the future I'd give the drink a good stir at the end.

(My Blackberry Fence Hopper.  Fun to say, and pretty to look at!)

To round out the "year," I tried the Summer Frenchie.  This cocktail has rose wine as it's base, plus fruit.  Light and refreshing.  

As I mentioned, I liked the short and reasonable ingredients lists.  I had fun experimenting and learning new cocktails.  And I enjoyed the short vignettes in each chapter where the guys talked about favorite activities.  For example, in Spring they talk about attending the horse races and in Winter they share a glance inside their workshop.  Beyond practical, this cocktail recipe book is also full of beautiful photographs and interesting info.

*I received my copy of Shake from the publisher.  Thank you!