Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: Prohibition Centennial Edition

This book was received as an ARC from Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

After watching many episodes of Bar Rescue, I have learned a lot about the prohibition cocktails but it was really rewarding to read more information on the history of the cocktails. The ones that intrigued me were the 12 mile limit and the Last Word and how they came about plus they have my favorite ingredients in them as well. We have gotten many requests on cocktail recipes but do not have a lot in the collection due to the prohibition of cocktails and alcohol on the library premise. These recipes are very creative and they all look really delicious plus it was a treat to hear the history behind these cocktails. Every bar owner should have this book in their collection to recollect the history and the recipes for their reference.

We will consider adding this book to our Cookbook collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This book “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails; Prohibition Centennial Edition was provided as an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I have to say I was really intrigued about the history of cocktails and the era of prohibition. So, I am thankful for the opportunity to review this book as it actually was fascinating.

It was done I believe very well as it gives you the whole history how so many influences contributed to what we know about cocktails. I truly enjoyed the vintage images, as well as, such detailed information. Of course the recipes are just perfect and I will be trying several of them out, can’t wait.

Even if you are not a cocktail drinker you should still read the book - it is very interesting and captures our history in a well thought out - concise manner.

I highly recommend this book and will definitely be purchasing the printed copy once available.

5 ⭐️ ⭐️ 🌟 🌟 🌟

I really enjoyed this book!
The author gives a great background on Prohibition and the time around it. it. TH ebook is designed with sepia tones that look great with the black and white photos included within.
As for recipes, Ted Haigh includes some of the no alcoholic drinks people were told to drink instead which was basically just different types of fruit ad juice. This adds an extra layer of history.
The best part though is clearly the photos of the recommended beverages in the last portion of the book. The author gives you the recipe and the background of each drink making it easy to recreate. But the photos of these drinks is art with n it's self.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes cocktails or interested in prohibition history.

A great looking and (generally) entertaining guide to cocktails of the past.

Ted Haigh (aka Dr Cocktail) clearly knows his Martinez from his Gin and It. His passion and love for cocktails - and in particular lost classics - really shines through. At its heart, is a great carefully curated selection of cocktails culled from a extraordinarily wide range of sources: old cocktail books, promotional booklets by drinks manufacturers and, in one case, a handwritten recipe found in an old notebook. All of this excellent and the reason to buy the book. The writing here is amusing and engaging, with personal anecdotes mixed with drink history, and the illustrations excellent and well selected. It has to be acknowledged that many recipes depend on very obscure ingredients or very precise mixing (or both); this is a book where few will attempt more than a couple, I suspect. The only oddity is that some of cocktails chosen really aren’t terribly forgotten. Some the author is open about this fact (such as the Julep) but others one has to wonder if it is a reflection of how different drinks remained popular in the US to elsewhere (is the classic French 75 really a forgotten cocktail?)

Sadly, not all the book is quite so good. A lengthy introductory section dealing with the history of booze, cocktails and drink in the United States is probably best skipped, in my view. Attempts at humour fall flat and any unsourced and a very personal take on history, such as this, is bound to raise plenty of questions about claims made.

This review was based on an electronic proof copy provided for the purposes of reviewing the product by NetGalley. Sadly, it turns out the length of time the book was available was time limited and so whatever the final sections might have contained remain a mystery! That said the book was sufficiently good that I would definitely consider buying a copy, when I next feel the need to bolster the drinks mixing section of my bookcase, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in making cocktails and whose taste runs more to fixing a Sidecar than a Pornstar.

Not being American, I found this book about the history of prohibition extremely interesting and pretty new to me. Whilst in America the era is well known, entrenched in history, with many stories written around it, nevertheless it is a fascinating time in a countries history for everyone.
The stories behind the cocktails and the cocktails themselves are intriguing, beautifully photographed and the recipes easy to follow, if one would like a facsimile of an interesting drink to try
A dip in the fascinating period of history of America

I love cocktails and I love all thing vintage. This book is very informative and an interesting read.

My family and I had the best time recreating the cocktails from Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: Prohibition Centennial Edition! Straight off, the intriguing bits of history and the historical pictures, make Vintage Spirits a perfect coffee table book, but Mr. Haigh includes easy to recreate (and delicious) recipes which I totally recommend!

We made almost all of these, though we were particularly enchanted by the gin cocktails. Our favorites included the Pegu Club, the Park Avenue Cocktail, and the Derby. The daiquiri were delicious and fun to make with the fresh lime juice and crushed ice.

We spent a good deal of money setting up the bar, but with all these wonderful recipes I know our well stocked bar will give us years of enjoyment.

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails is a look back at the 13 years from 1920 to 1933 when the cocktail was elevated as a signature drink.

The book contains a history, photographs or leaflets from this time, and then there are plenty of cocktails to try and the book splits into 3 main sections:
Non Alcoholic Prohibition Cocktails
Illegal Prohibition Cocktails
Cocktails Redux

The cocktails contain the ingredients required, the measurements are in gills, ounces and cl's, it explains how to fix the drink, be that shake, stir and strain or straight over ice plus drink notes. Many of the cocktails have fun names; here are a few that I thought interesting: Two Broken Legs, The Fogcutter and Vowel Cocktail. Certainly a good book for anyone interested in drinking cocktails - I'd even give the Coffee cocktail a go - it looks like coffee but contains none at all - cheers!

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

I love experimenting with fancy drinks and odd liquors, especially if the recipes are straightforward and don’t require odd homemade syrups or truly unobtainable ingredients. So I was super excited to see that Dr. Cocktail was releasing an updated version of his classic book, which I had never read.

In essence, the book itself is divided into two sections: sixty odd pages of history, two hundred or so pages of drink recipes. The historical material was well written and fairly humorous. I learned a lot about the road to Prohibition - and the road from Prohibition - as well as why certain cocktail ingredients and cocktails themselves gained or lost popularity.

Each cocktail recipe contained a list of ingredients that are available in 2020 and the basic preparation steps. Most recipes are followed by Drink Notes, which discuss the origin of the cocktail, the history of the more unusual ingredients, and other anecdotes related (directly or remotely) to the cocktail. Sometimes the recipes are preceded by an introductory note that explains how the cocktail was created or rediscovered.

Another interesting aspect of the book is that there is a comprehensive bibliography of all the reference material used by the author in the creation of the book. There are a lot of gems in that list! Finally, there is an appendix of Pioneers of the Forgotten Cocktail, which gives concise biographies of people who research cocktail history to discover old recipes which are worth reviving. And pretty much every one of them maintains an electronic presence, be it a website, a blog, or a database.

I found so many reasons to love this book. I loved the humor that permeated the text. And the full color photographs of the drinks and period paraphernalia really added to the text. The fact that the author had tested all the cocktails for drinkability, rather than just reproducing the original recipes, gave those recipes more credibility in my book. When he did tweak a recipe to suit modern tastes or ingredients (usually by making it less sweet) he also included the original recipe in the Drink Notes. Finally, I was thrilled that he only used ingredients that are currently available, as several of the original ingredients have fallen out of production or have been only recently revived.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for interesting cocktails to spice up their mixology game. The ingredients, for the most part, aren’t all that exotic. And where there is an exotic ingredient required - like Parfait Amour or Amer Picon - the author cross references other recipes in the book that use that ingredient.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book full of history surrounding the time of prohibition. I enjoyed the backstories to some of the famous bartenders and the vintage photos really helped bring the book to life. It was interesting reading about the ingredients that went into some of the cocktails and I saw many that I would to try. This book is wonderful for both drinkers and those who just enjoy the history of the subject. I found that it provided a wealth of information that I enjoyed learning.

***Thank you to NetGalley and Quarry Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Expected release date March 3, 2020.***


I found this to be a very enjoyable read. The photos and old ads were a very nice touch. There was more information on Prohibition than I’d assumed would be included, but that just added to the story’s interest for me.

Having borrowed the previous edition of this book from my library many times, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to preview this Prohibition Centennial edition. I just might have to buy a copy myself, and I will certainly be suggesting the purchase to the library. The added historical information in the front is fascinating, and I so appreciate the inclusion of historical notes in the cocktail recipes as well. Check it out and raise a glass or two yourself.

An absolutely delightful updating of this great book. In it you'll not only find great vintage cocktail recipes (with enlightening notes), this edition has an expanded history of Prohibition.

If alcohol bombs are not for you & you are looking for a cocktail book with more restraint and engaging recipes, this is it!

If you like making authentic delicious handcrafted drinks and learning about their fascinating history from one of the foremost cocktail historians, Ted Haigh, this book is a must have. This newly, expanded edition was issued for the 100th Anniversary of National Prohibition and includes 66 new recipes. It also goes into more detail about spirits in the prohibition era 1920-1933 than the last edition which was published in 2009. Spiral bound to make it easier to use it the book also includes vintage illustrations and photographs. Excellent!

This is an incredibly thorough look at the history of cocktails, prohibition and the history behind the two. It contains far more information than I honestly ever needed about the subject, but it will be a treasure for anyone profoundly interested in the subject. It's absolutely packed with vintage ads, real historical photos and authentic cocktail recipes for all kinds of regions and time periods. Highly recommended for amateur bartenders, history lovers and anyone wanting to take a deep dive into prohibition and cocktails.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.