Mixing it Up with The Book of Cocktail Ratios

This guide is for those who believe in keeping home cocktails fairly simple, limiting them to just a handful of ingredients and base spirits with long or indefinite shelf lives.

Distilling dozens of delectable drinks down to their basics, Michael Ruhlman offers five simple formulas and a few techniques that will allow home bartenders to prepare an impressive repertoire of cocktails.

“As an organizing principle in this book, I identify five primary ratios, or cocktail families, (The Manhattan, The Gimlet, The Margarita, The Negroni, The Martini), along with some miscellaneous cocktails that don’t fit neatly into a ratio but a worth ordering or mixing,” Ruhlman explains.