Cocktails

Aperitifs, cocktails, coladas, after-dinner drinks, and even lo-alcohol and no-alcohol drinks--they're all here in this fail-safe handbook for home entertaining. Each drink recipe is categorized according to its basic ingredient: gin, rum, brandy, tequila, whiskey, or vodka. Here are easy-to-follow directions for making classic cocktails like the Manhattan, the Martini, or an Old Fashioned. Here too are recipes for trendy, new cocktails--creations like Long Island Iced Tea, which mixes several liquors with fruit and a cola beverage, or the Latin Lover, which combines fruit juice, fruit slices, and ice with tequila. Party hosts will find recipes for more than 100 different drinks, as well as suggestions for party snacks, and even recommended cures for hangovers. Color photos on every two-page spread show prepared drinks, as well as the steps involved in making many of them. Also shown and explained are various bartender's tools, the right glasses for the right drinks, and techniques for slicing fruits and blending ingredients.