From the author, Ted Haigh aka: Dr Cocktail himself:
Friends, history buffs, cocktail enthusiasts, creative thinkers...it has been half a decade since Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails was released, to more fanfare than I could ever have imagined. In two weeks, Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails, the deluxe, revised & expanded edition, will hit the shelves.
This is a sincere avowal of my belief that the new edition is better than the first. Here are some reasons I think so: There are fully 25% more forgotten recipes to try. The book is over twice as long. (Why 25% more recipes but twice the pages? I'll explain...)
When I penned the first edition, I did so under the most unlikely of circumstances. I was buying my first house. I was moving into it. I was refurbishing it. I was getting married. I was working on the biggest movie project in Hollywood at the time. You see, that first edition began as a simple beauty project....recipe, pretty cocktail picture, cute anecdote. Anyone who knows me or has seen that book can imagine how long THAT plan lasted! The problem was...the book also had a deadline. While I was very proud of it (and thrilled by the response to it) I was aware - even before it was released - that some of the history was incomplete and less clear than I wished. Cocktails were included for which there was no time to ponder and supply the explanatory text they surely deserved. And, I admit it, there were errors. The book did look good but, as a longtime graphic designer, I knew where its every visual weakness lay. And it was paperback. It would not open and lie flat. This meant copies were quickly trashed attempting to actually use them behind the bar.
I agreed to do this new deluxe edition because I was assured a vast degree of creative control that many authors can only dream of. The result, as I said, is a book twice as long with lots more history and drink explanations (for both the original drinks and the many newly revealed ones as well) but that's only the tip of the Kold-Draft ice cube. This new book is hardcover. The cover is water resistant. The result of a clever binding trick, the book opens to any page and lies flat. The substantial historical research yielded photographs, discoveries, and insights, much of which will be newly revealed.
In the original book, I did not have complete control over the the drink photography, which was done thousands of miles away from me. The deluxe edition was photographed right here at Casa de Cocktail. I was the art director, stylist, bartender. I personally chose the photographer, the ultra-talented Claire Barrett. I think you'll see the difference; all of the images in the book are larger too.
Time moves on. Thus far, everything I've mentioned is a revision, an extension, and enhancement. The cocktail world has expanded and bloomed into full flower around the globe. The changes over the last critical five years have been extraordinary - and it's all chronicled in the deluxe edition. The resource appendix was entirely rewritten with expanded, up-to-date resources. Most importantly, there is a completely new section of the book looking at the Internet and the effect it has had on the cocktail renaissance we now enjoy. I name the twenty-five most influential online cocktail pioneers, interview them about it, and share their thoughts.
There you have it. This is the book I always wanted to do; the best Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails I am capable of.
It hits the shelves July 1st, but it is available for pre-order on Amazon right now via this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Spirits-Forgotten-Cocktails-Alamagoozlum/dp/1592535615/
I would be honored for you to search out a copy.
Special note: it'll be on sale at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, July 8th-12th where I will be happy to personally sign your copy!
Ted Haigh is the author of "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails"
(Quarry Books, Rockport Publishers)
Revised and expanded deluxe hardback edition on sale July 1, 2009
and Curator and designer of The Museum of the American Cocktail, New Orleans
http://www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org/