The Joy of Mixology, Revised & Updated Edition: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft

The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft

An original book on the craft of mixology is a rare gem. Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology is such a gem, one whose genius lies in Regan’s breakthrough system for categorizing drinks that helps bartenders—both professionals and amateurs alike—not only to remember drink recipes but also to invent their own.

For example, once you understand that the Margarita is a member of the New Orleans Sour Family, you’ll instantly see that a Kamikaze is just a vodka-based Margarita; a Cosmopolitan follows the same formula, with some cranberry juice thrown in for color. Similarly, the Manhattan and the Rob Roy, both members of the French-Italian family, are variations on the whiskey-vermouth-bitters formula.

In this way Regan brings a whole new understanding to the world of cocktails and how to make them. Not only will you learn how to make standard cocktails, you’ll actually learn to feel your way through making a drink, thereby attaining the skills needed to create concoctions of your own. And as Regan explains methods for mixing drinks, how to choose bartenders’ wares and select spirits and liqueurs, and the origins of many cocktails, you’ll feel as though you’re behind the bar with him, learning from a master. Plus, his charming and detailed history of mixed drinks raises this far above the standard cocktail guide fare.

With more than 350 drink recipes, The Joy of Mixology is the ultimate bar guide. Ground-breaking and authoritative, it’s a must-have for anyone interested in the craft of the cocktail.

Biography of the Author

Gaz Regan, the bartender formerly known as Gary Regan, writes The Cocktailian, a bi-weekly column, for The San Francisco Chronicle. He has also written regular columns in The Malt Advocate, Nation's Restaurant News, Cheers Magazine, and The Wine Enthusiast, and his work has been featured in magazines such as Food Arts, Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, Imbibe (UK & USA), and various others. His work is also published in magazines in the U.K., Australia, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, and Russia.

Gaz works regularly with companies such as Diageo, Pernod-Ricard, Heaven Hill, and other major spirits producers and marketers, and he travels the world holding workshops, judging cocktail competitions, and making public appearances. He's a regular judge at Diageo's World Class competition, he speaks at the London Cocktail Week, and he has judged cocktail competitions in Australia, France, London, Slovakia, and of course, the USA.

Gaz also heads up the Bar Smarts Graduates Program for Pernod-Ricard USA -- it's a traveling roadshow of cocktail innovators, movers, and shakers that roams the USA highlighting innovative bartending techniques of the best of the best in the bar business.

Gaz publishes a free e-mail newsletter, gaz regan's Notion, that reaches over 9,000 bartenders and consumers, and he maintains the Worldwide Bartender Database, an on-line community that's well over 2,000 strong. Over 80% of the members of this database are in the USA, and the vast majority of the best bars in America are represented here. gaz uses the database to let bartenders know about jobs, competitions, and festivals in The Weekly Shooter, and he also sends solid information to member bartenders in another weekly email newsletter, The Bartender's Bulletin.

Gaz's first book, The Bartender's Bible, was published in 1991, and between 1995 and 1998, together with Mardee Haidin Regan, he co-wrote The Book of Bourbon and Other Fine American Whiskey, The Bourbon Companion, New Classic Cocktails, and The Martini Companion.

Gaz wrote The Joy of Mixology in 2003, the Bartender's GIN Compendium in 2009, and The Cocktailian Chronicles: The Professor Years, Volume 1, was published in June, 2010. gaz regan's Annual Manual for Bartenders was released in 2011, and if he gets a move on there will be another edition in 2013.

Gaz also conducted Cocktails in the Country, a series of two-day bartender workshops, for seven years, from 2001 until 2007. During his 7-year run, gaz trained bartenders from top cocktail bars in New York, London, Bratislava, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, and various other major cities.

Gaz lives in a small village in the Hudson Valley, about 50 miles north-west of the Big Apple.

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