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Drink What You Want: The Subjective Guide to Making Objectively Delicious Cocktails Hardcover – June 2, 2020

by John deBary (Author), Jim Meehan (Foreword)

4.6 117 ratings

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A nonjudgmental, back-to-basics approach to making custom cocktails that's as fun as it is definitive—from a renowned New York City bartender who's worked everywhere from PDT to Momofuku.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY EPICURIOUS

John deBary is a veritable cocktail expert with a 100-proof personality, a dash of fun, and garnished with flair—there's nothing muddled about him. In Drink What You Want, John breaks down the science of mixology (yes, it's a science) and explains the rules of drink-making. Most important, you'll learn how to tweak any drink, both classic and creative, to your preferences and moods. Are you adventurous or traditional? Sweet or bitter? Brown liquor or clear?

While giving newbies a rundown of cocktail culture, lingo, and etiquette, John turns the "cocktail book" concept on its ear by infusing a traditionally formal topic with his fresh, conversational voice. Mixology geeks and bottomless brunchers alike will revel in the craft of the cocktail, from classic to modern to funky. Cocktails are about creativity and setting the mood, and Drink What You Want overflows with both.

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From the Publisher

Drink What You Want, cocktail books, drink books, gifts for women, gifts for men, alcohol gifts

Editorial Reviews

Review

“John’s cocky (pun very much intended), idiosyncratic, culturally literate, OCD voice is like the subject matter itself: bold, brash, bitter, exacting, and occasionally scandalous. His book is the Corpse Reviver (Number Blue, of course) bartenders and enthusiasts have been thirsting for. For this, and to witness John step out as he does ahead, I’m honored to position the coaster.”—from the foreword by Jim Meehan, author of Meehan’s Bartender Manual and The PDT Cocktail Book

“When we started Momofuku, I didn’t know anything about cocktails. I’m the guy who still likes to drink sh*tty beers. If it wasn’t for JdB, we would still be selling Diet Dr Pepper and watery beer. JdB is one of the most creative people I know. He transformed our cocktail program and how I think about what I drink—now let him do the same for you.”—David Chang, chef and founder, Momofuku

“John deBary is the only person in the world who could make me care about cocktails. Even if he weren’t one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject out there, I’d still read this book cover to cover just for the LOLs.”—Alison Roman, author of Dining In and Nothing Fancy

“I’ve had the good fortune of having courtside seats at the New York bars where John deBary developed his signature style, and with Drink What You Want he distills his spirited wisdom into a compact, back-to-the-basics cocktail guide that’s actually anything but. This well-balanced ‘Tao of John’ is smart, funny, highly opinionated, and at times a bit irreverent (I’ll never look at my muddler the same way again).”—Brad Thomas Parsons, author of Bitters, Amaro, and Last Call

“John deBary is an extraordinarily talented mixologist and the perfect bartender to show the home enthusiast how to make great drinks. Drink What You Want is packed with helpful tips for creating balanced, delicious cocktails in the comfort of your home, and is sure to become a must-have cocktail book!”—Julie Reiner, owner, Clover Club and Flatiron Lounge

“Overall, a book with simple cocktails and classics for the noobs, thoughtful analysis for the grizzled pros, excitingly stupid drinks for the lazy and desperate, and a lot of little revelations in cocktail flavor and function throughout. Great stuff.”—Camper English, cocktails and spirits expert

“Cocktail expert John deBary offers an illustrated guide to archetypal drink recipes, along with cheeky suggestions for riffing on those standards.”—Liquordotcom

“A generous pour of informative fun, like a conversation with your favorite bartender.”—Garden and Gun magazine

“deBary is an enthusiastic host who refreshingly avoids judgment or condescension, and his imaginative collection is sure to inspire those who want to try their hand at mixing up a cocktail at home. This is a terrific entry point that even veteran bartenders can appreciate.”—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

John deBary began bartending in 2008 at PDT, the world-famous and James Beard Award-winning New York speakeasy. He joined the acclaimed Momofuku restaurant group a year later, where he was the group’s bar director until 2018. John is now the CEO and founder of Proteau, a non-alcoholic botanical drinks company, as well as a co-founder and board president of Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, a nonprofit focused on improving the quality of life of hospitality employees. He lives in New York City with his husband and cat.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

About Me

Enough about you―let’s start with me. I’ve been working as a bar professional for about ten years and I’ve been fortunate enough to have spent time behind the bar at some of the best spots in the world. But, like many in my industry, my path into the bar world was anything but straightforward.

I grew up in a fancy suburb of New York City, went to a fancy college in Manhattan, and until I ended up behind the bar, I was on track to become a lawyer or academic or something similarly white-collar. I had a vague idea that I needed a “real” job to be successful in life and I never imagined bartending would be the way I would do it.

I studied Japanese history and language in college and moved to Japan after graduation. I was considering staying there indefinitely, but after about three months, I realized it wasn’t the place for me and returned to New York City. With no job and a few grand in credit card debt, I was fairly desperate and asked everyone I’d ever known if they could hook me up with a job―any job. One of those people was Don Lee, a guy I went to college with who was on the opening team of the iconic reservations-only cocktail bar PDT (Please Don’t Tell) on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. This was a year or two before it became the legendary spot it is today. I asked Don if I could come bartend there and, astonishingly, he agreed to let me train. Mind you, I had no bar, spirits, or cocktail experience whatsoever. But after a couple of shifts, I started to get the hang of it. And by the hang of it, I mean flat-out pretending that I knew what the f*** I was doing. I was the queen of “fake it ’til you make it.”

With three or four more shifts under my belt, I was feeling pretty good about this new gig, but I still had to pass the Jim Meehan test. In case you don’t know, Jim was the Big Boss of PDT at the time and he was a big deal well before the bar was. I was so nervous to meet him; I thought he would see right through me for the fraud that I was. Fortunately, he didn’t, and I was permitted to keep showing up at PDT every Monday night even though I was Some Dude with No Experience Who Still Wanted to Go to Law School.

I was twenty-five years old, which is kind of old relative to when a lot of people start out in the food service industry, and I knew I needed to catch up fast. So I hit the books: Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology, David Wondrich’s Imbibe!, and David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks were the first of the hundreds of cocktail books I would read. I understood that I needed to stop pretending I knew what a Sazerac was and actually learn how to make one―and also learn there was a whiskey called Sazerac as well―so I devoured the Rolodex of cocktail recipes that sat behind the bar at PDT by transcribing them into my personal notebook and making flash cards to study.

Eventually, instead of feeling profound panic at the beginning of my shift, I eased into a sense of comfort. After a few quick months, my name and picture were featured in The New York Times as one of the geeky bartenders at this cool new underground cocktail bar. The article helped me realize I was onto something with the cocktail thing. My law school dreams evaporated.

A year after starting my career at PDT, I was offered a job bartending twice a week at Momofuku Ssäm Bar, the second restaurant to open in the now global empire of chef David Chang. In case you haven’t watched TV or looked at the internet or a newspaper in the past fifteen years, David Chang is a chef from Virginia who rose to culinary prominence with the opening of Momofuku Noodle Bar in 2007. Now the group has a dozen restaurants spanning the globe and has spawned magazines, cookbooks, sauces, podcasts, and more Netflix specials than I have the inclination to count (or time to actually watch).

Apart from teaching me about wine, service, kitchen techniques, and how to disarm grumpy chefs, my time there gave me my first opportunity to exercise creativity over an entire cocktail menu, not just individual drinks. After about three years behind the bar, I transitioned to becoming the company’s first bar director, a position I held for five years. During that time, I helped open more than ten restaurants, created dozens of cocktail menus, and trained countless people on how to bartend.

And now I get to teach you how to make great drinks.

About You

Ultimately this book is for everyone. But if you’ve never made a drink in your entire life and don’t know the difference between an Old Fashioned and a gin and tonic, you are my target demographic. My goal is to bring you to a point of reasonable proficiency and comfort in drink-making without getting too bogged down in the nerdy details that can scare many away.

If you like making drinks, own a few cocktail books, have figured out your favorite Scotch, and want to get a little more creative while making your life easier and more delicious, this book is also for you, but you might see some familiar things.

If you’re a seasoned professional with years of experience behind the bar and you’ve read all the classics, regularly develop drink recipes, design bars and menus, and train people to become bartenders, I hope you’ll find this book is also for you. You’ll probably encounter facts and recipes that are totally familiar, but hopefully, hearing these things from a fresh perspective―mine―can help you organize your thoughts and in turn be better at what you do. You might hate me for some of the things I’ll say. Hell, I hate me for some of the things I say. You also might consider my advice heretical, sloppy, and full of gross overgeneralizations. I don’t deny any of those things. But I invite you to consider the viewpoint that compromise and simplification are sometimes necessary in many situations. Although carelessness is never okay. Look, if you think I’ve got something really wrong and you want to yell at me about it, please do. I’ve been wrong many times in the past and I’m sure I will be wrong many times in the future. I’m atjnd3001 on Twitter and Instagram, and I love it when people talk shit about me on the internet, mostly because I love attention.

No matter who you are or how much you know about spirits, bartending, and cocktails, I’m going to write as though you, dear reader, know absolutely nothing. Don’t be offended. Feel free to skip ahead or jump around, but just know that sometimes the best way to learn is to relearn with a beginner’s mind-set.

Regardless of all of the above, thank you for buying this book, and please keep reading.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarkson Potter (June 2, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525575774
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525575771
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.53 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.7 x 1 x 9.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #519,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #152 in Whiskey
- #502 in Alcoholic Spirits
- #567 in Cocktails & Mixed Drinks

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Interwebz Admin

One of my favorite cocktail books

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

I absolutely love this book. It gives you an extremely wide variety of drinks, interesting stories about both the drinks and how the author came to learn about them or create them, and most importantly, often has suggestions of different ingredients you may want to try swapping into place for a variation on a particular drink.

A word of warning, it does often venture off the beaten path of ingredients (liquors and complimentary items) that a typical home bar may have. I see that complaint about a lot of more exotic cocktail and tiki books and have never understood it; if you want to pour rum and cokes all day and not actually buy ingredients, don't buy a friggin' cocktail book.

My favorite drink from the book that you don't often encounter, or at least not one made properly, the Singapore Sling.

4 people found this helpful

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NdB

An Educational, Entertaining a& Insightful Guide for Drinking During a Pandemic

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

Have to say I was drawn to this book’s visuals and creativity as much as I was to it’s subject. And I am really glad to have found it during a time when I had no plans to entertain, or impress, or drink with anyone but myself.

The bottom line: when I first opened it, I knew little about the craft of, or the science behind, making great drinks, or even what drinks I would want to make. 4hrs or so later, after skimming and skipping around, and eventually picking a recipe that looked good to me and easy enough to try (whiskey sour) and some trail an error, I feel like I know how to make at least one really high quality cocktail (that I’m excited to share with others, in the future!)

I learned, and laughed, a lot too. Aside from a great resource it is a fun, and as I said, a great looking book to have around, and definitely one I’ll to return to again and again.

2 people found this helpful

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Boat Girl

Brilliant. I love everything about this book.

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

My new go-to cocktail book. This is more than just a recipe book. I love the way the chapters are organized by “feels,” and the suggested riffs on the classics. The text intros are more than (sometimes humorous) anecdotes that bring the author to life on the page, though they are that. They are also further educating me around how to appreciate, and ultimately create, balanced flavors in a drink. Recipes range from super simple combinations of common bar and pantry ingredients, to more fussy-fancy stuff that you can have fun concocting during these hunkered-down times. My husband is a non-imbiber; and although I didn’t realize there was a “feeling sober” chapter in this book, it’s been worth the price of admission right there. I’m having fun fixing sophisticated, non-alcoholic beverages for him every evening that pop with flavor and surprise. (That white pepper-fennel syrup, WOW.)

4 people found this helpful

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Julia V. Bainbridge

What other cocktail books have you laughing out loud?

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Too often, cocktail writing is boring and dry. John's book is so alive with personality and humor, I feel like I know him. And while simply reading it makes this purchase worth it, Drink What You Want is also technically good, as a cookbook: the recipes work, the cocktails are delicious, and John's not precious about fancy equipment. (Example: Stir your drink with chopsticks if you don't have a bar spoon. It's fine!) Bonus points for including a chapter of alcohol-free drinks. Any thoughtful host should be thinking about those who don't drink, and John makes it easy to serve them.

2 people found this helpful

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Alexandria Magnan-Wheelock

Buy this book!

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

I love this book! I love drinking cocktails at restaurants but now with quarantine I’ve had to rely on my own (very limited) skills to make my own drinks at home. DeBary does such a great job explaining the basics of how to build a good cocktail. My husband doesn’t drink, so I also appreciated the chapter on non-alcoholic cocktails. My favorite chapter was on cocktails you can whip up easily in a hurry. If it want an entertaining, well-written, informative book about cocktails, buy this book!

2 people found this helpful

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Heather Ann

Love love love

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

I love how witty deBary is throughout this book but the recipes are amazing. From the classics to the fun and festival drinks. Everything we’ve tried so far has come out awesome. Can’t wait to make the bigger batch drinks.

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ymmayer

the only cocktail book you need honestly

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2020

this is THE only cocktail book you need. it covers classics and all the trendy stuff. at the beginning of quarantine i was just chugging straight liquor and white claws but then i really started to miss fancy cocktails so i got this book and now i have a handful of favorites that i have mastered and i’m like maybe i will never go back to paying $18 for a cocktail ever again! also my favorite part is there is a flowchart that shows you what you can make with just stuff from any random liquor cabinet. trust me you deserve a nice homemade cocktail- it will make the pandemic so much more bearable.

2 people found this helpful

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Kerrin Egalka

Best in class

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2020

I can’t put it any other way, this is the best cocktail book on the market. Not only is it an easy, enjoyable read (unlike an explosive data dump of recipes like most books in the category), but it is truly one-stop shopping. Recipes that will satisfy even the most obnoxious of your friends (why are you still friends with her anyway she really sucks). Cant recommend it enough. I work in the cocktail industry and everyone’s getting this for Christmas.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Adore this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2022

Verified Purchase

I am completely thrilled with this purchase! I bought it pretty much on a whim after listening to the Martini episode of Dave Chang’s Recipe Club podcast and seeing that it wasn’t very expensive. JdB’s writing completely charmed me and I loved all the hilarious little asides and footnotes. I pretty much immediately sat down and read it cover-to-cover. The book is also very visually appealing with great illustrations throughout. But best of all is that I already know I’m going to learn so much from it. I am not a complete cocktail-making novice (and certainly not a cocktail-drinking novice), I love the classics and I have another brilliant cocktail recipe book (a huge Phaidon one that is reverently called “the bible” in my house). But I’ve never quite understood the equivalence between so many of the classic cocktails that I love (or had the confidence to create my own drinks) and this book spells it out perfectly and in a way that really sticks in the memory (e.g. a Sidecar, one of my all-time fave cocktails, is the structurally the same as a margarita with tequila swapped for cognac and lime swapped for lemon, both have Cointreau). Each recipe gives loads of ideas for personalisation in the headnotes and, in addition to the classics, there are lots of fun drinks that I’d either never heard of or are John’s creations and a brilliant chapter called “Feeling Desperate” with cocktails you can make without access to a full booze cabinet (e.g. at the beach - mix store-bought popsicles with tequila!). It gave me such a buzz of excitement, I really loved it and it’s cracking value. 10/10 would recommend. UPDATE: on further reflection I would just add a minor word of warning that this is not for the super straight-laced as there are one or two risqué jokes and I would hate for someone to buy it and mark it down for that

Richard R Kranstz

A wonderful collection

Reviewed in Canada on September 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

A wonderful read cover to cover, and it was well worth the price just to discover his recipe for the Corpse Reviver Number Blue!

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