Alchemy in a Glass - Greg Seider
Alchemy in a Glass:
The Essential Guide to Handcrafted Cocktails
Greg Seider / 176 Pages / May 2014
Greg Seider is a kind of prototype for the modern bartender and the generation that started the golden renaissance. In Europe, he may not be as well known as Morgenthaler, Boudreau or Meehan, but he knows the latter (who is the founder of PDT Bar) very well and has received a foreword from him with praise in the highest terms. His resumé is also typical, even before the start of the modern bar revival he was working in well-known restaurants and doing early craft cocktail menus in NYC, Miami and LA, followed in 2009 by his own bar, Summit Bar, which was nominated by NY Magazine for New Bar of the Year. Later, he also created bar menus for 3-star restaurants in LA, among others.
In the introduction after that preface he talks a little about his career, featuring quite typical stories from his childhood, how early he started mixing things, his earlier career in crowded hotspot gastronomy in the 90s, to the first high culinary experiences that inspired him. He already starts criticizing some (anonymous) bars for not keeping their ratios as they should in recipes or using exotic ingredients without understanding them. He also begins to already describe his own philosophy.
What follows is a short chapter on that philosophy and how he recommends looking at and creating drinks, interesting here is his quite atypical description of cocktail ingredients:
"Every drink is made from the same four sequential layers: foundation, dimension, finish and the x-factor. The magic, however, is in the details."
He explains these in more detail and uses them (although not exactly and with these names) later in the recipes. In addition a mini-table follows explaining a "foolproof-formula for shaken drinks", as you can find similarly later with more depth in the Death & Co books for example.
One of the classics in the first half of the recipes
Thereupon the recipe part starts, without any standard bar book introduction to glasses, utensils, etc., these follow afterwards.
The first part of the recipes is dedicated to the classics, 23, in his opinion, quintessential drinks and his favorite way to prepare them. In the accompanying texts, as in many books, he simply briefly tells the origin stories of the drinks. So far, so boring, concerning the 23 classics, from the perspective of being an active hometender for some time. What still saves this part for people with already too many bar books, is, as already mentioned, his special preparation method and the precise breakdown of the drinks in tables.
As later with the signatures, he categorizes the ingredients (Spirit, Bitter, Sweet, Sour, etc.), which can certainly help beginners understand the structures of drinks better. At the same time, however, it makes them much more annoying to read, since there is a table line between each ingredient, especially since the preparation is another table where glass, garnish and then again the substitutes are also each separated with lines.
These substitute products are, and this sounds more negative than it should, my highlight of the book. In particular the Classics section gets its value here, because for each recipe of the book the reader receives a recommendation - in addition to the brand in the recipe - for at least 2-3 other substitute brands, which suit the drink just as well. THAT is something all bar books should try to implement in my humble opinion, but is still quite a rare sight. (TIKI by Shanon Mustipher comes to mind with 1-2 alternative suggestions per recipe).
One of the more simple riffs, others are more sophisticated
After the classics, which were chosen for understandable reasons, come the Signatures, or "Alchemy" as it is called here. This word has, 8 years after the appearance of the book, a somewhat cliché tone to it, but we won't judge. 26 there are, so with the classics just under 50 recipes plus some punches later, not great, but solid.
For almost all signatures you will have to go to a better supermarket or Asian market, but then they should be almost all feasible. The book is from 2014 and is already pre-sorted to fit the scope of hometenders, accordingly, you got a lot of "simple" infusions, only a very small amount of more sophisticated techniques. As well as quite a number of his favorites, meaning special syrup mixtures instead of normal simple syrups or agave syrup, he especially likes to use types of agave mixes, spiced, etc.
This means just about every drink has that one spice kick or twist, that x-factor, I mentioned above and he talks about in his introduction. These x-factor ingredients are mostly the ones you'll need to go shopping for. Examples of the "rarity" would be pink pepper, china bark, cardamom, etc., as I said, mostly something that you can quickly find in good supermarkets or even Asia markets.
This is followed by a short section on punches, with general advice on what to look out for concerning this special topic and what will make it easier for you. In addition to that you get 4 recipes that sound quite appealing and are not too complicated.
This is followed by the obligatory section describing infusions, premixes, tinctures, and so on. Here it shows how much he likes to work with them, 10 pages full of them for the 26 signature recipes. Every recipe uses them, so to speak.
The also obligatory short secton on tools, as well as tips on shaking and stirring follow (one double page each), then "Seider's Chosen Ones", simply his 2-3 brand recommendations per base spirit & a few liqueurs, for the home bar.
This also brings us to the solid and easy to use index and the end of this work.
Conclusion:
Greg Seider's book is a good recommendation for hometenders that have just crossed the threshold from beginner to advanced hobbyist and are ready to go shopping at the local Asian market for a drink, but at the same time do not yet want to get expensive or elaborate equipment. Especially the brand substitution recommendations are big plus,while the splitting of the recipes into tables hurts more in readability than it helps, in my opinion. The photos and design itself are solid, no more, no less. The very small format is also not my favourite concerning design choices. For a reasonable price, I can recommend it to anyone as an interesting recipe collection for slightly advanced home bartenders, especially fans of spices.
