Guides to cocktail making can be a Goldilocks experience… this one is too complicated (usually a world-renowned bartender writing for fellow hospitality pros); this one is oversimplified (cocktails for idiots who can’t be trusted to keep a grip on a Boston shaker). Home Bar by Andy Clarke (£12.99, hardback), however, is just right. 

It offers interesting but achievable and approachable recipes, often making use of those random bottles at the back of your drinks cupboard you can’t remember buying on a holiday (pisco, Calvados, raspberry liqueur?). There is also an emphasis on ingredients from your kitchen – Clarke’s not afraid to introduce a bit of fruit, or even veg (the pumpkin-spiced bellini is a revelation). This means purées, syrups that you can prepare in advance to add an elevating element to your drinks.

A particularly useful section is the chapter on batched cocktails – ideal for making in high volumes before a party – covering all of the most popular spirits and with options for every season.   

The classics section is definitive and spot on with technique – there is no danger of embarrassing yourself like Stanley Tucci by making the faux pas of shaking a negroni after reading this. There are also plenty of twists on those classics – for example, a “supersonic aviation” with additional pomegranate juice and dry vermouth. The recipe is a nod to that Joan Collins and Leonard Rossiter 1980s Cinzano ad set on a plane (‘Getting your head down, sweetie? Jolly good idea’). 

Clarke, a TV producer who, usually off-camera, has developed the drinks for shows including Saturday Kitchen, has an amusing and engaging style. He clearly understands that, while there is precision and know-how involved in cocktail-making, the main purpose of the craft is making fun, tasty drinks for your friends.

welbeckpublishing.com