You wait years for a good book about cocktails to be written, then two come along in quick succession. After Andy Clarke’s all-fun Home Bar, reviewed here, comes The Cocktail Edit by Alice Lascelles. The phrase “carefully curated” is bandied about as much as “category disruptor” these days, but it genuinely applies to this cleverly structured (and elegantly designed) book.

It is based on a clear ethos: there are hundreds of different cocktails, except that, actually, there aren’t. If you took all the cocktails named in all the menus in all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, the number would be… well, infinite. There’s only one thing bartenders like more than slightly tweaking an existing recipe, and that is coming up with a clever name for their twist on a twist on a classic.

Lascelles argues the case that, at its core, cocktail-making is based on 12 recipes. Which seems obvious if you take some classics… sure, a boulevardier is simply a Negroni with bourbon instead of gin; a Rob Roy is a Manhattan with scotch; and a Gibson is a martini with a different garnish. But she extends the argument to more surprising deconstructions: a mint julep is just an old fashioned with crushed ice and mint, and a French 75 is really a straight-up gin sour topped up with champagne.

The number 12 comes up again in a very helpful section: the dozen bottles everyone who makes cocktails needs (and not only the obvious spirits, but those go-to flavour enhancers such as maraschino, triple sec and bitters that are essential).

Don’t worry, though – this approach doesn’t leave the reader short-changed for recipes. Along with the “capsule collection” of cocktails you need to master, there are six variations for each recipe. But more than that, this book does a job that is rarely achieved by kitchen recipe books, let alone cocktail guides: it helps you crack the code. There’s a special moment for an amateur cook, when you feel – like Neo – you’ve broken the Matrix. You don’t have to follow instructions any longer but can adapt core recipes and ratios to the ingredients at hand. Similarly, this book helps you master the principles of drinks-making and understand how you can start adding personal twists and coming up with your own cocktail name puns. (We’re currently trying to perfect a Brummellvardier.)

Also, though it has a philosophy behind it, The Cocktail Edit is not a dry, dogmatic read. Lascelles is a wine and spirits columnist for the Financial Times, and one of the most engaging voices in drinks writing – she has won the IWSC Spirits Communicator of the Year award, among other accolades. What’s more, the cocktails look fabulous in the (very Brummell-style, we must say!) photographs.

The Cocktail Edit by Alice Lascelles, £16.99, is published by Hardie Grant on 13 October

alicelascelles.com; hardiegrant.com