TITLE: The Bartenders Best Friend (2nd Edition)
SUBTITLE: A Complete Guide to Cocktails, Martinis, and  Mixed Drinks
AUTHOR: Mardee Haidin Regan
PUBLISHER: Wiley, 392 Pages
TYPE: Drinks Recipes
COST: $19.95
REVIEWED BY: Chris Carlsson, SpiritsReview.com

 This book diffentiates itself from the sea of  drinks recipe books out there as a book for the proffesional level bartenders and the home enthusiast/mixologist. Not just another compendium or recipes, it was written to impart background, knowledge, technique and skills along with recipes. With more than 850 recipes, with many new and specific to this second edition, it ranks as one of the more thoughtful  and current drinks references out there but is not so large as to be unwieldy or filled with a lot of filler-type recipes that are either minor variations, undrinkable, or call for ingredients no one can find.

Drinks are listed alphabetically in the book and indexed in the back by both name and primary spirit/ingredient.

Slightly larger rectangular format  with a spill proof cover and a ribbon bookmark makes it an easy to prop open for consultation while mixing  and easy to carry or store in your bar area.  Heck of a lot better than those tiny older Mr. Boston books which are neither spill proof or easy to crack open and read while mixing. The only improvement I would suggest is if they did a spiral binding so it would lay flat. Excellent reference and value for the money.

Overall rating	Value/price rating