This 150 year old cocktail guide is an amusing historical artifact. The drinks are old fashioned varieties that are seldom seen and not suitable to today’s tastes. However, it’s a fun history to have around for those interested in mixology. ( )

The original cocktail book, so it's got some very old fashioned drinks in there. The punches for 20 are awesome to read about, as are the sly comments in some of the drink descriptions. A lot of the recipes are variations on each other (make that drink with this other alcohol), but it's a useful resource (if occasionally in need of translation for the amounts, the glossary in the back helps). ( )

This is a fun little book of cocktail history. It may not be the most practical book, but it's neat to see the historical recipes for classic drinks. I especially love the punch section, which involves mixing gallons of ingredients into massive concoctions. There are many non-standard measures used, but those are also fun to look up in order to figure them out. Probably more of a conversation piece than anything else, but definitely also contains some useable recipes. ( )

As a piece of history, this is fascinating stuff. Cocktails were not super-sweet affairs designed to mask the taste of liquor and measurements for single drinks often include "a wineglass of rum." Flips, Fizzes and all manner of punches are present.

On the other hand, very little of it is practical. Even if one scales back many of the ingredients to get reasonable quantities, many ingredients are difficult to find. For those that do, it's clear to see why so many of these cocktails in the book have not survived 100+ years. We did brave up and attempt a raw-egg rum flip, and while it wasn't bad-tasting, the texture if one let it sit too long...well, it's clear these were meant to be consumed quickly and in heavy volume.

Really, it's a fun read for the historical perspective, but one won't find many practical applications for today's bar. ( )

The Bon Vivant's Companion is a lovely historical text for a drinks enthusiast and there are some nice pieces of prose about the origin of some iconic American cocktails like the mint julep. But it's probably of limited use to someone who wants to learn to mix drinks. ( )