In THE COCKTAIL CABINET flavour expert Zoe Burgess demystifies cocktails, explaining and exploring the structures, flavour profiles and techniques used. In the first part of the book Zoe helps you understand why cocktails work, looking at the five basic tastes and other elements, including the flavour profiles of key spirits. She pulls apart classic recipes to explore their structure and explains why certain ingredients work together. Understanding these elements allows you to understand and build on your personal taste preferences, opening up a vast palette of options – including those of your own creation.

The second part of the book puts that knowledge into practice, with more than 80 recipes for drinks organised by cocktail type – champagne-based, stirred, bitter, sour and long. In each chapter Zoe builds on the basic recipe, layering on additional ingredients and variations to ensure you go on the journey of exploration with her, and get under the skin of how the cocktails are built. Throughout the book informative illustrations show everything from the flavour profiles of spirits to the deconstructed building blocks of each cocktail.

Cocktails are about enjoyment, of course, but what this ingenious book demonstrates is that the more you understand what you’re drinking, the more you will enjoy not only that drink but the whole world of delicious options that understanding opens up.