The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book

Caiafa, bar manager since 2005 at Peacock Alley in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, has taken his time producing this modern update of two classic cocktail guides from the hotel's heyday. "The Old Books," as Caiafa calls them—one assembled shortly before the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, and one published just after—are idiosyncratic and much mythologized. Yet the author doesn't treat them as holy tomes. In part, that's because the cocktail revival of the past decade has gone mainstream, and readers are thirsty for invention, not strict rules on how to make a perfect Manhattan. Caiafa's introduction begins a little stiffly, but he warms up after a few drinks. The bulk of the recipes are presented in alphabetical order from the absinthe cocktail to the zaza (a concoction of gin, Dubonnet, and orange bitters), with individual chapters devoted to house-made liqueurs, punches, and hot drinks. The instructions are as straightforward as the tales behind the concoctions are lively, meandering, and inviting. Caiafa is neither a mad scientist nor a cop enforcing the correct proportions of a martini. He insists that the best drink is the one made the way you like it.