Book excerpt: Cocktails are back and fresher and tastier than ever. The days when a cocktail meant an over-sweet, garish concoction, garnished with a pineapple chunk and a paper umbrella are over. Today's cocktails are made with fresh, high-quality ingredients with the intention of producing sometimes subtle, sometimes startling flavor combinations. Equally useful behind the counter of a top city bar or on your coffee table at home, The Bartenders Guide is informative, educational, entertaining, and elegantly designed. In a health-and lifestyle-conscious world, this comprehensive volume holds the key to consuming less, but tasting more and is an all-encompassing book for every aspiring bartender. Cocktails are back - fresher and tastier than ever. The days when a cocktail meant an oversweet, garish concoction, garnished with a pineapple chunk and a paper umbrella are over. Today s cocktails feature the freshest, high quality ingredients, and this beautiful hardcover guide will teach you how to mix them all together in combinations that may be subtle, startling, or classic but always delicious. Perfect for the creative at home bartender, this volume holds the secrets to consuming less, but tasting more in today s health conscious world. CHEERS! Features more than 400 cocktail recipes. Illustrated with full color photographs. Also includes sections devoted to: The Tools of the Trade, A Guide to Glasses, the Art of Mixology, and The Bartenders Lexicon of Cocktail Ingredients and Drinks