100 books like Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice

By Toni Tipton-Martin,

Here are 100 books that Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice fans have personally recommended if you like Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

Nicola Nice Author Of The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home

From my list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a commercial sociologist who studies drinking cultures by day and a cocktail lover who partakes in those same cultures by night, I have always been fascinated with the rituals and traditions of hospitality. As a child, my parents disliked taking me to restaurants because my attention would always be focused on the other diners rather than whatever was on my plate. Academically, I am fascinated by the social construction of fact and how the documentation of what we understand to be true in science or history can be heavily influenced by such factors as class, gender, and race. It’s putting these two interests together that led me to research and ultimately write a book on how women have been systematically excluded from the historical record of the cocktail.

Nicola's book list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze

Nicola Nice Why did Nicola love this book?

If there were a single riposte to the cliché that men inherently know more about booze than women, then Girly Drinks by Mallory O’Meara would be it.

Mallory is neither a drinks journalist nor a professional bartender, but she is an unstoppable force on a mission to set the record straight about women and booze. Going deep into women’s history while simultaneously reflecting on her own experiences with alcohol, she takes us on a whistle-stop tour across the ages and around the world.

Her style is witty, assertive, and just the right side of combative. I couldn’t help but fist bump the air in solidarity as she dispels myth after myth about the so-called girly drink.

By Mallory O'Meara,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Girly Drinks as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 2022 James Beard Book Award

Nominated for the 2022 Spirited Awards

This is the forgotten history of women making, serving and drinking alcohol. Drink has always been at the centre of social rituals and cultures worldwide-and women have been at the heart of its production and consumption. So when did drinking become gendered? How have patriarchies tried to erase and exclude women from industries they've always led, and how have women fought back? And why are things from bars to whiskey considered 'masculine', when, without women, they might not exist?

With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, Girly…


Book cover of Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey

Nicola Nice Author Of The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home

From my list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a commercial sociologist who studies drinking cultures by day and a cocktail lover who partakes in those same cultures by night, I have always been fascinated with the rituals and traditions of hospitality. As a child, my parents disliked taking me to restaurants because my attention would always be focused on the other diners rather than whatever was on my plate. Academically, I am fascinated by the social construction of fact and how the documentation of what we understand to be true in science or history can be heavily influenced by such factors as class, gender, and race. It’s putting these two interests together that led me to research and ultimately write a book on how women have been systematically excluded from the historical record of the cocktail.

Nicola's book list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze

Nicola Nice Why did Nicola love this book?

It’s no secret that the world of whiskey is a boys’ club. Yet one in three whiskey drinks in the United States today is actually consumed by a woman. Whiskey Women is a step towards breaking down the doors to the whiskey club – from the inside.

Author Fred Minnick – a whiskey journalist himself – reveals how women not only love whiskey, they practically invented it. From the pioneering home distillers of the nation’s foremothers to the daredevil bootleggers of the twenties to the intrepid entrepreneurs and booze makers of today, no Scotch, bourbon, rye, or Irish whiskies would be what they are today without the experience, skill, and general badassery of generations of whiskey women. 

By Fred Minnick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Whiskey Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortly after graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1934, Elizabeth "Bessie" Williamson began working as a temporary secretary at the Laphroaig Distillery on the Scottish island Islay. Williamson quickly found herself joining the boys in the tasting room, studying the distillation process, and winning them over with her knowledge of Scottish whisky.

After the owner of Laphroaig passed away, Williamson took over the prestigious company and became the spokesperson in America for the entire Scotch whisky industry. Impressing clients and showing her passion as the Scotch Whisky Association's trade ambassador, she soon gained fame within the industry.

Whiskey Women…


Book cover of Ten Cocktails: The Art of Convivial Drinking

Nicola Nice Author Of The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home

From my list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a commercial sociologist who studies drinking cultures by day and a cocktail lover who partakes in those same cultures by night, I have always been fascinated with the rituals and traditions of hospitality. As a child, my parents disliked taking me to restaurants because my attention would always be focused on the other diners rather than whatever was on my plate. Academically, I am fascinated by the social construction of fact and how the documentation of what we understand to be true in science or history can be heavily influenced by such factors as class, gender, and race. It’s putting these two interests together that led me to research and ultimately write a book on how women have been systematically excluded from the historical record of the cocktail.

Nicola's book list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze

Nicola Nice Why did Nicola love this book?

Alice Lascelle’s Ten Cocktails is not so much a recipe book as it is a musing on the ten drinks that have defined one woman’s personal journey as a drinks journalist. Part travelogue, part memoir, part historical tour, the book explores the author’s own experiences with drinks while diving into their broader social contexts.

The accounts are meaningful, engaging, and surprisingly entertaining. I particularly loved the description of her British parents’ inadequate storage of ice and the woefully poor gin and tonics they served up as a result. An all too familiar scene from my own household growing up - I now understand why I disliked this drink for so long.

By Alice Lascelles,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ten Cocktails as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Ten Cocktails, The Times drinks columnist Alice Lascelles uses ten of her favourite cocktails to distil the stories, recipes and tips she has amassed in more than a decade in pursuit of the mixed drink. Join her as she dodges the washing lines of backstreet Havana in search of the perfect Daiquiri, scours the cocktail bars of Tokyo for the world's best ice carvers, harvests juniper in the hills of Umbria, goes sipping Sazeracs in New Orleans and unearths the mixological secrets of The Savoy.

What makes a G&T glow in the dark? Who threw the world's first cocktail…


Book cover of A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails for Any Mood

Nicola Nice Author Of The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home

From my list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a commercial sociologist who studies drinking cultures by day and a cocktail lover who partakes in those same cultures by night, I have always been fascinated with the rituals and traditions of hospitality. As a child, my parents disliked taking me to restaurants because my attention would always be focused on the other diners rather than whatever was on my plate. Academically, I am fascinated by the social construction of fact and how the documentation of what we understand to be true in science or history can be heavily influenced by such factors as class, gender, and race. It’s putting these two interests together that led me to research and ultimately write a book on how women have been systematically excluded from the historical record of the cocktail.

Nicola's book list on books that celebrate women’s right to booze

Nicola Nice Why did Nicola love this book?

From the dawn of cocktails, the opportunities for women to write bartending guides have historically been few and far between. Fortunately, this is now changing with the rise over the last few decades of female bartending talent.  Authors Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero are up there with the best of them today.

A Quick Drink is a compendium of the recipes contributed by the all-female contestants of their global bartending competition, Speed Rack.  It is both a lively read and a rare glimpse into the creative process behind the art of modern mixology.

I particularly love the way the recipes are positioned not only by the obvious category of drink but also by the time, place, ingredient, or mood that originally inspired them and consequently turned them into winners.

By Ivy Mix, Lynnette Marrero, Megan Krigbaum

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Quick Drink as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

More than 100 cocktail recipes from badass women bartenders

Award-winning mixologists Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero co-founded Speed Rack, a global all-women bartending competition where competitors show off their talents making both classic and original drinks as quickly as their arms can shake and stir-all in the name of raising money for breast cancer charities. With recipes from Ivy, Lynnette, and more than 80 Speed Rack participants, this book is a manual for making winning cocktails confidently and efficiently at home, based on both what is on your bar cart as well as the occasion, be it a long day…


Book cover of French Moderne: Cocktails from the Twenties and Thirties with Recipes

Kate van den Boogert Author Of The Paris Flea Market: Les Puces de Paris, Saint-Ouen

From my list on connecting with a few true Paris ‘Makers’.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love Paris. This city endlessly stimulates both my head and my heart. Always in movement, everchanging, it, like all cities, is a living organism, manifesting the spirit of all those who live here, past and present. Through a bunch of different projects and a handful of books, I’ve been trying to map its creative DNA, seeking out and championing the people and places who contribute to forging Paris’s own distinctive identity today. Makers Paris (Prestel) and Makers Paris 2 (Ofr. Éditions) evolved out of more than a decade running slow-travel pioneer Gogo City Guides, and my latest book The Paris Flea Market (Prestel) is a new stop on this journey.

Kate's book list on connecting with a few true Paris ‘Makers’

Kate van den Boogert Why did Kate love this book?

This fascinating book plunges the reader into the avant-garde effervescence of the Roaring Twenties in Paris, presenting serious historical scholarship about the era alongside the author’s own take on classic cocktails like the Sazerac or the Highball. It provides, to quote the author Franck Audoux (in my book Makers Paris), “a kind of cultural snapshot of an era, to show how the cocktail, like jazz or the Charleston, participated in the reconstruction of a new society after the carnage of the First World War”.

One of the founders of the game-changing restaurant Le Châteaubriand, Franck is a pillar of the indie food and drinks scene here. This book is the fertile soil from which his current project, Cravan, grows. Named after Oscar Wilde’s nephew, the poet and boxer Arthur Cravan, Cravan is a contemporary cocktail bar rooted in the “French Modern.” 

By Franck Audoux,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked French Moderne as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Following Prohibition, Paris, much like London, became known for serving up original and innovative mixed drinks. Although cocktails were present in the late nineteenth century, it was the interwar period, and particularly les annees folles that transformed the culture of the cocktail consumption. This fertile time, both intellectually and artistically, was nourished by a growing influx of expatriates from across the Atlantic who made way for an age of experimentation and creation. The new ambassadors of cocktails made alcohols and aperitifs that were specifically French stars of the show. Alongside classic French Vermouth, locally produced spirits including Byrrh, Dubonnet, Suze,…


Book cover of Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar

Carey Jones Author Of Every Cocktail Has a Twist: Master 25 Classic Drinks and Craft More Than 200 Variations

From my list on books for home bartenders.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been writing about cocktails and spirits for over a decade, often in collaboration with my mixologist husband and co-author, John McCarthy. Our mission is to create delicious, practical cocktail recipes for the home bartender. There are a number of cocktail books out there, but they usually fall into two camps. Novelty books, which are often silly and untested. Or books written by professionals, for professionals, impractical if you don’t have a centrifuge, dehydrator, and 300-odd liqueurs in your home bar. What about the vast middle ground–people who love cocktails, want to make them at home, and learn something while they’re sipping? We believe in finding the best books for them. 

Carey's book list on books for home bartenders

Carey Jones Why did Carey love this book?

Without a doubt, David Wondrich is the preeminent cocktail historian of our time. If that doesn’t sound like a real thing…well, just start reading his work.

No one else has his mastery of our drinking history or a gift for communicating all its twists and turns. Every book he’s written is a great read, but this book is the best jumping-off point, following the story of mid-19th-century bartender Jerry Thomas with colorful tales and excellent recipes.  

By David Wondrich,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Imbibe! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The newly updated edition of David Wondrich’s definitive guide to classic American cocktails.

Cocktail writer and historian David Wondrich presents the colorful, little-known history of classic American drinks--and the ultimate mixologist's guide--in this engaging homage to Jerry Thomas, father of the American bar.

Wondrich reveals never-before-published details and stories about this larger-than-life nineteenth-century figure, along with definitive recipes for more than 100 punches, cocktails, sours, fizzes, toddies, slings, and other essential drinks, along with detailed historical and mixological notes.
 
The first edition, published in 2007, won a James Beard Award. Now updated with newly discovered recipes and historical information, this…


Book cover of Drinking French: The Iconic Cocktails, Aperitifs, and Cafe Traditions of France, with 160 Recipes

Anthony Gladman Author Of Gin A Tasting Course: A Flavor-focused Approach to the World of Gin

From my list on cocktail-loving flavour fans.

Why am I passionate about this?

I think I was always meant to write about drinks for a living, it just took me a while to realise. Ever since my Dad gave me a copy of Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails as a kid (to look at the cartoonish illustrations) I've been fascinated by these particularly adult delights. I've also followed flavour around all my life like a Loony Tunes figure in the thrall of a beckoning wisp of fragrant steam. Studying this stuff for various drinks industry qualifications has only made that interest grow stronger, and so I take it out on you, dear reader, in the nicest way, of course.

Anthony's book list on cocktail-loving flavour fans

Anthony Gladman Why did Anthony love this book?

We're back to drinks proper with another feast for the eyes. This book has a deep appeal to me because I've always been a francophile. France has pulled at me from the earliest family holidays through to the years I lived in Paris.

Now, back in London, there's a bittersweet nostalgia in the mix. This book captures a lot of what I miss from those years because it's not just about the drinks but also the culture that surrounds them.

It reminds me that a drink is always an occasion. It doesn't have to be a fancy one either. There's the domestic and quotidian side, too, like preparing a café au lait the French way in one of those ridiculous footed bowls; they're totally useless to drink from yet somehow all the more appealing for it.

By David Lebovitz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Drinking French as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

TALES OF THE COCKTAIL SPIRITED AWARD® WINNER • IACP AWARD FINALIST • The New York Times bestselling author of My Paris Kitchen serves up more than 160 recipes for trendy cocktails, quintessential apéritifs, café favorites, complementary snacks, and more.

Bestselling cookbook author, memoirist, and popular blogger David Lebovitz delves into the drinking culture of France in Drinking French. This beautifully photographed collection features 160 recipes for everything from coffee, hot chocolate, and tea to Kir and regional apéritifs, classic and modern cocktails from the hottest Paris bars, and creative infusions using fresh fruit and French liqueurs. And because the French…


Book cover of Signature Cocktails

Anthony Gladman Author Of Gin A Tasting Course: A Flavor-focused Approach to the World of Gin

From my list on cocktail-loving flavour fans.

Why am I passionate about this?

I think I was always meant to write about drinks for a living, it just took me a while to realise. Ever since my Dad gave me a copy of Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails as a kid (to look at the cartoonish illustrations) I've been fascinated by these particularly adult delights. I've also followed flavour around all my life like a Loony Tunes figure in the thrall of a beckoning wisp of fragrant steam. Studying this stuff for various drinks industry qualifications has only made that interest grow stronger, and so I take it out on you, dear reader, in the nicest way, of course.

Anthony's book list on cocktail-loving flavour fans

Anthony Gladman Why did Anthony love this book?

I just love how this book looks, first of all. It has an elegant, art deco, classy vibe that really sets the mood, and your mood is an important part of enjoying a good cocktail, or any drink for that matter.

There are some cocktails in here I know I'll never make, I'm not going to mix up my own bone tincture, but that doesn't matter. This isn't so much a recipe book for the home mixologist as it is a coffee-table collection of inspiring drinks.

When I leaf through the pages and look at all the gorgeous photographs, it sets me dreaming of which bars I want to visit next. That being said, it still features plenty of cocktails I'll want to whip up the next time I have guests over.

By Amanda Schuster,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Signature Cocktails as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Food & Wine's Best Cookbooks of Fall 2023

A collection of 200 iconic drinks from around the globe, each of which has changed the culture of the cocktail

A signature cocktail is a bespoke drink that expresses the nature of the time, person, or place for which it was created. In this book, the author curates a collection of the most celebrated cocktails - from well-known classics such as the Bellini, to the up-to-the-minute Twin Cities from New York's ultra-hip Dead Rabbit bar. Signature cocktails have become an increasingly popular way to define the style and character of a celebrated…


Book cover of Cocktail Boothby's American Bartender

Lesley Jacobs Solmonson Author Of The 12 Bottle Bar: Make Hundreds of Cocktails with Just Twelve Bottles

From my list on chronicle the history of cocktails.

Why am I passionate about this?

Lesley Jacobs Solmonson has written the book Gin: A Global History and is completing Liqueur: A Global History. Her work has been seen in the Los Angeles Times, Imbibe, Sierra, and Gourmet. She is Senior Editor at Chilled magazine, as well as Cocktail/Spirits Historian at the Center of Culinary Culture in Los Angeles. With her husband David Solmonson, Lesley co-wrote The 12 Bottle Bar, a #1 best-selling cocktail book on Amazon. Named one of the “9 Best Cocktail Books" by the Independent UK, The 12 Bottle Bar is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of the American Cocktail. The Solmonsons’ work has been featured in numerous media outlets.

Lesley's book list on chronicle the history of cocktails

Lesley Jacobs Solmonson Why did Lesley love this book?

William T. Boothby’s bartending guide was published 29 years after the first cocktail recipe book written in 1862 by American barman/impresario Jerry Thomas. In my opinion, Cocktail Boothby’s offers a more mature vision of cocktail culture in the 19th and early 20th century’s Golden Age, serving as a boozy time machine back to the era when many classic cocktails – the Manhattan, the Martini, the Mint Julep, to name a few – were born. Along with a thorough compendium of recipes, the book includes Boothby’s “Valuable Suggestions” to bartenders (“Do not serve a frosted glass to a gentleman who wears a mustache”) and his “Ten Commandments” of bartending, as well as a selection of old advertisements and various handwritten recipes. The author’s celebration of, as he calls it, “the art of mixology”, never fails to delight me.

By William T. Boothby,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cocktail Boothby's American Bartender as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of two National Best Book Awards!

"If one had to pick a single name to stand as dean to the whole tribe of San Francisco bartenders, it would be the Honorable William T. Boothby, head bartender at the Palace Hotel and author of one of the most useful bartender's guides of the golden age of American drinking. This exceedingly scarce little volume is a surpassingly sound effort, full of well-considered recipes with a real West Coast flavor."-David Wondrich, author of Imbibe!

"The bartending community is rejoicing! The new Anchor Distilling Edition of Cocktail Boothby's American Bar-Tender, based on the…


Book cover of Good Things to Drink with Mr. Lyan and Friends

Noel Venning Author Of Batched & Bottled Cocktails

From my list on to improve cocktail making.

Why am I passionate about this?

Noel has over 15 years of experience in the hospitality sector and opened Three Sheets with his brother Max in 2016 to critical acclaim. Specialising in cocktails, the bar has a focus on simple, elegant serves that put the customer first. We were voted as the UK’s best bar at the Class Awards 2019. Three Sheets has also been listed in the World's 50 Best Bars list, rising to number 16. Three Sheets is currently Timeout London's Best Bar.

Noel's book list on to improve cocktail making

Noel Venning Why did Noel love this book?

Ryan is undoubtedly the biggest name in cocktails right now. He has pioneered numerous venues in London and around the world focused on changing the way we think about bars and cocktails.

His book is not only a great entry into the world of cocktails with great classic recipes, but it also showcases interesting flavour combinations and techniques that can be used both in a bar and at home.

By Ryan Chetiyawardana,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Good Things to Drink with Mr. Lyan and Friends as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"An essential companion and an exciting treat" - Marco Pierre White"Mr Lyan is king of cocktails" - Todd Selby. Cocktails aren't just for fancy nights out and snobby home mixologists. Join award-winning and internationally acclaimed mixologist Mr Lyan (the man behind the White Lyan and Dandelyan bars in London) for cocktail hour as he shows you how 60 innovative and exciting cocktails can be part of your everyday life. Easy to make and beautifully photographed, here you will find a cocktail for every mood and occasion, from sunny day drinks and winter warmers to Friday night cocktails and morning revivers.…


Book cover of Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
Book cover of Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey
Book cover of Ten Cocktails: The Art of Convivial Drinking

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