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CO Specs: Recipes & Histories of Classic Cocktails
Whether you're a professional bartender or a home enthusiast, CO Specs is your indispensable A to Z guide to all the essential classic cocktails. From the Aperol Spritz to the Negroni, Martini to Manhattan - learn the recipes and discover the histories and stories behind all of your favourite drinks.
With tens of thousands of cocktails in existence, how many of those could be considered classic, essential, or even tasty? — CO Specs distills down to the 200 true classics everyone should know.
For Bartenders, it’s a thorough field manual of all the classics you should know. A one stop shop. The book I wish I’d had (and spent far too long creating).
For the Home Enthusiast — whether you’re shaking up a few cocktails after a long day, or mixing something to impress your dinner guests, you’ll find all of your favourite cocktails (as well as many gems yet undiscovered) among the CO Specs. Be confident you’re making them correctly, and impress your friends with insightful trivia.
BUILT FOR HEAVY USE
Published in a hardbound A5 size, it fits nicely in the hand and is easy to carry around. At over 3cm thick, it’s satisfyingly substantial.
HISTORY (for cheaters)
There’s always debate and discussion about the “correct” way to make a classic drink. The aim of CO Specs is to illuminate the answer, and the reasoning behind it. CO Specs explores the history & fable underpinning each classic drink, revealing the original provenance of its appearances in print, as if torn straight from the pages of these (sometimes ancient) recipe books.
TESTED (TO DEATH)
Each drink has been scrutinised, tested, then tested again to achieve the ‘goldilocks’ balance of ingredients. Informed by history, balanced for now.
With tens of thousands of cocktails in existence, how many of those could be considered classic, essential, or even tasty? — CO Specs distills down to the 200 true classics everyone should know.
For Bartenders, it’s a thorough field manual of all the classics you should know. A one stop shop. The book I wish I’d had (and spent far too long creating).
For the Home Enthusiast — whether you’re shaking up a few cocktails after a long day, or mixing something to impress your dinner guests, you’ll find all of your favourite cocktails (as well as many gems yet undiscovered) among the CO Specs. Be confident you’re making them correctly, and impress your friends with insightful trivia.
BUILT FOR HEAVY USE
Published in a hardbound A5 size, it fits nicely in the hand and is easy to carry around. At over 3cm thick, it’s satisfyingly substantial.
HISTORY (for cheaters)
There’s always debate and discussion about the “correct” way to make a classic drink. The aim of CO Specs is to illuminate the answer, and the reasoning behind it. CO Specs explores the history & fable underpinning each classic drink, revealing the original provenance of its appearances in print, as if torn straight from the pages of these (sometimes ancient) recipe books.
TESTED (TO DEATH)
Each drink has been scrutinised, tested, then tested again to achieve the ‘goldilocks’ balance of ingredients. Informed by history, balanced for now.
- GenresCookbooks
480 pages, Hardcover
Published September 28, 2020
1 person is currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Cas Oh
1 book2 followersA veteran of the London bar scene, Cas Oh has helmed an array of iconic bar venues and is known for his obsessive approach to research and training. His first book, CO Specs, showcases the recipes & histories of some of the world's best known cocktails.
Title trivia: C & O are the author's initials. 'Specs' is bartender parlance; a shortening of 'specification' (aka a recipe). This project began as Cas' work on his own personal recipes, and later morphed into a book -- hence 'the CO Specs'.
Cas was born in South Korea and lives in London, U.K.
Title trivia: C & O are the author's initials. 'Specs' is bartender parlance; a shortening of 'specification' (aka a recipe). This project began as Cas' work on his own personal recipes, and later morphed into a book -- hence 'the CO Specs'.
Cas was born in South Korea and lives in London, U.K.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 13, 2020
Like many (probably), I’ve come to appreciate good quality alcohol and cocktails during the great lockdown of 2020. I already had a couple of cocktail books, but could never make the drinks taste like the ones you get in a good bar.
This book was recommended to me by a friend who knows a lot about good booze. I realise now that the balance of the cocktails were off in those other books, because they are perfect in CO Specs!
The book also contains histories and stories about each drink, which I didn’t think would interest me much, but the author writes in such a witty and engaging way.
So this book functions well for both someone who wants quick access to a wide variety of perfectly balanced cocktails and for the more discerning alcohol geeks for whom this is more of a hobby.
On a side note, the book itself looks great and has been displayed on the coffee table.
This book was recommended to me by a friend who knows a lot about good booze. I realise now that the balance of the cocktails were off in those other books, because they are perfect in CO Specs!
The book also contains histories and stories about each drink, which I didn’t think would interest me much, but the author writes in such a witty and engaging way.
So this book functions well for both someone who wants quick access to a wide variety of perfectly balanced cocktails and for the more discerning alcohol geeks for whom this is more of a hobby.
On a side note, the book itself looks great and has been displayed on the coffee table.
December 13, 2020
I wish I would of had this book before I invested in buying over 20 cocktail books to gather the desired information I was after.
This one is a game changer. As we all spended just a bit of more time at home than in bars or restaurants this year, this 480 page book was a life saver for hosting dinner for friends & family, making myself a well deserved drink after enduring the family meetings and helped to avoid the headache of what to get for Christmas presents. Amen.
The golden nuggets of humour in this book will also entertain instead of bore you like so many of others do.
Time & money well spent I say.
Santé !
This one is a game changer. As we all spended just a bit of more time at home than in bars or restaurants this year, this 480 page book was a life saver for hosting dinner for friends & family, making myself a well deserved drink after enduring the family meetings and helped to avoid the headache of what to get for Christmas presents. Amen.
The golden nuggets of humour in this book will also entertain instead of bore you like so many of others do.
Time & money well spent I say.
Santé !
December 14, 2020
Best recipe book for the top 200 classic cocktails!
Probably the best recipe book for the top bestselling classic cocktails I've ever seen. This professional production of an elegant cocktail recipe book contains over 200 of the greatest classic drinks everyone can easily learn how to make. The presentation is classy, the drink variety is huge, and the texts, both instructions and discussions, are well written and easy to follow, which easily allows one to replicate. On top of that, readers get to learn the evolution of the drink, with some trivia and history of their development. Highly recommended present for every drink lover on the planet.
Probably the best recipe book for the top bestselling classic cocktails I've ever seen. This professional production of an elegant cocktail recipe book contains over 200 of the greatest classic drinks everyone can easily learn how to make. The presentation is classy, the drink variety is huge, and the texts, both instructions and discussions, are well written and easy to follow, which easily allows one to replicate. On top of that, readers get to learn the evolution of the drink, with some trivia and history of their development. Highly recommended present for every drink lover on the planet.
December 16, 2020
As someone who's never been particularly good at making cocktails, this book is a godsend! The author Cas Oh offers up all the need-to-know cocktail recipes alongside some charming anecdotes and fascinating historical snippets... whereas previously I knew the gist of ingredients for cocktails, Co Specs explains why certain things go together. Beautifully presented and thoughtfully curated, this book is sitting on our coffee table right now. We'll be gifting this for Christmas presents & impressing friends with our cocktail skills this silly season!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews