Most cocktail books are small, handy volumes. Not so this lavish, gift-worthy stunner. It has more than 600 recipes, most documented with history-filled headnotes, beautiful photographs and even a gold ribbon to hold your place. I loved the Old Cuban by Audrey Saunders, made with rum and Champagne, and the pre-Prohibition English cobbler deepened with black tea. The recipes are organized according to style, in categories like sours and punches, which are sometimes hard to follow. All the martinis are not in one place, for example. There is a helpful index according to spirit name and main ingredient, and another by name of drink.
“Spirited: Cocktails From Around the World” by Adrienne Stillman (Phaidon, $49.95).
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