Looking for a good bartenders guide

[Josh]

I am on the prowl for a good bartenders guide or mixed drink book/software program (one with search capability). As of late, I have become more and more attracted to making mixed drinks with various liquors and liqueors.

Any help is appreciated.

[oldfart]

Greetings Josh,
My fifteen plus years tending bar tells me you are playing with dynamite here.  There are quite a few very good mixed drinks and If you use quality ingredients in proper proportion you will have a well made cocktail.  Its just that drinking one or maybe two is enjoyable, once you get to the fifth one you are going to be seriously messed up.  Worse, the next day can be a killer.  Its the sugar that gets you the next day.  Avoid it at all costs if you are going to drink a lot.
If you plan on drinking in quantities, choose a good whiskey, bourbon or just about any other grain alcohol and drink it straight or perhaps with water or seltzer.  You'll wake with a clean head. 
As for the recipe books, I never used one other than a copy of Mr. Boston that sat on the back bar of every place I ever worked.  Perhaps the other folks here have had personal experience with one of the guides or programs.  Good luck and here's looking at you.   

[nosh]

BarBack has a TON of recipes! IIRC, it'll even let you specify what ingredients you have and then suggest stuff you can make using those...

Related material...

[exold]

I am on the prowl for a good bartenders guide or mixed drink book/software program (one with search capability). As of late, I have become more and more attracted to making mixed drinks with various liquors and liqueors.

Any help is appreciated.

-Josh (February 17, 2008, 05:12 PM)

One attractive online resource is Esquire Magazine's online drink recipe collection. I'll chime in with oldfart here and say the less "crazy" you get with your drinks, the more your body and head will thank you. My favorites these days are (good) tequila straight, Manhattans, and Old Fashioneds (I'm a big rye and bourbon fan, if you couldn't tell...and have quite a few reviews of such, along with various tequilas, on my blog.)

Having said all that, the rules are different if you're in Vegas Mode -- where you're drinking fairly steadily over a long period of time, without being able to control liquor brands. In Vegas, I drink tequila and grapefruit juice (delicious, does a yeoman job of hiding bottom-shelf harshness, and keeps the blood sugar up) with the occasional Bloody Maria (for fiber-y goodness and olives  ). Probably shortened my life a couple years thanks to Outraged Liver, but there you have it  .