Two of my favorite cocktail creators are Maksym Pazuniak of Brooklyn’s The Counting Room and Kirk Estopinal of New Orleans’ Cure, who have generated some of the most forward-thinking material ever published on the topic in their co-written books Beta Cocktails and the now sadly out-of-print Rogue Cocktails. These guides focus almost solely on the spirituous faction of mixology, and take a big step away from the current trends of fresh-produce based cocktailing and the much loved/hated (and often far too flashy) world of molecular mixology. As the authors so eloquently put it in Rogue Cocktails, “A Bartender should be able to make a majority of the recipes in a cocktail guide without visiting the farmers market, working in a molecular kitchen, or having to procure ingredients illegal to import into this country.”

Wise words, subtly directed at the proliferation of over-the-top mixology, both the ‘salad-in-a-glass’ style, in which the base spirit is often just a formality, and the circus of the ‘molecular,’ where the antics and props involved often have little to do with the actual cocktail or enhancing the experience. (There are, of course, a few exceptions in this latter category, as some bartenders wow the guest quite competently without sacrificing the integrity of the drink.)

Beta and Rogue are odes to the exploration of palate and products alike. Both urge bartenders to experience and understand the nature of various alcoholic products and their relationships with each other; these books open the mind to the myriad possibilities of the bartender’s alchemical universe and nudge the reader toward becoming a more creative boozesmith.

There is far too much goodness in these books to cover here, and I strongly urge anyone who is passionate about this craft — both the professional and the enthusiast — to purchase Beta or try to track down Rogue used. Below, a handful of my favorite mind-bending libations from these genius collections, plus one of my own. Try these at home or at your establishment, and change the way you look at your back bar. And remember: When you come across an obscure brand, Google is your friend.

6 Genius Cocktails 

“Fall of Man,” Maksym Pazuniak
1oz bourbon
1oz Unicum
¼oz Cointreau
¼oz Cherry Heering
¼oz Punt e Mes (‘sweet’ vermouth)
5 swaths of orange peel
*Prepare a rocks glass by seasoning the ice with the oil of 5 swaths of orange peel, dropping the peels inside after expressing the oil. Build in a mixing glass, stir and strain into rocks glass with the seasoned ice. Stir once.

“Fatigue,” Troy Sidle
1oz Jack Daniels
1oz Maraschino Liqueur
1oz Angostura Bitters
*Shake and strain into a coupe. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

“Teenage Riot,” Tonia Guffey
1½oz Cynar
1½oz Rittenhouse Rye
½oz Dolin dry vermouth
½oz Lustau dry Amontillado Sherry
2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
*Stir and strain into a coupe. Flamed lemon twist. (To ‘flame’ a twist, simply hold a swath of peel with the skin side toward the flame from a lighter or match, and squeeze hard; the oils will ignite mid-air and fall atop the drink.)

“Hotel Room Temperature,” Kirk Estopinal
1½oz Carpano Antica Formula (‘sweet’ vermouth)
¾oz El Dorado 12 year rum
-¼oz Marie Brizzard orange curacao
2 dashes Bitterman’s Mole Bitters
8 drops salt tincture (3 parts water to one part salt)
*Build in a rocks glass, no ice. This is a room temperature cocktail. Garnish with an orange twist.

“Broken Shoe Shiner,” Stephen Cole
1oz Pernod
1oz Aperol
1oz Benedictine
1oz fresh Pineapple juice
1oz fresh lemon juice
1 egg white
*Dry shake the lemon juice and egg white.  Add remaining ingredients, ice, and shake hard. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with 9 drops of rosewater.

“The Strong, Silent Type,” Wes Galloway
1.5oz Maker’s Mark Bourbon
½oz Cynar
½oz Green Chartreuse
½oz Cinzano Rosso
*Combine in a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain over a large cube of ice in an Old Fashioned glass. No garnish.

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Image courtesy of Dustin Diaz.