Verwandte Artikel zu The Goto Bartender's Guide: A Philosophy of Cocktails,...

The Goto Bartender's Guide: A Philosophy of Cocktails, Hospitality, and How to Make Great Drinks Every Time - Hardcover

Goto, Kenta; Rothbaum, Noah

 
9780593837894: The Goto Bartender's Guide: A Philosophy of Cocktails, Hospitality, and How to Make Great Drinks Every Time
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0593837894 ISBN 13: 9780593837894
Verlag: Random House Inc, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

The lauded bartender behind Bar Goto, reveals his unique creative process for making classic and iconic cocktails, showcasing the techniques and 100 recipes that make up the next wave in the cocktail movement.

“This book will be required reading for a long time to come.”—Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bartender and author of The Bar Book

Kenta Goto spent seven years developing his craft at the acclaimed Pegu Club before opening Bar Goto in New York City. Over those years he honed his signature style, bringing precision and intention into every step of the cocktail-building process, from the number of stirs to the type of ice used to the proof of the alcohol. This precision, and his focus on hospitality, has made Bar Goto the new standard bearer in the cocktail world.

In The Goto Bartender’s Guide, Kenta distills down his methodology for building perfect drinks time and time again without any special equipment, whether you’re at home or behind one of the world’s most famous bars. He accounts for how quickly standard freezer ice melts (versus industrial bar ice) and uses measuring spoons in addition to jiggers to get the proportions just right, ensuring that you’ll nail the cocktail every time you make it.

The Goto Bartender’s Guide takes you through classic drinks like the Daiquiri and the Espresso Martini, with the recipes reconfigured to Kenta's proportions and techniques. From there, he dives into the drinks from early in his career like the Sakura Martini and the Kumquat Whiskey Sour and continues on to the Bar Goto classics like the Plum Sazerac and the Umami Mary. Every chapter delves into Kenta’s journey as a bartender, outlining his philosophy on creating, serving, inventing, and enjoying drinks.

From the 100 recipes to the stunning photography throughout, The Goto Bartender’s Guide is sure to become a permanent fixture in your bar—whether at home or professional—and is a promise that a perfectly strong and consistent set of drinks will always be at arm’s reach.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Born and raised in Tokyo and now based in New York, bartender Kenta Goto is the owner of two New York City cocktail bars. After a seven-year tenure at Pegu Club, Kenta opened his first solo bar, Bar Goto, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2015, followed in 2020 by Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn. Bar Goto has been recognized with two James Beard Award semifinalist nods for Outstanding Bar Program and Bon Appétit magazine’s Bar of the Year award, among other accolades. Kenta was named U.S. Bartender of the Year at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards in 2011.

From the Arctic Circle to the agave fields of Mexico to Scotland’s whisky distilleries, Noah Rothbaum has traveled the globe in search of a good drink. He’s one of the world’s leading authorities on cocktails and spirits as well as a Kentucky Colonel, a James Beard Award winner, and the author of the acclaimed drinks books The Whiskey Bible, The Art of American Whiskey, and The Business of Spirits. Noah is also the associate editor of the Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, which won the American Library Association’s prestigious Dartmouth Medal for the best reference book of 2021.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Introduction

I grew up in Chiba, a suburb east of Tokyo, Japan. My father was in the kimono business and my mother ran a small okonomiyaki restaurant out of the first floor of our house. As soon as I was old enough to carry dishes without breaking them, I was helping her. I didn’t realize this until much later, but my experiences at my mother’s restaurant shaped my career as a bartender and bar owner. As a child, it was exciting to help my mother during prep, chopping cabbage and mixing dough for the savory pancakes, because I knew that people would later be eating and enjoying what I made. Making something that people could enjoy and being able to see their reactions was rewarding. You do something and you receive an instant result, getting to share what you are doing with others. Also, witnessing my mother’s skill and the reaction she got from her customers impressed me. I wanted to be a part of that.

After college in Tokyo, I had no real idea what I wanted to do, but I knew where I wanted to be: New York City. Young and curious, I wanted to see life outside of Japan. Like many young people in Tokyo at that time, I was really into fashion. I had considered a move to one of the fashion capitals, such as Paris, Milan, London, or New York. Why did I choose New York over all of the other cities? I had visited once as a tourist while I was in college and liked it a lot. The few days I spent in the Big Apple opened my eyes. I felt drawn to the energy of the city, its incredible diversity, and the fact that so many things were going on. While I didn’t have anything set up or any connections, I wanted to give living in New York a shot and moved there in 1997. I would just have to make my own way.

When I arrived, I needed to find work quickly so that I wouldn’t have to turn around and head right back home to Japan. I emailed staffing agencies and ended up working long hours at a Japanese trading company in Midtown Manhattan—a job I didn’t feel passionate about, but I was desperate to earn money for rent. My parents weren’t thrilled that I had moved across the world without a solid plan. I needed to establish myself to prove to them that I could do it on my own.

The culture of my office was very traditional Japanese—something I had moved to New York to avoid. For example, no one wanted to be the first one to leave at the end of the day. While the workday ended at 6 p.m., people would often stay hours later. We weren’t even staying to do anything productive, just sitting at our desks until whatever arbitrary time we thought it would look okay to leave. I hated it, so I quit. Over the next four years, I jumped around from one office job to another. I was unhappy but determined to stay in New York and make it work. I was in a place I wanted to be in, but not on the path I wanted to be on. I knew I needed to make a change.

New York is a very expensive city, and once again I needed to find a job—fast. I had good memories of helping my mom in her restaurant. Working in the hospitality industry seemed like it could be a good way to meet new people and find my place in the city.

My first bartending gig was at a trendy neighborhood restaurant in SoHo. I got the job through a friend who was a regular at the place. I was hired as a barback, since I had no formal experience. After a couple of months, I earned my first weekday, daytime bartender shift, which none of the other bartenders wanted because these were incredibly slow times of day and the tips were tiny. Some days I worked double shifts, arriving at 10 a.m. and leaving at 1 a.m. To be honest, there was nothing glamorous or exciting about what I was doing, but I was earning enough money to cover my rent and put food in my stomach. I poured glasses of wine and beer. I did make a lot of cocktails, but they weren’t particularly great at the start.

There is an expression in Japan: ishi no ue nimo sannen, which translates to “sit on a stone for three years.” Essentially, it means that if you are beginning to do something new or developing a new skill, you need to be patient and give it time. By starting at the bottom before moving up, that’s what I was doing.

The job wasn’t easy, but through it I discovered that I really enjoyed working in a restaurant. I also learned a lot from my colleagues; one bartender in particular taught me how to move behind the bar and how important it is to keep your station organized. His knowledge was impressive and motivated me to learn more about drinks. He was well-connected in the industry, and a lot of other bartenders would visit him at our restaurant. I started to see that bartending could be a career and I could be part of a community—and that thought crystallized as I began to explore New York’s emerging craft cocktail scene.


Discovering the Wonderful World of Pegu Club

After a while, I felt I needed to move on to learn more. One day, as I was searching for a new job, I came across a mysterious ad on Craigslist for a bartender position. To apply, you needed to submit a résumé and a cover letter explaining why you would be a great fit for the team. The one odd thing was that the ad didn’t say what bar had placed it. But by reading the description closely, I knew it had to be either Pegu Club or one of the other craft cocktail bars in the city, like Milk & Honey. Even though I didn’t have a lot of bartending experience, I did my best to put together my application and submitted it. A few days later, I got an email back from Pegu Club’s owner and founder, Audrey Saunders, asking me to come in for an interview.

Later, I learned that my mentor bartender at my old job had put in a good word for me to Audrey, which helped change the trajectory of my career. Pegu Club had been open for less than two years, and there were a lot of talented and veteran bartenders on the staff. Audrey needed a hard worker; someone she could mold.

Before hiring me, as a second interview, Audrey surprised me at the restaurant where I was working part time. She walked in on a busy Friday night and asked me to make her a gin sour. One small problem: The restaurant didn’t have any fresh citrus juice. I told her that I couldn’t make her that drink, but she responded by saying I should do my best to make her a gin sour. These were the days when everyone was ordering vodka with cranberry juice or a dirty martini—certainly not a classic gin sour. I was really nervous. But I did the best I could with what we had stocked at the bar: I filled a glass with crushed ice, some of our concentrated lemon juice, some simple syrup, and gin.

Audrey didn’t actually try my creation (thank God) when I brought her the drink. Instead, she asked me just one question: “Which gin did you use, and why?” I really didn’t know how to answer her question. I felt panicked but tried to remain as calm as I could. Now when I look back, I’m sure she knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t have the perfect answer, but she probably wanted to see how I worked behind the bar and interacted with customers. At the end of the day, I don’t know exactly what it was that she saw in me. I suppose she realized that I was sincere and honest—and, most important, she could sense how much I wanted the opportunity. She offered me one shift a week to start but promised me that she would explain which gin she used for a gin sour and why. A few weeks later, in January 2007, I stepped behind the bar at Pegu Club for my first Tuesday-night shift.

I remember putting on the Pegu uniform: a collared button-down shirt, a vest, and a dark tie. Even with just one weeknight shift a week, I felt honored. And that’s how everything...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Random House Inc
Erscheinungsdatum
2026
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593837894
ISBN 13 
9780593837894
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar