Description

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A delightful, imaginative, and thoroughly original cocktail compendium and bartending manual with 90 drink recipes from the popular and influential Brooklyn bar and restaurant.

A major player in both the craft cocktail revival and the bar and restaurant renaissance, Maison Premiere offers an immersive experience that channels a time when cocktails were not merely a pleasure but an essential part of daily life in late-nineteenth-century New York, New Orleans, and Paris.

As captivating as the bar itself, The Maison Premiere Almanac is both a visual delight—drawing on photography, illustration, and graphic design—and a detailed guide to the rarefied subjects that make Maison Premiere unique, including deep explorations into the art of the cocktail and cutting-edge bartending techniques and equipment.

There are also primers on absinthe (a Maison specialty) and recipes for highly refined cocktails, including martinis, toddys, punches, and mint juleps. Tutorials on oysters include how to confidently select and prepare them at home and how to eat them with style. And while packed with curious information and useful knowledge on cocktails and bartending for both enthusiastic beginner bartenders and seasoned cocktail lovers, the Almanac is also a visually arresting objet d’art that will make a perfect addition to any bookshelf.

About the Author

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Joshua Boissy and Krystof Zizka are co-founders and co-owners of Maison Premiere, as well as co-owners of Premiere Enterprises, a New York and London-based design and hospitality firm.

William Elliott was an opening member of the bar staff of Maison Premiere and is now a partner and co-owner of Premiere Enterprises.

Jordan Mackay is a journalist, writer, and co-author of several award-winning books on wine and food, including Secrets of the Sommeliers, The Sommelier’s Atlas of Taste, Franklin Barbecue, and Franklin Steak.

Praise For…

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“I remember we were already deep into the development work of what would become the film The Great Gatsby, my team and I decided to take a long walk. That afternoon walk turned into a night-long journey through cocktails and seafood, laced with history and camaraderie, and in many ways, I’m still on that journey. Maison Premiere is a world I escape into; a world full of stories, laughter and many, many memories.”—Baz Luhrmann, director of The Great Gatsby and Elvis

“There’s simply nothing like Maison Premiere: the incomparable cocktails, the delicious food, the meticulous attention to every single detail, the decor, the music, the energy. With this extraordinary book providing every secret inspiration, we can take more than just the wonderful memories home with us.”—Sara Haines, cohost of The View and host of The Chase

“No one is at Maison Premiere by accident, and everyone there (including the winning team) seems to be so pleased with themselves for choosing to spend a portion or all of their evening there. Had I ever heard of sazerac or absinthe before my first visit? Of course. Had I ever had a better version of either? Never.”—Danny Meyer, founder of the Union Square Hospitality Group

“Rarely does one find something that is genuine; not contrived, not based on a trend. Maison Premiere is from the heart. You can feel the magic the moment you walk in. This magic cannot be manufactured; It just is inexplicably there.”—Stephen Starr, founder of Starr Restaurants

“From the moment you walk into Maison Premiere, you are transported to a world that seems lost in time. It is a return to a period in which the food is sublime, each sip feels opulent . . . To be able to bring some of that sensuousness and those elegant offerings home with us is yet another gift from a restaurant that feels like a gorgeous, time-worn piece of art.”—Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah

“This is a truly elegant book from a truly elegant bar. Maison Premiere has always followed a path of its own—sophisticated, historically informed, but never stuffy—and The Maison Premiere Almanac does the same. It’s restrained, focused, and more than a little amusing, all things I wish I saw more of in modern drink books—or indeed books in general.”—David Wondrich, editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails

“Elegance, excellence, and quirky celebration have been the defining characteristics of the magical Maison Premiere in Williamsburg since the bar opened. I’m excited to see these qualities beautifully captured in their new book that highlights oysters, absinthe, and more.”—Dana Cowin, founder of Speaking Broadly and former longtime editor-in-chief of Food & Wine

“Maison Premiere’s ability to reach for the magic in all things has always been what makes it great. I will visit this book when I am homesick for another moment in time, and whenever the current one calls for something truly extraordinary.”—Jordana Rothman, food writer and cookbook author