Botanical Bar Craft: A Guide to the Art of Apothecary Cocktails and Herbal Tonic Elixirs

For cocktail enthusiasts, herbalists, foragers, and bartenders, Botanical Bar Craft serves up original, spirited recipes and invaluable plant knowledge, inspired by adventures in the garden and forest.

In Botanical Bar Craft, innovative herbalist and mixologist Cassandra Sears invites readers to create herbal elixirs and apothecary cocktails infused by a close connection to nature. Whether in the garden, the field, or the forest, Sears finds generous abundance among the plants. Her tonic libations harness the power of phytochemistry and place-based consciousness while easing stress and comforting the body, mind, and spirit. With original recipes that tie together the creative arts of herbal medicine and craft cocktail making, Sears blends herbal tinctures, teas, and botanical infusions into modern-classic cocktails as well as sensational and unique nonalcoholic drinks that hit the spot for relaxation without sedation.

More than just a collection of recipes, Botanical Bar Craft is also an herbal handbook for bartenders and a mixology guide for herbalists. Readers will delight in the journey as Sears combines dashes of herbal lore and history with instructions for developing the spirited philosophy of apothecary bartending, lessons on mixology, and a primer on the beneficial actions of medicinal herbs.

Inside Botanical Bar Craft, you’ll also find:

• 65 original recipes for potions, tonics, elixirs, and cocktails, including Kava Cacao Flip, Pregnancy Punch, Victory Garden, Bloody Botanist, Bitters and Soda, Juice of Life, and Euphoria.

• More than 40 plant profiles that include how those plants grow and suggestions for how to use them behind the bar to draw out their beneficial actions.

• An accessible explanation of the chemistry and energetics of medicinal herbs.

• Behind-the-scenes interviews with artisan distillers.

• Advice and tips for growing a garnish garden.

This book will not only appeal to herbalists, herbal enthusiasts, and home cocktail enthusiasts, but also to professional bartenders looking to embrace the use of innovative and highly flavorful natural ingredients in their bar creations. Botanical Bar Craft provides all the answers for those who are curious and wondering how to make a really good drink inspired by and infused with plants.

“Unique among cocktail books—it helps readers reconnect their creative selves with the natural environment and healing plants. . . [Sears] equips you with the proper bar techniques to harness the power and fleeting beauty of your surroundings.”—Brian Catapang, bar director and co-owner at Magnus on Water

© 2024 Chelsea Green Publishing (Ebook): 9781645022404

Release date

Ebook: November 7, 2024