The Home Mixologist is a guide to creating innovative and delicious cocktails at home. It offers something for everyone's tastes and uses a wide variety of flavors and ingredients.

‘The Home Mixologist’ by Shane Carley is a fantastic guide for cocktail enthusiasts of all levels, packed with both classic and inventive drink recipes to suit any mood or occasion. The book offers a well-rounded approach to cocktail-making, with tips for creating unique infusions and experimenting with unexpected ingredients. Carley's friendly, approachable style encourages readers to dive into the art of mixology with confidence and creativity.

Accuracy: ★★★★☆

The recipes in ‘The Home Mixologist’ are precise, with detailed measurements and instructions that result in balanced, flavourful cocktails. The accuracy of the techniques and ingredient descriptions makes this book a reliable guide for both beginners and experienced bartenders. However, there are a few instances where beginners might benefit from additional tips on handling certain ingredients or equipment.

Perspective: ★★★★☆

Carley’s perspective is refreshingly inclusive, encouraging everyone - from amateur enthusiasts to seasoned bartenders - to explore mixology. It combines a respect for classic cocktails with an openness to new techniques and ingredients, adding a modern twist to traditional drinks. This balance of classic and contemporary makes the book accessible to a wide audience.

Relevance: ★★★★☆

With the resurgence of home bartending, ‘The Home Mixologist’ is timely and relevant. It addresses a growing interest in creating bar-quality cocktails at home, offering ideas for both basic staples and sophisticated creations. The book is especially relevant for those looking to entertain or add a touch of refinement to their personal cocktail repertoire.

Engagement: ★★★★☆

Carley keeps readers engaged with easy-to-follow instructions and helpful anecdotes about each recipe. While some sections could use more tips for advanced customisation, his style is warm and encouraging. The mix of recipes, from the familiar to the more adventurous, provides a wide range of options that will keep readers experimenting.

Readability: ★★★★☆

The layout and organisation of ‘The Home Mixologist’ make it a pleasure to navigate. The step-by-step format is clear and concise, making complex techniques accessible even for beginners.

Enjoyment: ★★★★☆

Readers looking to elevate their home bartending will find ‘The Home Mixologist’ a rewarding addition to their collection. The variety of recipes, coupled with Carley’s insightful tips on creating bespoke ingredients, provides a satisfying experience for those who love to experiment with new flavours.


Shane Carley's ‘The Home Mixologist’ is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to improve their cocktail skills. With its approachable yet refined style, the book invites readers to explore the world of mixology in an accessible way. Perfect for both casual mixers and serious hobbyists, it offers a wide range of recipes and tips that will elevate any home bar.

I was given an advance copy of this book from netgalley.com and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are truthful and my own.

I have had so much fun picking random drinks to make with this book! It would be a great addition to a gift basket with bar supplies.

I am sorry, but something called The Home Mixologist I was expecting this book to be more friendly, more accessible. I get it that the point is creative, but if the reader has to learn cocktail basics from another book (of the same author), then give this book another title!

The cocktails in this book are quite expensive, you almost need a new spirit for each cocktail, and it's also time-consuming, many of the recipes asking for homemade syrups or infusion that quite frankly, an at home mixologist does not have the time for (and this is coming from someone who has a lot more alcohol in the house than the usual person).

The photographs paired with these recipes look divine....I'm not sure I've ever wanted a good cocktail more than when I was perusing this book. The recipes were accessible with plenty of info for anything a little more complicated than usual.

A thoroughly entertaining, educational and extensive addition to your home bar to enhance your repertoire and make you the talk and envy of your social circle. I was so grateful to find the many suggestions for creating the real magic in cocktails, namely bitters, cordials, falerna, syrups, infusions, tinctures, etc., making this book, with its gorgeous photography, a very thoughtful, welcome and worthy gift for anyone looking for the out-of-the-ordinary in their libations. Cheers!
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy through NetGalley and Cider Mill Press Book Publishers for free, and am leaving a review voluntarily.

Arc Review:
Overall Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book had helpful techniques and tells you about the essential tools you’ll need for drink making. I also like how they tell you what type of glass works best for the drink you’re making. The book goes over the different drinks you can make with different types of alcohol and they’re all categorized under the type of alcohol you’ll need. I feel like there was a large selection of drinks and definitely some drinks I want to try making for myself.

Thank you NetGalley

The cocktails in this book look beautiful and sound as if they will taste delicious, but for a book titled The Home Mixologist, I thought that these would be drinks I could aim to recreate at home. No chance. Half of the ingredients I wouldn't know where to get, certainly not in my local Tesco. I might consider making some simple syrup infused with herb flavours a go to elevate my drink experience but if that sounds challenging rather than par for the course, then this book probably isn't for you either.

Unlike Shane Carley's The Home Bartender series on drinks made with accessible and everyday ingredients, The Home Mixologist focuses on the evolution of mixology with over 100 recipes to impress any guest. Carley's recipes are written clearly and use high-quality ingredients that I would have never considered in a cocktail such as salt-packed ume plums, aloe vera gel, and lemongrass tea. The lemongrass mojito has to be one of my favorites to make. I would love to read more about themed cocktails for housewarming parties or themed home celebrations. This book is perfect for people who love hosting at home or trying new drinks, and those seeking to elevate their cocktail game.

I liked the lay out of this recipe book and found it easy to work from. I enjoyed the recipes and found them quite tasty. I loved the sea collins and circes kiss.

This definitely isn't for just anyone who wants to try new cocktails at home. A lot of these are complex and require a lot of ingredients, so for the average person, it's not realistic. There are a lot of recipes that sounded very interesting; unfortunately, I would never make any of these due to the amount of ingredients. This is ideal for someone with a home bar and a large stock of alcohol.

This is a beautiful and creative cocktail book but I was personally disappointed in it. I have worked as a bartender and I enjoy mixed drinks, but there are many cocktails I don’t know how to make and I was hoping to finally learn lots of fun ones I can never remember how to make like Long Island iced teas, sex on the beach and daiquiris. These are not cocktails that already exist for the most part but invented ones, so it’s nothing you can order in a bar or that anyone will ask for. They are also very complicated with lots of expensive and time consuming ingredients— generally one that you have to make yourself with fresh fruit and several ingredients and then multiple expensive specialty liquors and liqueurs. The very few conventional cocktails are made more elaborate and expensive, like the hog island Bloody Mary requires 12 ingredients (and the synopsis says Bloody Marys should be complicated). There are beautiful photos of at least half of the recipes and they have fun names and sound delicious, but this is not a cocktail book that would work for me.

I read a temporary digital loan of this book for review.

The Home Mixologist focuses on elevating your bartending game with classics and more unique cocktails.

The Sections are
Gin
Whiskey
Tequila & Mezcal
Rum
Vodka
Wines, liqueurs, & other spirits

Each recipe has glassware, garnish needed, a blurb about the recipe, ingredients, and directions plus a photo of the cocktail.

The cookbook is thorough on what equipment and techniques are needed to become a home mixologist. I would say the book is best for those starting out or wanting to explore more cocktail ideas.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Awesome collection of cocktail recipes. Photos were beautiful and there was a very nice mixture of sweet, sour and other types of drinks.

Nice book, lots of recipes with pictures and nice clear instructions. Good explanation about why certain ingredients are used. Can't wait to try out a few of the recipes myself.
Thanks to netgalley for an arc to read and review

With cocktail books I am a visual person I wish there was a photo of each cocktail with the recipe and the photos in the book now I wish they were labeled to be able to find the recipe. That being said the photos in the book are gorgeous. I mad a couple of the recipes and loved them will defiantly be looking to gift this book to a few cocktail lovers this Christmas.

I applied for this on a bit of a whim (sorry but I want to be honest).

I found myself really impressed, I was expecting every option to be extremely complex and require 1001 ingredients and this just wasn't the case.
The recipes looked amazing in flavour with a variety of ingredients.

The book explains clearly the concepts of creating the concoctions at the beginning and all the tools one might need to become a magical mixologist and know all the best hacks for making drinks.

I'd recommend this for someone who entertains fairly regularly or who wants to add a touch of class to their evening drink!

I would have preferred it to be recipe/picture/recipe/picture format but I know that can be costly.

This book is amazing! I think I’ve never looked into a cocktail book that is so well structured and has a lot of pictures and details on how to decorate it. Some of the drinks are not that easy to get for me but I think you can swap of them for a e.g. non-infused tonic. It’s fun to flip through the pages.

This isn't your everyday cocktail book. There's some interesting ones, most of which I'd never heard of before. They use some unusual ingredients, but quite a few of them have additional instructions on how to make your own syrups etc.

A very comprehensive and creative guide that makes you want to organize an afternoon with friends to try out recipes. It includes the basic techniques necessary for beginners, and even though some recipes may seem a bit complex or difficult due to very specific ingredients, many are quite doable, and the related recipes are a real treasure. This book has everything you need to create a lovely bar at home.