Cocktails Chronicles

In her new book Cocktails of Asia, Holly Graham journeys through the continent looking for drinks that have distinct regional stories

- VIKRAM ACHANTA

The first book from bars, spirits, and cocktail expert Holly Graham, Managing Editor (International) of DRINK Magazine, is a collection of cocktail recipes from some of the best and most influential bars from across Asia. As an academy chair of the World's 50 Best Bars and Asia's 50 Best Bars, Holly leverages her insight about the beverage industry to craft a book that serves as a definitive documentation of some of the most important cocktails to come out of the Asian bar scene.

It is very easy for a book about cocktails to turn into a list of recipes, a simple collection of curious concoctions sitting on a page waiting to be discovered. It is however rather unusual to find a cocktail book that reads like a 'book'.

With Cocktails of Asia, Holly Graham manages to break free from the confines of a recipe list and enters the realm of cocktail chronicles. The book covers the stories behind the cocktails, the bars and cities they inhabit, and the bartenders that craft them.