From Kiecr W, I'm Evan Kliman and you're listening to good food.

I don't know about you, but between the debate this week and that heat wave,

I could really use a cocktail and just in time Jim Ian is out with a new book

Jim made his name as a bartender and in one case an owner at a trio of

pioneering New York City watering holes, Gramercy Tavern, the Pagu Club, and

PEDT. Along the way, he helped usher in the modern craft cocktail industry like it was no big deal.

He now lives in Portland, Oregon, where he's still mixing it up.

His latest book is The Bartenders Pantry, which he co-wrote with journalist Emma Janssen.

In it, he surveys some of the best bartenders on the planet for their favorite cocktail

recipes.

Hi, Jim.

Hi, so nice to be on the show.

Oh, we're so happy to have you.

In the intro, you say that you consider this a handbook, not an encyclopedia,

despite the fact that divided into 14 sections, it feels pretty

encyclopedic. Describe how you organized the book and why you chose to do it that way and you the book that was probably most influential in thinking about how to organize this was Harold

McGee's on food and cooking.

And for me that is the Encyclopedia for people who cook or care about cooking and food.

But I think Harold approaches that book from more of a scientific perspective. I am not a scientist and became a bartender

because of my inability to grasp organic chemistry and become a medical doctor.

So I think my interest in food is more cultural, more anthropological.

A lot of my books previously were more historical, but I was mostly interested,

...