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Published: April 8, 2015

The last eight years have seen a significant change in the cocktail scene: once extinct spirits and ingredients have been revived, new details of the bar's history have been uncovered, and there has been a renewed interest in classic cocktails and techniques. Much of this has been due to one book, David Wondrich's Imbibe!, which was released in 2007, won a James Beard Award, and has since been touted as the best reference for historical bartending available.

April 7, 2015 marked the release of the second edition of Imbibe! and if you were excited about the first, then this edition will have your history buff senses in a tizzy.

I have had a copy of the newest Imbibe! for a few weeks and have yet to tap the new wealth of information that Wondrich has uncovered. This release is surely going to give the cocktail world a lot to talk about and reference for years to come. The book has been expanded by 50 pages and much of the original copy has been rewritten.

Some of the significant findings include the fact that "Professor" Jerry Thomas wrote a second bartending guide that was previously lost and copied almost verbatim by Charles Campbell, as well as a more detailed look at Thomas himself and his bars that was not known. We also find profiles of other notable bartenders of Thomas' time and the fancy drinks they were creating.

In terms of Wondrich's research into the stories of cocktails themselves, most surprising is probably the revelation that the julep has a recreational story that was first chronicled before the American Revolution in 1770 and is, according to Wondrich, the "first true American drink." The Mint Julep as we know it today has taken many turns, from rum, to whiskey, to brandy, and back to whiskey.

There were also many medicinal juleps that pre-date this evolution.  The julep story alone is a boggling puzzle that has been pieced together with fantastic detail.

The premise that the word cocktail may not have been an American (but a British!) invention and the addition of a number of pre-Prohibition recipes like the Singapore Sling and Pisco Sour are also discussed in Wondrich's amazing detailed and entertaining style. It is a lot to take in and will take quite some time for all of it to stream into the collective conscious.

The other significant update is that, as you may recall, Imbibe's first edition is filled with ways to work around extinct ingredients. Things like absinthe, genever, Batavia arrack, navy rum, and (as Wondrich puts it) "real peach brandy (the barrel-aged stuff distilled from peaches, not the sticky liqueur)" have only been available to us since the printing of the first edition. This edition now skips these references for substitutes because a number of spirit companies have redeveloped and released these forgotten essentials.

Imbibe! has fueled a change in the modern cocktail scene, not only inspiring the revitalization of classic ingredients, but also giving bartenders and cocktail geeks an accurate history to look back on and share. Wondrich gives credit to many individuals who were spurred to share their little bits of knowledge with him almost immediately after the first book was released, which led to many of these new revelations we find in the second edition. The community spirit is certainly alive when it comes to the bar and Wondrich's detailed research is sure to contribute even further because we have so much more to discuss.

While Imbibe! is now considered our textbook to cocktails and so many changes have happened since its initial release, I cannot help but wonder what the next eight years will bring because of it.

Grub Street has a fascinating interview with David Wondrich that I think you will enjoy as well: David Wondrich Has Finally Figured Out the Real Origin of the Word Cocktail.

About Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar (Updated and Revised Edition):

• Written by Dr. David Wondrich, leading cocktail historian
• Forward by Dale DeGroff, founder of The Museum of the American Cocktail
• Includes 120 'Classic American Drinks"
• 384 pages, hardcover (Kindle edition available as well)
• Published by the Perigree/Penguin Random House
• ISBN: 978-0399172618
• Released: April 2015
• Retails for around $26.50

Disclosure: Review copy was provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.