Ladies Who Drink Cocktail & Entertaining Book

Most cocktail books solve one problem: what to pour. Ladies Who Drink by Hachette solves a different one — how to make the whole evening look like you meant it. This is a cocktail and entertaining book built around the idea that the glass is only part of the story. Illustrator Anne Keenan Higgins renders each section in original fashion illustration, which means the visual language here reads closer to a glossy editorial than a bar manual. It's organized by occasion and mood rather than spirit category, which is the detail that actually changes how you use it.

The structure is specific enough to be useful at a glance: game day, book club, barbecue, Sunday brunch, April in Paris, seaside sunset, Mardi Gras. Each section pulls together drinks, small-bite pairings, and hosting concepts that work together rather than leaving you to reverse-engineer a theme from scratch. Classic recipes sit alongside modern ones without the book feeling like it can't decide what it is.

• Original fashion illustrations by Anne Keenan Higgins throughout — not stock photography, not filler art
• Organized by occasion and mood: game day, book club, barbecue, Sunday brunch, April in Paris, seaside sunset, Mardi Gras
• Includes both classic and modern cocktail recipes across all sections
• Small-bite pairing suggestions matched to each occasion
• Entertaining concepts integrated with the recipes rather than housed in a separate chapter
• Published by Hachette, a major trade publisher with consistent production quality
• Functions as a gift — housewarming, hostess, book club — as readily as it functions as a reference

As a cocktail book, Ladies Who Drink doesn't require anything beyond keeping it away from direct moisture and shelving it upright so the spine holds. Wipe the cover with a dry or barely-damp cloth if needed — this is a trade hardcover, not a laminated kitchen spiral, so it's worth treating it accordingly. The Hachette production quality means the pages and binding will hold up to regular use, but this is a book designed to look good on a shelf or a coffee table, and it reads that way. The illustration work is the kind of thing that gets noticed when company arrives.