The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem

May 21, 2018
In this excellent and unique cocktail book, Muldoon and McGarry, founders of New York City’s Dead Rabbit lounge (along with Vose, their bar manager), offer the establishment’s complete menu—a six-part, serialized graphic novel, with an additional 100 intricate craft cocktails. The darkly drawn protagonist, known as the Rabbit, is a “hybrid man-rabbit anti-hero” with a sinewy human torso and scary bunny head. Channeling John Morrissey, the leader of the 1850s Irish gang, the Dead Rabbits, but lurking in the shadows of Hell’s Kitchen, circa 1978, he drinks, gambles, and settles scores with a ruthless vengeance. Drink recipes occupy every other page, so one must first go through and read every left-hand page to appreciate the flow of the narrative. For mixologists who enjoy fancy syrups and bitters, there are plenty of creative suggestions. A bourbon sour variant called Chasing the Dragon employs cinnamon bark syrup and poppy seed syrup along with lemon and grapefruit juices, plus a dash of nutmeg; the Lone Shark is gin with a variety of green-colored ingredients (absinthe, lime juice, granny smith apple juice, wasabi syrup); and a beer cocktail called the Control Freak is spiked with tequila, mango-infused pisco, and a rose liqueur. Complicated cocktails and a floppy-eared fighter each own their turf in this one-of-a-kind collection.