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This site was launched in November 1998. It was the first site to celebrate New York City dive bars and bartenders. It is a guide to bars and bartenders. It also has active message boards and job listings.

If you want to advertise on NYCBP or have your bartenders featured, contact the site.

All content © 1998-2008 Kevin C. Fitzpatrick. All Rights Reserved. Code and resources are a production of glish.com in conjunction with schwa. Thank you Eric Costello.

The NYCBP Store & Book Shop

Here are some books that I like and recommend for New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers alike. Let me know what you think of my picks. Some are good bartender guides. The nycbp.com book shop is a member of the Associates Program of Amazon.com. If you want to purchase the book, click on the link and you'll get it from Amazon.com, my fave online retailer. Anything I make on this page, I just plow back into keeping the site going.

Bartender Books	Books and guidebooks about being a better bartender. All good to own and read!
	The World's Best Bartender's Guide by Joseph Scott, Donald Bain So you want to be a bartender? The subtitle is "Professional Bartenders from the World's Greatest Bars Teach You How to Mix the Perfect Drink." Anyone can master the art of mixing the perfect drink — with all the confidence, style, and panache seen in the world's finest bars and restaurants. Today's leading bartenders from the 50 best bars in the world reveal the secrets of the classic cocktail (with special variations), recipes for rare and exotic drinks, special secrets, tips and other tricks-of-the-trade that characterize the best bartenders.
	Bartending Inside-Out, The Guide To Profession, Profit & Fun by Lori Marcus Learn about Single Malts, Vodka, Beer, CO2, Wine, Ports, recipes, responsible service, pouring, plus much more. Increase sales, tips, and product knowledge. Find out why Nightclub & Bar Magazine calls this book "a must... one of the most easily read reference and learning tools available today".
	The Ultimate A-To-Z Bar Guide by Sharon Tyler Herbst, Ron Herbst The authors of the bestselling "Wine Lover's Companion" now offer one of the the most comprehensive, user-friendly bartending guides ever published, featuring recipes for more than 1,000 drinks. Accessible, fun, hip, and written in the Herbsts' inimitable style, The Ultimate A-to-Z Bar Guide deserves a place at every home and professional bar.
	The New New York Bartender's Guide by Sally Ann Berk, George G., Jr Wieser (Photographer) Hardcover: 256 pages ; (October 1997) With over 100,000 copies of the original book sold, The New New York Bartender's Guide is here! This revised edition is updated with the newest and latest drinks. 125 color photos. This is just a good "tool" to have around your house. Even if you don't throw any parties this year (or any year), it will come in handy, whether you want a good martini recipe or if the evening calls for something silly like "Alabama Slamma's".
	Sex On The Beach And Other Wild Drinks! by Kathryn Knox Soman (Editor), Craig Filosa (Photographer) Hardcover: 96 pages; (May 1997) From the graphic on the cover, to the colorful pages this book screams fun!! With such classics as the Long Island Ice Tea to such trendy drinks as Surfer on Acid and the Brain Eraser is sure quench your insatiable appetite for refreshment. Whether you're just looking to improve you're your night out at the club, or looking to be the star of your next frat party, this book is a must have!! So mix yourself a Woo Woo shooter, and hop aboard the party train!!
	New Classic Cocktails by Gary Regan, Mardee Haidin Regan Hardcover: 128 pages; (March 31, 1997) This is a beautiful book with wonderful photographs. It is well written full of delightful stories behind the drinks. There are definitely interesting and different cocktails included, but already the book has been worth the price as we have had two incredible winners (Chambord Kamikaze & Pink Lemonade) with two tries. Keep in mind that this book is a collection of exotic and famous concoctions from bartenders across the country. These are elegant, top notch cocktails to be served in your best barware for your favorite friends. This book will get you experimenting and serving something other than bloody marys at your next brunch! Have fun with these!!
	The Barkeeper Pocket Peeker by James C. Lynch The BarKeeper Pocket Peeker is a compact drink recipe guide that fits easily into a shirt pocket or backpants pocket for quick and easy access. Its easy to read and the recipes are in alphabetical order. The drink name, the type of glass to use, the ingredients, the mixing method and the garnish are all included. James C. Lynch is the founder of the North American Barkeepers Association.
	Buller's Professional Course in Bartending for Home Study by Jon Buller Buller's book opens like a bar book should. Spiral bound, it lies flat for easy reading at the bar! Great tips even veteran bartenders can benefit from. No bull here - just common sense approach to "tending" your "stage".
	Bartending in One Day by Rami Makboul (Author), Nancy Jerrick (Editor), Teryn Wright (Photographer) Bartending In One Day teaches all the skills needed to become a professional bartender or an accomplished amateur in as little as one day. Its unique training method makes learning easy and enjoyable. Bartending In One Day is an exceptional method for becoming an exceptional bartender.
	The Official Harvard Student Agencies Bartending Course by Harvard Student Agencies You might say that after certifying 60,000 individuals in the art of drink mixing, the folks at Harvard Student Agencies know how to make a Martini. Or a Stinger. Or a Sloe Comfortable Scr....Well, you've probably heard of that one. But did you know that the name tells you how to make the drink? Sloe refers to sloe gin, comfortable refers to Southern Comfort, and so on. That's just one of the innumerable tips you'll find in The Official Harvard Student Agencies Bartending Course. Based on their wildly popular course, the book takes the most ignorant imbiber and turns him or her into a sauce-slinger extraordinaire, ready to go out and get that dream job as a bartender.
	The Art of Bartending by Mark Barrett The Art of Bartending explains what you need to know to be a great bartender. This book concentrates more on making a living behind a bar and how to excel. Also covered is a wonderful section on ettiquite and proper techniques. This book is a bartending school in the paperback version. A must for anyone who enjoys bars and drinking.
New York Books	Books about New York and for all New Yorkers and visitors to read.
	Behind Bars: The Straight-Up Tales of a Big-City Bartender by Ty Wenzel This is the 2003 book of the year on nycbp.com. If you want to know what a bartender's life is like, get this book. Ty Wenzel was a Manhattan bartender for more than 10 years, and she tells a truthful, and funny, account of her time mixing them up. At times sad and heartbreaking, its a wonderful book for drinkers and those who make the drinks. A good primer for those who are thinking about becoming bartenders, or veterans who've "been there, done that" already. Get it! Read the nycbp.com interview with Wenzel here!
	New York City's Best Dive Bars by Wendy Mitchell For 10 bucks, you get a handy little guide of the bars to visit in the five boroughs. If you're a fan of nycbp.com, then you have probably already been to many of the locales that Ms. Mitchell outlines here. She hits all the places on this website, offering tips and hints about what makes a good dive bar. Although she's not breaking any news here, it's a good guidebook to have for the newcomer to our great city. I recommend it. For the record, her 10 best dive bars (alphabetically) are: Blue & Gold, Freddy's, Grassroots Tavern, Jimmy's Corner, Johnny's, Mare Chiaro, Mars Bar, Red Rock West, Rudy's, Siberia.
	Here is New York By E.B. White, 1949, 1999, 56 pps, hardcover. Highly recommended. A timeless tribute to New York City. White wrote this as an essay and it is so relevant for today's New Yorker. In the days of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Disney-like Times Square, Here is New York is just as good read at the beginning of the 21st Century as it was in post-war New York. I read this every year, or whenever The City gets to me. This lovely new edition marks the 100th anniversary of E.B. White's birth--cause for celebration indeed. With new forward by Roger Angell.
	NYC Sex: How New York Transformed Sex in America Published to coincide with the much-anticipated opening of the Museum of Sex in New York, NYC Sex features conversations between major cultural figures and historians on sexual topics. And what's a book about sex without pictures? In between the steamy conversation, NYC Sex posts photographs by Mapplethorpe, Ferrato and Gatewood; 19th-century drawings and photographs; film stills; posters; magazine pin-ups; and images of sex symbols past and present.
	Bonfire of the Vanities By Tom Wolfe. Highly recommended. I don't know how anyone can live here and not have read this. Although it is set firmly in the 1980s, Wolfe's masterpiece is such a dead-on portrait of all the different layers of the city. The plot is well-know by now, of the unlucky Wall Streeter involved in a street altercation that propels him into the tabloids, bringing about his downfall. DON'T make the mistake of dismissing this book because of the lousy Tom Hanks movie version!
	New York City Baseball By Harvey Frommer, 1992, 219 pps, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. At one time New York had three major league teams: the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers. What a time! In the days after World War II, some of the most heady times ever in the city, there was one incredible Baseball Decade. From 1946-57 the New York teams owned baseball. Relive the golden days of the 1950s in this amazing account. And loaded with photos and stats that fans love. Here's to you, Jackie Robinson and Joe DiMaggio.
	Eyewitness Guide: New York By Eleanor Berman, DK Publishing. I do a lot of traveling and buy a lot of travel books, but the best are the Eyewitness Guides. This book is chock-full of info bites about the city. Maps, charts, drawings, photos and highly-detailed accounts of city sites. If you are new to the city or are a veteran, you can still find out good stuff about the place. It doesn't matter how long you've been here, the city changes so often there is always something new to see. Get this book.
	The Catcher in the Rye By J.D. Salinger, 1951, 214 pps, Bantam. You don't think of this as a New York book? Come on. When Holden Calufield says: "I know Central Park like the back of my hand because I used to roller-skate and ride my bike there as a kid." To me, meeting adults who have not read The Catcher in the Rye is like meeting those who have not seen Star Wars or The Godfather. It is one of those cultural touchstones we all must experience.
	Weegee: Naked New York by John Coplans (Editor), Arthur F. Weegee (Photographer) Hardcover: 80 pages; (October 1997) If it bleeds, it leads" -- the cynical battle cry of today's tabloids -- might easily have been the motto of Arthur Fellig, the freelance photojournalist better known as Weegee, who cruised the streets of 1940s New York in the wee hours of the morning in search of the sensational. His pictures of children sleeping on fire escapes, blood-splattered corpses on sidewalks and amorous couples on the beach reveal that Weegee, unlike his latter day counterparts, had heart and soul.
	Pilgrims By Elizabeth Gilbert Liz Gilbert is a former bartender at Coyote Ugly, and her 1997 magazine article about the bar was the inspiration for the movie of the same name. The story "Tall Folks" in Pilgrims is based on Coyote Ugly and the old Village Idiot. With her first story collection, Gilbert proves herself to be a capable fiction writer. Many of her nonfiction strengths carry over: She draws her characters beautifully, and her sentences are sharp and bright. She has retained her gift for dialogue.
	New York Girls By Richard Kern Hardcover: 208 pages; (April 1997) Richard Kern's work explores sexual interests of a different stripe-- these images are not for the unimaginative or easily placated viewer. If you're interested in erotic photographs of intense, interesting (and possibly insane) women in a variety of unusual situations, this book is for you. If you're looking for "the girl next door" (whatever that is), go get a Playboy.
	Naked in Apartment 7 by Peter Gorman (Photographer), Reed Massingill Hardcover: 160 pages; (August 2001) The models, dance students I believe, interact directly with the camera and also with the viewer. At their most brash they are also most vulnerable. The photographer has made something special here. He has somehow made an image of a living woman which opens that woman to our view on several levels. She is first of all and clearly alive. This is no magazine-fetish-mannikin-supermodel. This is a living, breathing woman.

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