A decadently retro cocktail, a  succulent Sidecar inspired by Eben Klemm’s masterful – he is, after all, a Master Mixologist, though exactly what that means I am not exactly sure – opinionated, amusing, definitively authoritative and highly personalized stocking-stuffer, The Cocktail Primer.

Klemm used to glory in the wonderful title Director of Cocktail Development for the BR Guest Restaurant Group – The Ocean Grill, Atlantic Grill, numerous Dos Caminos Fiamma etc – but now he’s been promoted and has to content himself with the more prosaic Senior Manager, Wine and Spirits.

Packed with irreverent insights, mouth-watering photographs and no-nonsense recipes, it’s the ideal Christmas gift, though I advise buying two as you will find it extremely hard to part with the first, so appealing is the whimsical approach Klemm takes to a subject that’s generally treated with altogether far too much gravitas in the current mixology-obsessed age.