Difford's Guide Reviews 4

An invaluable resource for the amateur and professional bartender alike, Difford's Guide online is my go-to for creating cocktails for friends and family when they come for dinner (or just for us on a friday night in!).
The website is just brilliantly organised - create an account, enter the spirits/ingredients you already have in your cabinet, then easily find cocktails to make from those (even in my small cabinet the Guide suggests 553 cocktail recipes!). You can then rate what you made. You can favourite those you want to come back and make again or save new ones for future cocktail making sessions. You can even create your own recipes and add it to your account.
If you need to buy any ingredients you don't have for cocktails you want to make, just add them to your basket and order with very speedy, well packaged delivery. We are very lucky in that the Difford's bricks and mortar shop is nearby, so we can pop in, browse the shelves, get expert help and leave with exactly what we need.
Just brilliant!

Difford's guide is an encyclopedic reference for cocktails and mixology, curated by the noted UK mixologist and author, Simon Difford. There is probably no other site on the web that has such breadth of information in a highly organized and searchable format. If you are looking for a new cocktail or want to learn the classics this is a great place to start and come back to.

If you want to quibble, then here are two: Simon adds his own tweaks to virtually every cocktail recipe. Often they are better, sometimes just different and rarely worse. However, he usually lists the original spec if you want to try the cocktail as invented.

The other is his site is supported by sponsorship. Partner brands are favored in the recipe lists and this can change over time. I don't mind this at all, but it is something to be aware of. And it's also why he can provide the site for free.

Overall Difford's guide is an indispensable mixology resource that I come back to time and again. Highly Recommend.

Like the previous comment regarding Simon's guide book to cocktails I find his book useful when looking to find new cocktails. Unfortunately I am less impressed with the product reviews as they appear to be money driven (brown envelopes) and far from accurate based on high scores given to products which clearly are of poorer quality than those other products rated lower. All a bit strange my dear Watson!x

Having come across Difford's Guide in my last job, I began using his website when looking for unique but highly recommended products.

I have worked in the industry in the states for 20 plus years before coming to the UK, and after reviewing some of the products for myself, along with other experienced mixologists, I have to say that I find some of the reviews to be inaccurate. By this I mean, products given five stars plus when they known to be poor quality but equally strange were products know as good quality being slated.

I appreciate these are the opinion of one man but for someone to be held with such high regard in our industry, I'm surprised how inaccurate his reviews are. Perhaps it's more to do with his cocktails, some which I would recommend and the only reason I haven't put Difford's Guide in the bin.