The Curious Bartender's Vodka Chronicles

From the newly crowned WINNER of the Drink Book category at the 2026 Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards comes the latest book by MASTER MIXOLOGIST, best-selling author, AWARD-WINNING bar owner, popular podcaster and emerging distiller TRISTAN STEPHENSON. This time he turns his gaze to VODKA.

His journey begins in the home of vodka, the so-called ‘Vodka Belt’ of northeastern Europe, where he uncovers the extraordinary history of a spirit inextricably linked to the identity of these heartlands. Technological advances stripped vodka of its flavour, colour and history, but its evolving form found a new home in North America. By the middle of the twentieth century, vodka had been reinvented once more, fuelling the cocktail renaissance and becoming the most widely consumed spirit on the planet. Vodka seems destined to continue its march onwards and upwards, adapting and evolving to suit consumers’ changing tastes. But one thing that hasn’t changed is vodka’s versatility as a cocktail base. And neither have Tristan’s skills as a mixologist. In this book, he conjures up 15 classic and modern vodka cocktails drawn directly from the stories and discoveries from within these pages.