The Forest to Bar 33 – Cocktails, Mocktails & Wonky Drinks

The Forest to Bar 33

Cocktails. Mocktails. Friendship. And a Bloody Good Story.

The Forest to Bar 33 is a cocktails and mocktails recipe book with sawdust on its boots, woodland mischief in its glass and absolutely no interest in taking itself too seriously.

Inside are 24 drinks: 12 cocktails and 12 mocktails, from the maple-soaked Chonky Wonky Old Fashioned and smoky Sawmill Sour to the Little Forester, Hedgewitch and Campfire Punch.

But this isn’t really a book about booze.

It’s about people.

Welcome to Bar 33

Bar 33 isn’t some fashionable cocktail bar with a bloke explaining the emotional journey of a juniper berry.

It’s a back-garden bar built from timber, friendship and stubbornness. More importantly, it became part of a much bigger story. Forest to bar33, describes Bar 33 as the place where the author ended drinking and found sobriety, supported by friends who cared more about the person than what was in the glass.

That’s why this book deliberately gives the sober side of the bar just as much bloody attention.

12 Cocktails From the Boozy Woods

There’s bourbon. Gin. Whisky. Rum. Tequila. Apples. Blackberries. Maple. Honey. Ginger. Herbs and enough woodland nonsense to upset a conventional bartender.

Recipes include:

• The Chonky Wonky Old Fashioned
• The Forest Floor
• The Axe Man
• The Sawmill Sour
• The Woodsman’s Margarita
• The Campfire Espresso
• The Blackberry Wonky Fizz
• The Last Log 

They’re proper drinks with straightforward ingredients and instructions, written in the same distinctly Wonky voice as the rest of the book.

12 Mocktails That Aren’t a Consolation Prize

The mocktails aren’t sad orange juice with a mint leaf chucked on top as an apology.

They get their own chapter and their own personality, including the Little Forester, Blackberry Bramble Bush, Woodsman’s Ginger, Wonky Pear Drop, Forest Fizz, Chonky Cola, Smoky Apple and Forest Sunset. 

Whether you drink, don’t drink, used to drink, are driving, or simply fancy something without alcohol, you’re still invited to the bloody bar.

More Than a Recipe Book

Beyond the drinks, The Forest to Bar 33 contains The Forest Bar Philosophy, covering ingredients, ice, citrus, sweetness, garnishes and the principle that mocktails deserve to be treated as proper drinks. 

But its most important rule is simpler:

Drinks are about people, not alcohol.

Because ultimately the best part of a drink isn’t the expensive bottle, perfect garnish or enormous ice cube.

It’s the people you share it with.

Pull Up a Chair

Funny, honest, occasionally sweary and proudly imperfect, The Forest to Bar 33 is for cocktail lovers, mocktail drinkers, people exploring sobriety and anyone who understands that the best evenings aren’t really about what’s in the glass.

Pour something good.

Pour something alcohol-free.

Or pour nothing at all.

Just pull up a chair and stay a while.

Available now through Amazon.co.uk.