Brian D. Hoefling

Brian D. Hoefling (the "o" is silent) is a historian and cocktail writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 2012, he founded the Herzog Cocktail School to bring the fruits of the cocktail renaissance to a wider audience through hands-on lessons in the history and preparation of classic drinks. His classes have ranged in size from intimate engagement parties to college reunions; he has also run recurring lesson series in Boston and New Haven and led seminars at Thirst Boston and the San Antonio Cocktail Conference.

His first book, "Distilled Knowledge: The Science Behind Drinking’s Greatest Myths, Legends, and Unanswered Questions" was published by Abbeville Press in 2016. Much like the Herzog Cocktail School, "Distilled Knowledge" was intended to bridge the gap between professionals at the forefront of research and the ordinary drinker, offering accessible, bite-sized answers to common questions about the production and consumption of alcohol. Parade described it as "less textbook and more conversational, like taking a lesson from your local bar’s most knowledgeable mixologist," and Bookpage quipped that Hoefling was "Bill Nye the Science Guy for the barfly."

His second book, "Classic Cocktails," a pocket-sized guide to 150 essential recipes for the home bartender, was published by Abbeville in 2020. Each drink underwent an extensive testing process to ensure that the published recipes were good on their own but also good jumping-off points for home experimentation. A favorable review in the Boston Globe called the book "gorgeous" and likened the chosen recipes to "the comfort food of drinks."

Hoefling's third book, "The Cocktail Seminars," brings him back to his mixological roots, expanding on a "seminar" he taught to a group of other students during his senior year at Yale, which covered thirty drinks one ought to know before adulthood over the course of a twelve-week semester. Many years older and at least a couple of months wiser, Hoefling has revised his 101-level cocktail course and added four more, to give readers a comprehensive baccalaureate-level understanding of the principles of mixing drinks through 150 concrete examples. Each of the five seminars draws its recipes from a stage of the development of the cocktail renaissance, introduces new ingredients and new techniques, and builds on the ones that came before. "The Cocktail Seminars" was published in June 2021.