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Anthony KeysThe Back-Bar Bookshop

Bar manners, clear orders, classic drinks

Know what to do before you reach the bar

A practical handbook for reading the room, ordering in one clean sentence, handling the tab, tipping fairly, and making dependable drinks at home—from a Cleveland bartender with four decades behind the bar.

The Living Room Rule

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For adults 21+. Please drink responsibly.

65 pages · 9 chapters · 25 recipes

Anthony Keys

Anthony KeysAnthony Keys · Old bartender · Cleveland, Ohio

The Regular's Handbook

PDF · 65 pages · 9 chapters · 25 recipes

64Pages
9Chapters
$19Your order

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Small bar mistakes can hold up the whole room

Most awkward moments at a bar come from not knowing the local pattern. A little attention and a few plain sentences usually settle matters.

  • You enter an unfamiliar bar and cannot tell whether to wait for a server, order at the rail, or speak to the host.
  • The bartender looks busy, so you wave cash, stand near the service well, or repeat yourself—and make it harder to notice you.
  • You know roughly what you want but cannot put the beer, spirit, cocktail, round, or substitution into one clear order.
  • The tab includes a comp, split check, discount, or mistake, and nobody has explained how to ask about it without turning the bar into a courtroom.
  • At home, bottles crowd the shelf while the useful tools, fresh ice, proper measurements, and service order remain uncertain.
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The book

The Regular's Handbook

The Regular's Handbook

The book / 01

The Regular's Handbook

The Grown-Up Manual for Bar Etiquette, Confident Ordering, Fair Tipping, and Classic Drinks

Treat the bar as a shared room: make a clear request, respect the work, and leave the next guest a workable place.

The Regular’s Handbook is a 65-page, 9-chapter PDF for anyone who wants to walk into a bar, understand the service pattern, and order without bluffing. I explain The Living Room Rule, how to wait at a crowded rail, how to put a drink order into one clean sentence, and how tabs, comps, split checks, and fair tipping look from behind the bar. The later chapters move home: building a 12-bottle bar, handling ice and glassware, measuring, shaking, stirring, balancing classic drinks, and hosting at a sensible pace. It is plain instruction for nights out and drinks at home, with tables and checklists you can return to.

Selected chapters

  1. The Living Room Rule
  2. Read the Room Before You Order
  3. Order in One Clean Sentence
  4. Tabs, Comps, and the Fair Tip
  5. Know When the Night Is Over
  6. The 12-Bottle Home Bar
  7. Tools, Ice, Glass, and Technique
  8. The First Fifteen Classics
  9. Ten More Drinks and a Better Host

65 pages · PDF

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Selected chapters

Start with the problem in front of you

The book follows the course of an evening, but you can also open it where you need help: entering the room, placing the order, or setting up at home.

  1. Read the Room Before You Order

    Use the first-five-minutes process to spot the host stand, service pattern, ordering point, open seats, working paths, and a sensible place to wait.

  2. Order in One Clean Sentence

    Learn practical wording for beer, wine, spirits, cocktails, rounds, and substitutions so the bartender does not have to pull the order out one question at a time.

  3. The 12-Bottle Home Bar

    Choose useful bottles in a sensible order, understand what each contributes, store perishables correctly, and add recipe-specific bottles only when they earn the shelf space.

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Look inside

Open a page and read it

The sample pages show the plainspoken approach, including The Living Room Rule, Eddie’s long regularhood, useful ordering language, a room comparison, and the first-five-minutes process.

65 pages · 9 chapters · 25 recipes

Page 6 — The Living Room Rule
Page 6 — The Living Room Rule ↗
Page 22 — Tabs, Comps, and the Fair Tip
Page 22 — Tabs, Comps, and the Fair Tip ↗
Page 43 — Tools, Ice, Glass, and Technique
Page 43 — Tools, Ice, Glass, and Technique ↗
Page 58 — Ten More Drinks and a Better Host
Page 58 — Ten More Drinks and a Better Host ↗
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Anthony Keys

From the author

Forty years behind a Cleveland bar

I’m Anthony Keys, a 62-year-old bartender based in Cleveland, Ohio. I spent most of my four decades behind the bar at a west-side neighborhood pub, where the useful skills were rarely flashy: notice who arrived, keep the room moving, welcome a stranger, lower the temperature when a conversation turned tense, and know when listening was the better service.

I wrote The Regular’s Handbook because a bar should be treated like a living room, not a vending machine. Eddie, a regular for twenty years, knew every staff member’s name and never used that history to jump the line. That is the kind of belonging I mean: consistency without entitlement, clear words without performance, and respect for the people sharing the room.

— Anthony Keys

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This is for you if

Who I wrote this for

This is for you if

  • You are 21 or older and want practical bar manners without snobbery, jargon, or a lecture about becoming a cocktail expert.
  • You sometimes hesitate at an unfamiliar bar and want clear ways to enter, wait, order, ask questions, and pay.
  • You are assembling a home bar and would rather own a useful core of bottles and tools than a shelf of novelties.
  • You host friends and want better preparation, steadier service timing, sensible pacing, and a clean end to the evening.
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What you get

One practical handbook for both sides of the bar

The Regular’s Handbook is a 65-page PDF with 9 chapters and 25 recipes, plus tables and checklists. It is written for adults 21 and over. It covers bar etiquette, clear ordering, tabs and tipping, responsible pacing, the 12-bottle home bar, essential tools and techniques, classic drinks, and better hosting.

The Regular's Handbook

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The Regular's Handbook

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PDF · The Regular’s Handbook: 65 pages, 9 chapters, 25 recipes

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65 pages · 9 chapters · 25 recipes

  • The Regular's Handbook · 65 pages · PDF
Get the book $19

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What you can work toward

AI-generated illustrations of potential readers.

Walk into an unfamiliar bar without guessing

You will know what to notice at the door, where not to stand, how to check whether a stool is open, and how to ask about the service pattern without making a production of being new.

AI-generated illustrations of potential readers.

Order and settle the tab plainly

You will have usable language for ordering drinks and rounds, opening or closing a tab, understanding comps and buybacks, handling split checks, tipping fairly, and raising a mistake calmly.

AI-generated illustrations of potential readers.

Serve dependable drinks at home

You will build around useful bottles, accurate measures, sound ice and glassware habits, repeatable shaking and stirring, and a hosting pace that includes water and alcohol-free options.

AI-generated illustrations of potential readers.

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Questions

How is the book organized?

Nine chapters follow an evening in order, from the Living Room Rule, reading the room, ordering, tabs and tipping, and knowing when the night is over, to the 12-bottle home bar, tools and technique, the first fifteen classics, and ten more drinks with hosting.

Do I need to know anything about cocktails before reading?

No. The book gives you enough vocabulary to state a preference without bluffing. It explains ordering patterns, spirits, cocktails, tools, measuring, ice, glassware, shaking, stirring, dilution, garnish, and common corrections in plain language.

Is this mainly a cocktail recipe book?

No. The first part is about being a good guest: reading the room, ordering clearly, understanding tabs and comps, tipping fairly, pacing the night, looking after companions, and leaving well. The home-bar and classic-drink chapters build on those habits.

Will it tell me exactly how to order at a busy bar?

Yes. The book explains how to identify the service pattern, find the right place to wait, avoid service wells and working paths, get noticed without performing for attention, and put an order into one clean sentence.

Does the book explain tipping, tabs, and complimentary drinks?

Yes, in a full chapter. It tells you to close your own tab and to decide early whether to split it. For a beer, wine or simple highball, one or two dollars a drink is a useful minimum. On a tab, 15 to 20 percent is the ordinary range, and 20 percent is the standard for solid service. It also covers comps and buybacks: tip on what the drinks would have cost before the comp or discount, and speak up before the check arrives if something went wrong.

Why pay for the book when bar and cocktail videos are free?

A video can demonstrate one drink or answer one question. The Regular’s Handbook puts the whole evening in order, from entering the room to leaving it well, then carries the same method into stocking and running a home bar. You also get 3 tables and 2 checklists to consult without searching through separate videos.

What format is available?

The available format is PDF. The Regular’s Handbook contains 65 pages and 9 chapters.

Can I inspect the writing before choosing the book?

Yes. Open the sample pages to read the actual work. The previews include material from The Living Room Rule and Read the Room Before You Order, along with practical examples, comparisons, and a step-by-step process.

Does it cover responsible drinking and looking after friends?

Yes. Know When the Night Is Over covers pacing, recognizing slipping judgment, caring for companions, accepting a refused drink, arranging safe transportation, and leaving without creating a second problem.

What if the book is not for me?

Every order is covered by a 7-day money-back guarantee. Reply to the purchase email you got from Hotmart and ask for your money back.

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Make your next visit easier on everyone

Read the room, say what you want clearly, respect the work, and know when the night is over. If you want the same plain approach at your home bar, the tools, bottles, techniques, and classics are here too.

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