The Cocktail Atlas, illustrated by Zoë Barker

The Cocktail Atlas is a comprehensive collection of drinks, curated by expert Chris Vola. "Each drink is a portal, transporting you not just to a place but to its flavours, traditions, and drinking rituals." To accompany each recipe, illustrator Zoë Barker was chosen to bring over 200 cocktails to life.

Sip your way across the globe, one cocktail at a time. A Za'atar Paloma whisks you off to the spice-laden streets of Lebanon, a Cypriot Brandy Sour evokes the sun-drenched terraces of Cyprus and a Coffee Pineapple Old Fashioned offers a taste of Nauru, the tiny Pacific island nation.

Organised by continent, the beautifully printed book takes you on a deep dive into local customs, distilling techniques, and indigenous ingredients. Every country is given its own moment to shine in a joyfully illustrated cocktail scene. With Zoë's meticulous, hand-drawn creations, each drink becomes more than just a recipe - it’s a celebration of the landscapes, flora, fauna, and the people who bring these drinks to life. A book for wanderers, mixologists, and anyone who believes that a well-made drink is a journey in itself.

We visited Zoë in her light-filled studio amongst the rooftops of Norwich to hear how she approached the project.

This was such a big project! How long did it take to complete all 120 illustrations?

I think it took just over three months - it was a bit of a whirlwind! It was a very tight turnaround so I had to allocate drawings per day to make sure I didn’t get behind schedule. With this volume of drawing I have to put all of the illustrations on a grid, showing roughs, finals, amends etc so I can see the work, otherwise it can feel a little overwhelming! It’s then very satisfying to see everything on the list scribbled out.

Was it challenging to keep each different cocktail illustration looking fresh?

Thankfully because I was leaning into showing the characteristics of the origin of each of the cocktails, there was so much interesting stuff to draw alongside the drinks - whether that was people, animals or nature. It's so nice to have such a breadth of variety in one project.

Did you learn any interesting cocktail or location facts along the way?

SO, there’s a famous cocktail club in Canada called the ‘Sourtoe Cocktail Club’. Membership requires finishing a cocktail consisting of an ounce of alcohol and a MUMMIFIED HUMAN TOE - the toe must touch the lips of the drinker before the booze is finished. Shame I didn’t get to draw that one.

So tell us, what location + cocktail combo would you most want to experience?

Iceland! I want to be living in the little cottage in my illustration sipping on the cocktail ‘I Wanna Be a Dog!’ Although after one of those I’d probably fall off a glacier.

If you could illustrate another picture book, what would it be?

Ooooh, that’s tricky to narrow down. Maybe something story based. I’d love to do a book where I get to draw lots of different environments and places that a character moves through. With loads of little details on each spread so it takes ages to turn each page in case you miss something.