But for Mr. Conigliaro’s fellow cocktail scientists, well versed in working with everything from xanthan gum (a thickening agent) and hydrosols (water-based essences) to tinctures (concentrated small volumes of flavor), his book is a long-awaited treatise, the unlocking of original recipes created by one of the masterminds of their wet-bar world.

“Tony is a legend and one of the most interesting, innovative bartenders out there,” said Ann Tuennerman, the founder and executive director of Tales of the Cocktail, the industry’s premier trade event, attended by thousands and held each summer in New Orleans. “Everyone is excited when he puts down what he does on paper. He lives in his own world, and has these ideas and combinations he puts together that stem from his unique intelligence and artistry. It is really impossible to compare him to anyone else.”

Mr. Conigliaro does, in fact, occupy his own world around the corner from 69 Colebrooke: the Drink Factory, a liquid laboratory he started in 2005 that is now in a building that once housed Pink Floyd’s recording studio. It is here that he, along with a team of four technicians and a revolving door of mixology interns, works his alchemy, mixing herbs and spices, perfumes and flavors, fruits and vegetables and even tree bark and rocks.

Concocting one of his signature cocktails is a process that requires not just a sophisticated palate but also patience. It is not abnormal for a recipe to take him up to two years to release, as the ingredients must be replicable to his standards before it goes to any of his three London locations (he also has a bar at the Zetter Townhouse and is responsible for all cocktails served at a new restaurant, the Grain Store).

“I like to tell a story through flavors and creating bespoke ingredients,” he said, describing how he reinvented the Prairie Oyster, a concoction Sally Bowles, Liza Minnelli’s character in the film “Cabaret,” consumed every morning.