My opinion is that the older material we’ve been discussing here is problematic to interpret until you understand quite a bit, already. Also, few of these actually concern history; rather, most are artifacts.
So for the not-so-casual English reader, as of this moment, I would direct them to Imbibe 2nd Edition, Punch, Potions of the Caribbean and A Proper Drink first. When the Oxford Companion finally shows up, that’s going to contain a lot of new material.
I’d love to hear what @AudreySaunders and @RobertHess think about this from the professional training perspective, particularly since they seem to be setting up a school.