Best of
Alcohol

2013

The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks: From Novice to Expert in Twelve Tasting Classes


Joshua M. Bernstein - 2013
    Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)Go on a fun, flavorful tour through the world of craft brews with one of the most unique and fascinating voices in beer today. It's a great time to be a beer drinker, but also the most confusing, thanks to the dizzying array of available draft beers. Expert Joshua Bernstein comes to the rescue with The Complete Beer Course, demystifying the sudsy stuff and breaking down the elements that make a beer's flavor spin into distinctively different and delicious directions. Structured around a series of easy-to-follow classes, his course hops from lagers and pilsners to hazy wheat beers, Belgian-style abbey and Trappist ales, aromatic pale ales and bitter IPAs, roasty stouts, barrel-aged brews, belly-warming barley wines, and mouth-puckering sour ales. There is even a class on international beer styles and another on pairing beer with food and starting your own beer cellar. Through suggested, targeted tastings, you'll learn when to drink down-and when to dump those suds down a drain.

Wine: A Tasting Course


Marnie Old - 2013
    Giving readers the confidence to discover, buy, and drink wines that they'll enjoy, "Wine: A Tasting Course" helps you explore and develop your palate in your own time and at your own pace.Offering a visual tour of wine styles, explaining the big-picture concepts, and encouraging readers to recognize the connections between wines, author Marnie Old, a renowned American sommelier, challenges all the stuffy orthodoxies about wine, and teaches that best way to learn is through tasting.Providing a fresh take on the world of wine, showing you what you need to know, and debunking wine-snob myths, "Wine: A Tasting Course" is the ultimate visual wine course for wine lovers seeking no-nonsense, practical information.

True Brews: How to Craft Fermented Cider, Beer, Wine, Sake, Soda, Mead, Kefir, and Kombucha at Home


Emma Christensen - 2013
    All you need is the know-how.               That’s where Emma Christensen comes in, distilling a wide variety of projects—from mead to kefir to sake—to their simplest forms, making the process fun and accessible for homebrewers. All fifty-plus recipes in True Brews stem from the same basic techniques and core equipment, so it’s easy for you to experiment with your favorite flavors and add-ins once you grasp the fundamentals.               Covering a tantalizing range of recipes, including Coconut Water Kefir, Root Beer, Honey–Green Tea Kombucha, Pear Cider, Gluten-Free Pale Ale, Chai-Spiced Mead, Cloudy Cherry Sake, and Plum Wine, these fresh beverages make impressive homemade offerings for hostess gifts, happy hours, and thirsty friends alike.

Kings County Distillery Guide to Urban Moonshining


Colin Spoelman - 2013
    Written by the founders of Kings County Distillery, New York City’s first distillery since Prohibition, this spirited illustrated book explores America’s age-old love affair with whiskey. It begins with chapters on whiskey’s history and culture from 1640 to today, when the DIY trend and the classic cocktail craze have conspired to make it the next big thing. For those thirsty for practical information, the book next provides a detailed, easy-to-follow guide to safe home distilling, complete with a list of supplies, step-by-step instructions, and helpful pictures, anecdotes, and tips. The final section focuses on the contemporary whiskey scene, featuring a list of microdistillers, cocktail and food recipes from the country’s hottest mixologists and chefs, and an opinionated guide to building your own whiskey collection.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-->

Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits: Make Your Own Limoncello, Grand Marnier, Bailey's, and 152 Other Innovative Flavor Combinations


Andrew Schloss - 2013
    Andrew Schloss shows you the basic techniques for making a liqueur – typically as simple as combining fruit with liquor and sugar, letting the mixture sit for a week, straining, and enjoying – and then provides more than 150 recipes organized by types of flavoring, which include fruits, herbs, spices, nuts and seeds, vegetables, coffee, tea, chocolate, cream, caramel, honey, and butterscotch. Schloss also shows you how to make infused spirits, which are flavored but don’t contain sweeteners. And finally, he offers 80 recipes for irresistible cocktails you can make with your homemade liqueurs and infused spirits. Cheers!

Why you drink and How to stop: Journey to freedom


Veronica Valli - 2013
    Whether you're struggling now & need help, have struggled in the past, or you've ever loved an addict, this book pierces through the confusing and terrifying misinformation that surrounds this disease. From the first page to the last, I was completely enthralled by this brilliantly researched, refreshingly straightforward & delightfully compelling book."This book does exactly what the title promises. Why some people drink destructively has puzzled many people for a long time. Why do you wake up promising yourself you will never do it again, but doing it over and over? Or why does your loved one continue to self-destruct, even if they promise to stop? If you are a problem drinker or love someone who is – then this book is for you.Written by an addictions therapist and recovered alcoholic, Why You Drink and How to Stop peers into the darkness of alcoholism and lays out the reasons that alcoholics drink the way they do.Based on her years of experience working with addicts and alcoholics and her own personal struggle with alcoholism, Veronica explores how alcoholics think, feel and react differently to the world, and shows how these are the engines that drive someone to destructive drinking. In three comprehensive sections she explores how alcoholism is the symptom of a spiritual illness, and then goes on to lay out the solution.This book is a must for anyone who has despaired over their own or anyone else’s drinking.You will read this book with a growing clarity that leads to hope. You will put it down knowing there is a solution.

Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone


Marky Ramone - 2013
    Rolling Stone ranked the Ramones at #26 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” They received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. And Marky Ramone played a major part in this success—his “blitzkrieg” style of drumming drove the sound the Ramones pioneered. Now, fans can get the inside story.Before he joined the Ramones, Marc Bell was already a name in the New York music scene. But when he joined three other tough misfits, he became Marky Ramone, and the rhythm that came to epitomize punk was born.Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones’ improbable rise from humble beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn’t all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn’t shy away from discussing his own struggles for sobriety, including the addiction that led him to be temporarily kicked out of the band.From the cult film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School through “I Wanna Be Sedated” through his own struggle with alcoholism, Marky Ramone sets the record straight, painting an unflinching picture of the dysfunction behind the band that changed a generation. With exclusive behind-the-scenes photos, Pulsating to the Backbeat is both a cultural history of punk and a stirring story of addiction: the story that millions of fans have been waiting for.

The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level


Dinah Sanders - 2013
    Less drunk.You deserve a great cocktail—and you don't have to over-indulge to get it! Shims—serious, low-alcohol cocktails—are where everyone can come together, whether it’s for the one drink of the evening or when this is but the first of many. This book is your invitation to a world of delicious, sophisticated drinks which provide all their pleasures without walloping you over the head with booze. Celebrate two centuries of the cocktail with 53 recipes for every taste, from the sunny cheerfulness of a Ben's Good Humor to slow sippers like the Bitter Giuseppe. Cheers!Lavishly illustrated with 79 vibrant photos by Kelly Puleio.

Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide


Susan Reigler - 2013
    Some of the most famous distilleries are tucked away in the scenic Bluegrass region, which is home to nearly seventy distilleries and responsible for 95 percent of all of America's bourbon production. Locals and tourists alike continue to seek out the world's finest whiskeys in Kentucky as interest in America's only native spirit continues to grow.In Kentucky Bourbon Country, now in its third edition, Susan Reigler offers updated, essential information and practical advice to anyone considering a trip to the state's distilleries (including the state's booming craft distillery sector) or the restaurants and bars on the Urban Bourbon Trail. Featuring more than two hundred full-color photographs and a bourbon glossary, the book is organized by region and provides valuable details about the Bluegrass -- including attractions near each distillery and notes on restaurants, lodging, shopping, and seasonal events in Kentucky's beautiful historic towns.In addition to providing knowledge about each point of interest, Kentucky Bourbon Country weaves in little-known facts about the region's best-kept secrets, such as the historic distillery used as a set in the movie Stripes and the fates of used bourbon barrels. Whether you're interested in visiting the place where your favorite bourbon is made or hoping to discover exciting new varieties, this handy and practical guide is the key to enjoying the best of bourbon.

The First Church on the Moon


J.M.R. Higgs - 2013
    It is the morning after the night before, and a number of problems face the staff of the Steve Moore Moonbase. The first lunar wedding was not a success. A visiting Bishop has a ridiculous obsession about how some "Americans" supposedly landed on the moon on 1969 CE. A phenomenal amount of energy is being used to broadcast an insult at the entire populations of Asia, Europe and Africa. And everyone on the moon is going to die. It is not, on the face of it, the best day for handling an unprecedented evolution in metaphysics. But lunar hangovers are no different to their earth equivalents: no matter how bad things seem, you can always get through them. And everyone is welcome at the first church on the moon.

Drink More Whiskey: Everything You Need to Know About Your New Favorite Drink!


Daniel Yaffe - 2013
    And with upstart distillers reviving varieties like white dog (moonshine to prohibition-era folks), now is the best time to start learning about it. Drink More Whiskey is the reference for those want to discover the provenance, styles, differences in quality, and ideal uses of whiskey in a fresh, fun-to-read format. In addition, more than 20 recipes are sprinkled throughout, from classics like the Old Fashioned to thoroughly modern tipples like the Manchester (made from single malt Scotch whisky and fresh herbs), so readers can take their learning from book to glass.