What was once a way she escaped her insecurity and negativity as a teenager became a means of coping with the anxiety and stress of an impossible workload.Girl Walks Out of a Bar explores Smith’s formative years, her decade of alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, and her road to recovery. In this darkly comic and wrenchingly honest story, Smith describes how her circumstances conspire with her predisposition to depression and self-medication in an environment ripe for addiction to flourish. When her close-knit group of high-achieving friends celebrate the end of their grueling workdays with alcohol-fueled nights at the city’s clubs and summer weekends partying at the beach the feel-good times can spiral wildly out of control.Girl Walks Out of a Bar is a candid portrait of alcoholism through the lens of gritty New York realism. Beneath the façade of success lies the reality of addiction.

    But in this case, what's new is old--specifically, the centuries-old European tradition of making bitter cordials and liqueurs. In Amaro, Parsons takes readers on a bittersweet tour of Italian bars, cafés, and distilleries, opening readers' eyes to the rich history and vibrant culture of amaro today. Then, he returns to the United States, where contemporary mixologists are incorporating amari into a delicious and eclectic array of cocktails. Gorgeous location and cocktail photography; an impeccable package; and more than 100 recipes for DIY amaro, amaro cocktails, and amaro-spiked desserts will make this the must-have beverage book of the season.From the Hardcover edition.

    . . A riveting and anxiety-inducing read. Mike Pond tells his story of recovery from alcoholism with a brutally honest, warts-and-all approach that makes you want cheer for him and simultaneously slap him upside the head.” – Vancouver SunPsychotherapist Michael Pond is no stranger to the devastating consequences of alcoholism. He has helped hundreds of people conquer their addictions, but this knowledge did not prevent his own near-demise. In this riveting memoir, he recounts how he lost his Penticton-based practice, his home, and his family—all because of his drinking. After scores of visits to the ER, a tour of hellish recovery homes, a stint in intensive care for end-stage alcoholism, and jail, Pond devised his own personal plan for recovery. He met Maureen Palmer and together they investigated scientific alternatives to the rigid abstinence doctrine pushed by Alcoholics Anonymous.

    They satisfy your boozy thirst in a strife filled life and a good one will listen to anything on your mind when no one else will. Our barman/narrator is one of the good ones. He's been disposed under chins and elbows and cocktail napkins and ashtrays and spilled drinks for decades in New York City for countless drinkers willing to confess anything to a bar top. From one bar stool to another our barman's raw and soulful voice delivers a metropolitan story of good times, struggle, regret and salvation - a story put together with well-known real life places, countless celebrity faces and amazing characters only found in New York City. Maybe you live in New York or simply wondered about living there. Maybe you've dreamed of tending a bar or owning a bar or sitting in a bar in New York City. Maybe you've always wanted to meet a bartender from the prohibition era who pissed into Al Capone's beer or a horse-betting Rabbi that can explain the world order or see Mickey Mantle fall down drunk with his face buried in a filthy barroom toilet. Maybe you're interested in a wine and beer stained, cigarette burned oak top metamorphism that will add some hardened experience to your teetotaler life. Or maybe you just have a tiny sadistic stripe and you'd like to witness what a big city, countless smokes and lots of drugs, liquor, sex, and bearing witness to the eternal under the neon glare of Times Square can do to somebody, to anybody. From 1966 and his first job in a South Bronx bar at 4 years old opening cans of beer to shining shoes in bars across the Bronx to serving booze in iconic bars and restaurants all over Manhattan our Barman spars with the life force of New York City for fifty years until last call when he's faced with an unforeseen betrayal and is left almost broke, without a plan and nearly a hollow man. That is until he learns to forgive and luckily realize that life without warning has just begun.

    Through therapists and word-of-mouth, thousands have discovered this formerly out-of-print classic....

      A Happier Hour is a heartfelt, moving, and inspiring story for anyone who has ever had to give up something they loved in order to get what they truly wanted.

    Drinking wine is fun. Until it isn’t. Jackie refuses to believe she has problem, after all she doesn’t live under a bridge, she is still quite thin (and therefore healthy), and is quite able to function! But Jackie’s “Drunken Magical Thinking” is propelling her towards disaster. Her life is starting to disintegrate. The party really comes to end when Jackie starts to have blackouts. Not “falling down drunk” blackouts, but complete gaps in her memory after drinking only a few glasses. She can’t recall conversations, phone calls, and most nights, she can’t remember going to bed. Jackie’s love affair with Wine must come to an End. 'Sober Ever After' is not a "Dead Drunk in a Ditch" sensational story - it's part memoir, part self help guide from an ordinary woman who fell for the Big Con - that alcohol is not only harmless and fun, but we can't live without it.  'Sober Ever After' is for everyone who has the vague nagging worry that there must be more to life than chardonnay, cable and the couch.

    From Los Angeles, Cheyenne, Portland, and New Orleans, to Jackson and Wolf Point--Linh walked miles and miles through unfamiliar neighborhoods, talking to whoever would talk to him: the homeless living in tent cities, the peddlers, the protestors, the public preachers, the prostitutes. With the uncompromising eye of a Walker Evans or a Dorothea Lange, and the indomitable, forthright prose of a modern-day Nelson Algren or James Agee, Dinh documents the appalling and the absurd with warmth and honesty, giving voice to America's often forgotten citizens and championing the awesome strength it takes to survive for those on the bottom. Growing out of a photo and political writing blog Linh has maintained since 2009, Postcards from the End of America is an unflinching diary of what Linh sees as the accelerating collapse of America. Tracking the economic, political, and social unraveling--from the casinos to the abandoned factories and over all the sidewalks in between--with a poet's incisive tongue, Linh shows us the uncanny power of the people in the face of societal devastation.

    But what about rye whiskey, Madeira wine, and fine imported Cognac? Or peach brandy, applejack, and lager beer? At various times in the past, these drinks were as likely to be found at the Southern bar as barrel-aged bourbon and raw corn likker. The image of genteel planters in white suits sipping mint juleps on the veranda is a myth that never was--the true picture is far more complex and fascinating. Southern Spirits is the first book to tell the full story of liquor, beer, and wine in the American South. This story is deeply intertwined with the region, from the period when British colonists found themselves stranded in a new world without their native beer, to the 21st century, when classic spirits and cocktails of the pre-Prohibition South have come back into vogue. Along the way, the book challenges the stereotypes of Southern drinking culture, including the ubiquity of bourbon and the geographic definition of the South itself, and reveals how that culture has shaped the South and America as a whole.

    It’s beer that offers a sense of place, incorporating locally sourced and seasonally harvested ingredients into traditional (and untraditional) farmhouse-style beers. The Homebrewer's Almanacis a practical guide for those who are interested in incorporating fresh and foraged ingredients into their beer, written by the brewers of one of the country’s hottest new breweries. Recipes include:Sweet Potato Vienna Lager Chanterelle Mushroom SaisonNettle Spicebush AleSumac Sour AleBasil Rye PorterEach chapter offers an overview of what plants to look for in your region, as well as how to harvest and how to preserve them. A brewing guide in the modern DIY tradition with a touch of the retro farmer’s almanac, The Homebrewer's Almanac will be a staple in homebrewers’ libraries and a source of year-round inspiration.

     Craft distilleries are popping up all over the United States, making whiskeys not just from corn, rye, and malted barley, but also from grains such as quinoa, blue corn, and triticale. Cocktail lovers, moving away from sweet and fruity flavor profiles, have embraced the earthy, bitter, savory notes that come from the “brown” spirits. In this collection, Shrubs author Michael Dietsch reaches out to those cocktail drinkers with recipes both classic and original, in historical order.  He begins with colonial-era drinks such as Cherry Bounce and the Stone Fence, moving to early whiskey drinks like the Toddy and Julep, and then into the cocktail explosion of the Jerry Thomas era circa 1880s. This leads to the drinks of pre-Prohibition, Prohibition, and post-Repeal, and then to a section on the cocktail renaissance of the last 15 years.Author Michael Dietsch writes, "Whiskey is a spirit with a story," and he includes an overview and some history without losing sight of the pleasures in drinking the stuff. His cocktail recipes are also infused with stories, making this book a joy to both read and use.

    Featuring a collection of 75 recipes of cannabis influenced cocktails and drinks; The Cocktail Whisperer Warren Bobrow will show you the essential instructions for de-carbing cannabis to release its full psychoactive effect. Learn the history of cannabis as a social drug and its growing acceptance to becoming a medicinal. Look beyond cocktails and create successful tonics, syrups, shrubs, bitters, compound butter and exotic infused oil to use in any drink. Start your day with coffee, tea, and milk-based cannabis beverages for healing and relaxation. Get your afternoon pick-me-up with gut healing shrubs and mood enhancing syrups. Make cooling lemonades and sparking herbal infusions to soothe the fevered brow. Then, have an after dinner herbal-based cannabis drink for relaxation at the end of a good meal. The options are endless with Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics!

    Today s talented brewers are innovating, experimenting, and enthusiastically embracing the seemingly mystical complexity of flavors and aromas derived from wood. From the souring effects of microbes that take up residence in the wood to the wood character drawn from barrels or foeders, this book covers not only the history, physiology, microbiology, and flavor contributions of wood, but also the maintenance of wooden vessels. Explore the many influences of wood as a vehicle for contributing tremendous complexity to beers fermented and aged within it. Wood & Beer: A Brewer s Guide is as much about wood as it is about beer, and the mysteries that arise when the two come together."

    It's about classic rums and new-generation rums, about rhum agricole and about premium aged rums, about rums from all over the world. It's about rum enjoyed with cola and ginger beer. About the best rum for a classic daiquiri. About rum cocktails that ooze style and personality. Above all, it's about enjoying your rum in all kinds of ways.The days of rum being seen as a minor spirit are over. The category has been reborn in recent years with developments such as the rise of premium aged rums and spiced rums. The range of rums available has widened dramatically, with tiki bars in every major city globally. Add in cachaça - Brazil's native cane spirit - and you have a hugely popular distillate. So there's no surprise that the premium rum market is growing at an astonishing rate - from 23 percent per annum in the US to 74 percent per annum in France, for example.The mission of this book is to help drinkers appreciate this complex spirit, find the style they like and discover how this versatile spirit can best be enjoyed. It will help you to understand your rum - how it's produced (whether from molasses, cane syrup or cane juice) and whether it's dry, sweet, fresh or oaky. More than 100 different rums are featured and analysed, from rich, sweet mellow Guyana rums to the vegetal peppery rums of Martinique or Guadeloupe and contemporary spiced rums. Dave Broom provides a description and graded tasting notes for each brand, allowing you to create the perfect mix every time. Finally, a selection of classic and contemporary cocktails shows just how wonderfully versatile this spirit is.