In a spirited tour across continents and cultures, Adam Rogers takes us from bourbon country to the world’s top gene-sequencing labs, introducing us to the bars, barflies, and evolving science at the heart of boozy technology. He chases the physics, biology, chemistry, and metallurgy that produce alcohol, and the psychology and neurobiology that make us want it. If you’ve ever wondered how your drink arrived in your glass, or what it will do to you, Proof makes an unparalleled drinking companion.

    Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley. Gin was born from a conifer shrub when a Dutch physician added oil of juniper to a clear spirit, believing that juniper berries would cure kidney disorders. "The Drunken Botanist" uncovers the enlightening botanical history and the fascinating science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees, and fruits (and even one fungus).Some of the most extraordinary and obscure plants have been fermented and distilled, and they each represent a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history. Molasses was an essential ingredient in American independence: when the British forced the colonies to buy British (not French) molasses for their New World rum-making, the settlers outrage kindled the American Revolution. Rye, which turns up in countless spirits, is vulnerable to ergot, which contains a precursor to LSD, and some historians have speculated that the Salem witch trials occurred because girls poisoned by ergot had seizures that made townspeople think they d been bewitched. Then there's the tale of the thirty-year court battle that took place over the trademarking of Angostura bitters, which may or may not actually contain bark from the Angostura tree.With a delightful two-color vintage-style interior, over fifty drink recipes, growing tips for gardeners, and advice that carries Stewart's trademark wit, this is the perfect gift for gardeners and cocktail aficionados alike.

    See what sets this cousin of tequila apart from the rest of the pack. Produced in Mexico for centuries but little known elsewhere until recent years, mezcal has captured the imagination of spirits enthusiasts with its astonishing complexities. And while big liquor is beginning to jump aboard the bandwagon, most mezcal is still artisanal in nature, produced using small-batch techniques handed down for generations, often with agave plants harvested in the wild. ​Join author Emma Janzen through Mezcal as she presents an engaging primer on all things related to the spirit; its long history, the craft of distilling it, and a thorough guide to many of the most common agaves used in production and how they shape the resulting spirit. In addition, top mezcal bars across the United States and Mexico contribute a selection of nearly fifty cocktails that accentuate its distinguishing qualities.Beautifully produced and authoritatively written, Mezcal is the definitive guide to exploring and unraveling the mysteries of this extraordinary handcrafted spirit. An Editors’ Pick for Amazon Best Books of the month of July 2017.

    Cocktails are back after decades of decline, but the literature and lore of the classics has been missing. John F. Kennedy played nuclear brinksmanship with a gin and tonic in his hand. Teddy Roosevelt took the witness stand to testify that six mint juleps over the course of his presidency did not make him a drunk. Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Chandler both did their part to promote the gimlet. Fighting men mixed drinks with whatever liquor could be scavenged between barrages, raising glasses to celebrate victory and to ease the pain of defeat. Eric Felten tells all of these stories and many more, and also offers exhaustively researched cocktail recipes. How’s Your Drink is an essential addition to the literature of spirits and a fantastic holiday gift for husbands and fathers.

    Marnie Old and Sam Calagione divulge the secrets of their trades (sommelier and brewmaster, respectively) in this fully illustrated instruction book on how to successfully pair both beer and wine with a wide variety of foods.

    You fought through War and Peace, burned through Fahrenheit 451, and sailed through Moby-Dick. All right, you nearly drowned in Moby-Dick, but you made it to shore—and you deserve a drink!A fun gift for barflies and a terrific treat for book clubs, Tequila Mockingbird is the ultimate cocktail book for the literary obsessed. Featuring 65 delicious drink recipes—paired with wry commentary on history's most beloved novels—the book also includes bar bites, drinking games, and whimsical illustrations throughout.Even if you don't have a B.A. in English, tonight you're gonna drink like you do. Drinks include:- The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose- The Last of the Mojitos- Love in the Time of Kahlua- Romeo and Julep- A Rum of One’s Own- Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margarita- Vermouth the Bell Tollsand more!

    

    The number of brands grows every day and bartenders - and consumers - are now beginning to re-examine gin as a quality base spirit for drinks both simple and complex.Now, with more brands available than ever before, it is the time to set out what makes gin special, what its flavors are and how to get the most out of the brands you buy. With this book as your guide, discover:How gin is madeWhat a botanical is and how they impact a gin's flavorWhat the difference between Dutch, London, Scottish, Spanish and American gins isHow you drink them to maximize your pleasureWhether there is life beyond the gin & tonic (yes!)The body of the book covers 120 gins which Dave has tested four ways - with tonic, with lemonade, in a negroni and in a martini - and then scored. In addition, each gin is categorized according to an ingenious flavor camp system, which highlights its core properties and allows you to understand how you can best drink it, and therefore enjoy it.

    With a chapter for each of ten cocktails--from the grog sailors drank on the high seas in the 1700s to the mojitos of modern club hoppers--Wayne Curtis reveals that the homely spirit once distilled from the industrial waste of the exploding sugar trade has managed to infiltrate every stratum of New World society. Curtis takes us from the taverns of the American colonies, where rum delivered both a cheap wallop and cash for the Revolution, to the plundering pirate ships off the coast of Central America, to the watering holes of pre-Castro Cuba, and to the kitsch-laden tiki bars of 1950s America. Here are sugar barons and their armies conquering the Caribbean, Paul Revere stopping for a nip during his famous ride, Prohibitionists marching against "demon rum," Hemingway fattening his liver with Havana daiquiris, and today's bartenders reviving old favorites like Planter's Punch. In an age of microbrewed beer and single-malt whiskeys, rum--once the swill of the common man--has found its way into the tasting rooms of the most discriminating drinkers. Awash with local color and wry humor, "And a Bottle of Rum" is an affectionate toast to this most American of liquors, a chameleon spirit that has been constantly reinvented over the centuries by tavern keepers, bootleggers, lounge lizards, and marketing gurus. Complete with cocktail recipes for would-be epicurean time-travelers, this is history at its most intoxicating.

    We have for a long time. But recently, we looked around and realized that, while cocktail bars had sprouted up across the world, good drinks still couldn't be found in the place where we had always mixed them: at home with friends. So we set out from our workshop in Brooklyn, New York, to come up with a solution. What resulted is one part instructional recipe book, one part photo journey through our year of cocktail crafting and one part inspirational peptalk. We think we've ended up with something pretty unique: a cocktail book that expresses our seasonal and straightforward approach to drinks and entertaining, and reminds us that mixing cocktails should be simple, social, and, above all, fun.

    Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval, two of the show’s stars, fell in love on the show and have stuck together through it all. They've been talking about writing a cocktail book on the show for a few seasons, and now they're finally delivering the goods with this book that has drinks for every situation. It features a mix of classy cocktails for fancy special occasions and trashier recipes for those times when you just have a few random ingredients in your kitchen and want to keep the buzz going. Shots and recovery recipes are also included, so your pregame and morning after will be covered too. Woven throughout are brand-new photos and behind-the-scenes stories crafted with the help of Bravo insider and co-author Danny Pellegrino, making this a true must-have for fans of the show.

    With this cocktail companion, you will be able to fully enjoy Hemingway’s works beyond the limits of the imagination—pick up this book and taste how “cool and clean” and “civilized” Frederic Henry’s martini was in A Farewell to Arms, or sip a Bloody Mary, a drink rumored to be named by Hemingway himself!

    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!

    The first-ever cocktail book from America's Test Kitchen brings our objective, kitchen-tested and -perfected approach to the craft of making cocktails. You always want your cocktail to be something special--whether you're in the mood for a simple Negroni, a properly muddled Caipirinha, or a big batch of Margaritas or Bloody Marys with friends. After rigorous recipe testing, we're able to reveal not only the ideal ingredient proportions and best mixing technique for each drink, but also how to make homemade tonic for your Gin and Tonic, and homemade sweet vermouth and cocktail cherries for your Manhattan. And you can't simply quadruple any Margarita recipe and have it turn out right for your group of guests--to serve a crowd, the proportions must change. You can always elevate that big-batch Margarita, though, with our Citrus Rim Salt or Sriracha Rim Salt. How to Cocktail offers 150 recipes that range from classic cocktails to new America's Test Kitchen originals. Our two DIY chapters offer streamlined recipes for making superior versions of cocktail cherries, cocktail onions, flavored syrups, rim salts and sugars, bitters, vermouths, liqueurs, and more. And the final chapter includes a dozen of our test cooks' favorite cocktail-hour snacks. All along the way, we solve practical challenges for the home cook, including how to make an array of cocktails without having to buy lots of expensive bottles, how to use a Boston shaker, what kinds of ice are best and how to make them, and much more.

    Much more than just a guide to mixology, How to Booze is a hilarious and remarkably prescient, if somewhat degenerate, guide to life—or at least that part of life that would be greatly improved in the company of Johnny Walker or Jack Daniels.