Don't wait for the stars to align-find the perfect drink for your astrological sign with the Mixology of Astrology, by Allure magazine's go-to astrologer, Aliza Kelly Faragher. True love is just one martini away...if you're a Leo, that is. Meet your perfect (cocktail) match with Mixology of Astrology. No matter your sign, here you'll find the best drinks for every occasion. Demystify both the stars and the drink menu with these simple guidelines. Try a French 75 for balanced Libra, suggest something adventurous for carefree Sagittarius, or stick to a classic with an Old Fashioned for Capricorn. When your friends wonder how you always know their perfect drink, you can just tell them it was written in the stars...

This is a comprehensive guide to the must-know wines and producers of California's 'new generation, ' and the story of the iconoclastic young winemakers who have changed the face of California viniculture in recent years

Like good wine, certain beers can be aged under the right conditions, a process that enhances and changes their flavors in interesting and delicious ways. Good candidates for aging are high-alcohol brews, bottle-conditioned beers with yeast in the bottle, barleywines, lambics, and winter ales. Patrick Dawson explains how to identify a cellar-worthy beer, how to plan and set up a beer cellar, what to look for when tasting vintage beers, and the fascinating science behind the aging process. He also includes a comprehensive buying guide to help you select already-aged beers (from the readily available to the tantalizingly rare) to enjoy as your own collection is aging.

When you think of Australian wine, you think of James Halliday. For almost 40 years, the legendary winemaker and critic has been the most trusted name in the industry, and his celebrated Halliday Wine Companion is the final word in what to drink now. This bestselling annual sets the benchmark for winemakers, collectors and wine lovers alike. The 2023 edition has been revised and updated with over 760 pages. Featuring all new scores, notes, wineries and the latest information on 'exceptional', 'outstanding' and 'highly recommended' wines. Inside, a team of Halliday expert share their extensive knowledge of wine with over 5000 tasting notes offering advice on great value wines, as well as key wine regions, wineries and winemakers, vineyard sizes, opening times and contact details. The Halliday Wine Companion 2023 is quite simply the essential guide for drinkers of Australian wine, or a perfect gift for the wine lover in your life.

Craft Gin Making is a detailed guide to entering the world of gin production. For beginners and experienced producers alike, it offers key insights and practical advice on what you need to get started and how to progress in this fascinating and growing craft. It covers both distilling and cold compounding, providing advice on equipment and detailing step-by-step processes, whilst discussing a wide variety of gin production issues. Topics covered include a brief history of gin and gin making; the tools, equipment and ingredients needed for the different methods of producing gin; the most common methods and how to achieve success in them; the practicalities of filtration, bottling, sealing and labelling; making flavoured gins; why things might go wrong and how to correct them and, finally, the legal aspects of gin production.

Do you need to have an advanced science degree to understand brewing chemistry? Certainly not! Any brewer, explains author Lee W. Janson, can understand the basic details of the life of a yeast or the careless steps that produce those annoying off-flavors - and learn how to avoid them. Brew Chem 101 features nontechnical language and a highly readable style, explanations of the chemical reactions at each stage of the brewing process and how to avoid potential problems, and a primer on beer tasting and judging.

A beer-lovers' book which playfully examines a myriad of philosophical concerns related to beer consumption.
Effectively demonstrates how real philosophical issues exist just below the surface of our everyday activities
Divided into four sections: The Art of the Beer; The Ethics of Beer: Pleasures, Freedom, and Character; The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Beer; and Beer in the History of Philosophy
Uses the context of beer to expose George Berkeley's views on fermented beverages as a medical cure; to inspect Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism through beer goggles, and to sort out Friedrich Nietzsche's simultaneous praise and condemnation of intoxication
Written for beer-lovers who want to think while they drink

This important book looks at the entire history of distilling in the Middle East and Europe from the earliest experiments by the Pythagorean alchemists of Ptolomaic Egypt in the fourth century BC to the commerical production of spirits to drink in the British Isles to the year 2000. It is important because Ms Wilson has explored byways of early history that have been little noticed by previous scholars. She links the art of distilling to alchemical practice; to the Dionysian cults of ancient Greece and Rome; to the development of the art by the Gnostic mystic Christian sects (who greatly influenced the Coptic church in lower Egypt and Ethiopia); to the researches of the Persians and Arabs; to the preservation of the art by various heretic cults in western Europe such as the Bogomils and Cathars and, of course, the Templars; then into more mainstream development by the medieval and Renaissance alchemists; before comparative relaxation into the domestic history of distilling in England for the manufacture of strong liquor and the making of medicinal and perfumed waters by members of the landed gentry. This is Dan Brown and the "Da Vinci Code" but written by a scholar and dealing with real-life matters not soft brain-candy. There are twelve chapters divided into three sections. The first is 'The Ancient and Early Medieval World'; 'The Eastern Mediterranean Region'; 'The Later Middle Ages'; 'Western Europe'; and 'From Early Modern Times to AD2000: The British Isles'. While treating extensively of the mystical, cultish and religious origins of distilling, as well as its links to early science, Ms Wilson looks closely at all forms of distilling in the British Isles. This work includes the manufacture of spiritous liquors such as whisky, gin, and others and the central part played in country house domestic life by cordial waters and other distillations manufactured with great skill by generations of housewives as home medicine and perfumery. The book does not treat, at any length, the history of spiritous liquors, including brandy, on mainland Europe.

We are familiar with the medical opinion that a daily glass of wine is good for the health and also the rival opinion that any more than a glass or two will set us on the road to ruin. Whether or not good for the body, Scruton argues, wine, drunk in the right frame of mind, is definitely good for the soul. And there is no better accompaniment to wine than philosophy. By thinking with wine, you can learn not only to drink in thoughts but to think in draughts. This good-humoured book offers an antidote to the pretentious clap-trap that is written about wine today and a profound apology for the drink on which civilisation has been founded. In vino veritas.

Would you like to better appreciate fine distilled spirits? "Whiskey & Spirits For Dummies" is your complete guide to selecting and enjoying this family of noble beverages, flavor by flavor. From whiskey, rum, and brandy to vodka, gin, and cordials, this handy reference traces the history of distilled spirits, explains how they are made, and shows you how to evaluate, serve, and savor them.

Ever wonder why the Irish spell it "whiskey" and the Scottish "whisky"? This friendly book tells you as it reveals where the first whiskeys -- or "dark" spirits -- originated and how they came to the United States. It also explores the origins of clear spirits and the different varieties of each. You'll compare American and European vodkas, see how to make the new and improved all-purpose Martini, and follow the spread of flavored rums across the globe. A slew of sidebars give you fascinating tidbits of information about these spirits. You'll also discover how to: Become a sophisticated tasterShop for the best spiritsSelect the right mixersUse spirits in cookingMake ten classic cocktailsChoose and taste cordials and liqueursKnow the nutrients in one serving of each type of distilled spiritPresent spirits to guestsSet up tasting events at home

This thorough guide also features recipes for cooking with spirits, offering menu choices such as entrees, vegetables, and desserts that all include at least one type of spirit. Complete with an appendix of craft distillers across the United States, "Whiskey & Spirits For Dummies" will give you the knowledge and hands-on guidance you need to become a connoisseur of such greats as fine Scotch, Bourbon, and Cognac in no time

In his new book, Gordon M. Shepherd expands on the startling discovery that the brain creates the taste of wine. This approach to understanding wine's sensory experience draws on findings in neuroscience, biomechanics, human physiology, and traditional enology. Shepherd shows, just as he did in Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters, that creating the taste of wine engages more of the brain than does any other human behavior. He clearly illustrates the scientific underpinnings of this process, along the way enhancing our enjoyment of wine. Neuroenology is the first book on wine tasting by a neuroscientist. It begins with the movements of wine through the mouth and then consults recent research to explain the function of retronasal smell and its extraordinary power in creating wine taste. Shepherd comprehensively explains how the specific sensory pathways in the cerebral cortex create the memory of wine and how language is used to identify and imprint wine characteristics. Intended for a broad audience of readers-from amateur wine drinkers to sommeliers, from casual foodies to seasoned chefs-Neuroenology shows how the emotion of pleasure is the final judge of the wine experience. It includes practical tips for a scientifically informed wine tasting and closes with a delightful account of Shepherd's experience tasting classic Bordeaux vintages with French winemaker Jean-Claude Berrouet of the Chateau Petrus and Dominus Estate.

Sought after by European aristocrats and a favorite of Napoleon Bonaparte, the sweet wines of Constantia in the Cape Colony were considered to be among the world's best during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa began to re-emerge onto the international wine scene. Tim James, an expert on South African wines, takes the reader on an information-packed tour of the region, showing us how and why the unique combination of terroir and climate, together with dramatic improvements in winemaking techniques, result in wines that are once again winning accolades. James describes important grape varieties and wine styles - from delicate sparkling, to rich fortified, and everything in between - including the varietal blends that produce some of the finest Cape wines. Anchoring his narrative in a rich historical context, James discusses all the major wine regions, from Cederberg to Walker Bay, complete with profiles of more than 150 of the country's finest producers.

Prohibition in the US was instituted during the 1920s, making the sale of alcohol illegal, in an effort to `clean up' the sins of those `evil' imbibers. However, far from shutting down the country's debauchery (and, let's face it, fun), it gave rise to a proliferation of speakeasies - underground drinking dens that became particularly popular in New York. Here, the golden era of the cocktail was born. The iconic Sidecar, White Lady, Clover Club and French 75 cocktails, among many others, were born in the dark, smokey, drinking dens: the speakeasies. Speakeasy is a cocktail book that celebrates this exciting gin-soaked, gangster-frollicking era, with 200 cocktails for every taste. With cool 1920s-style illustrations throughout, and a perfect gift format, this is the one cocktail book to relive the heady golden days.

Wherever and whenever people have been found talking, they have been found drinking: an age-old pastime with an equally storied history. Alcohol and civilization have developed in close quarters, sometimes supporting each other and sometimes getting in each other's way. The School of Sophisticated Drinking, which began as an ongoing series of lectures at Berlin's legendary Victoria Bar in 2003, traces the deep-seated lineage of drinking in the social, political, and even scientific developments of our culture. Appealing to both expert drinkers and novice barflies, each chapter delves into the sociopolitical significance of and technological innovations behind a familiar wine or spirit--brandy, vodka, whisky, rum, gin, tequila, and champagne--and shares plenty of tales of adventure, from the glamour of Hollywood and Broadway, to the tormented worlds of well-known writers, to the outbreak of wars and the unending struggle for economic and military power. The reader's thirst for knowledge can be further quenched by trying any or all of the enticing cocktail recipes gathered at the end of the book.

Champagne and I have something in common: What if anything is possible? In the hands of Air s Champagne Parlor owner Ariel Arce, sparkling wine is magic: It makes music sound better, clothes feel sexier, people look hotter, big ideas seem possible. It s a legal drug that lets you get a little loose, fly high on effervescence. It s a mischievous potion that was created out of an accident in the 1600s, whose mysteries we are still drawn to today. Drawing on Arce s decade of experience selling, tasting, and proselytizing, Pop Bottles educates, amuses, inspires, and empowers us to make Champagne and sparkling a go-to. Divided into two sections (one for Champagne, the other on sparkling wines from around the world), Pop Bottles dispenses with dry backstory and tedious tasting notes in favor of a rollicking, visual tour of the universe of bubbly. Discover your palate through a choose-your-own-adventure tasting guide; learn what to wear (and not wear) to a vineyard; and learn how to throw a Champagne pizza party. The sparkling section will cover dominant sparkling regions (Italy, Spain, and elsewhere in France), along with exciting newer players like England, America, Australia, and Japan.

Whiskey lovers will devour this freshand comprehensive guide to everything there is to know about the world's whiskeys, including Scotch and bourbon as well as Tennessee, Irish, Japanese, and Canadian whiskeys. You'll learn about the types of whiskey and the distilling traditions of the regions where they are made, how to serve and taste whiskeys to best appreciate and savor them, how to collect and age whiskey for great results, and much more. There are even recipes for cocktails and suggestions for food pairings. This is the guide no whiskey drinker will want to be without

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For many people, wine is an anxiety-inducing mystery as arcane as quantum physics, and with so many varieties, it's difficult to know what to choose. As New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov argues, that puzzling uncertainty often prevents people from buying and ordering wine, depriving them of an exquisite, deeply satisfying experience. In How to Love Wine, Asimov examines why the American wine culture produces such feelings of anxiety and suggests how readers can overcome their fears and develop a sense of discovery and wonder as they explore the diversity and complexity of the world of wine. With warmth, candor, and intelligent authority, Asimov interweaves his professional knowledge and insights with engaging personal stories of his love affair with wine, a lifelong passion that began when he was a graduate student on a budget. In a direct, down-to-earth manner, Asimov discusses favorite vineyards, wine's singular personalities, the tyranny of tasting notes -those meaningless, over-written wine descriptions that often pass for criticism today-and current wine issues. Throughout, he incorporates in-depth discussions of beautiful wines, both easy to find and rare, and pays special attention to those that have been particularly meaningful to him. Thought-provoking and enjoyable, How to Love Wine will help diminish readers' anxiety, bolster their confidence, and transform them into true wine lovers.