Oz uses his trademark wit and irreverent style to teach you the basics of wine appreciation and show you how to get more out of a bottle of wine, and find out what is really inside. Have you ever gone into your local wine shop or looked at the wine list in your local bar and thought with a sense of panic `Help, what do I choose?'... What sort of wine do I fancy today? A refreshing white? A summery red to take on a picnic or a spicy wine to go with a winter's stew?' Well, Oz is here to help. Split into sections covering basics (wine at a glance, good grape guide, wine styles, from grape to glass and quick guide to countries); practical stuff (what the label tells you, the canny wine buyer, essential kit, serving and keeping wine); and becoming a wine geek (tasting wine, starting your own collection, finding out more and quick guide to names in wine). Oz will be your guide through the world of fascinating flavours and help you find the sort of wine you enjoy drinking. Dip into this book and you will find a quick, accessible guide to wine styles: what is warm and spicy or chewy and blackcurranty? He recommends wines to try; and explains what the label tells you about the taste and quality of the wine and whether it is any good or not. Soon you will be confident enough to choose between flavoursome reds such as Shiraz or Pinot Noir, and refreshing whites from Alberino to Sauvignon Blanc. The book is divided into short, easy to read topics, with recommended wines to try covering all styles and flavours. Now is the moment to grab that glass, learn about what is inside that bottle and taste while you read...

It's been a century since the prohibition sent Americans scurrying to speakeasies. And decades since the movie industry turned mobsters into celebrities. Now the two worlds collide in this highly original pocket-sized collection that creates signature cocktails for gangsters of every stripe. There's the "Al Capone," a mixture of rye and Campari that's as charming and dangerous as its namesake. The "Bonnie Parker" adds Chicory Pecan Bitters to the whiskey Bonnie enjoyed when she wasn't lobbing bottles out the window of her getaway car. There's even the Stephanie St Clair, a cocktail with Caribbean rum that's as smooth as she was. Famous characters from much-loved recent tv series including The Sopranos, Peaky Blinders, and Boardwalk Empire are seen alongside iconic roles from classic films such as The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, and Miller's Crossing. These fictional fiends are accompanied by the infamous real- life mobsters they're based on. Each is illustrated by acclaimed comic book artist Shawn McManus. Whether you're a budding mixologist or gearing up to watch The Godfather, this handy book provides the perfect blend of slick recipes and popular culture.

The beer of today--brewed from malted grain and hops, manufactured by large and often multinational corporations, frequently associated with young adults, sports, and drunkenness--is largely the result of scientific and industrial developments of the nineteenth century. Modern beer, however, has little in common with the drink that carried that name through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Looking at a time when beer was often a nutritional necessity, was sometimes used as medicine, could be flavored with everything from the bark of fir trees to thyme and fresh eggs, and was consumed by men, women, and children alike, "Beer in the Middle Ages" and the Renaissance presents an extraordinarily detailed history of the business, art, and governance of brewing.During the medieval and early modern periods beer was as much a daily necessity as a source of inebriation and amusement. It was the beverage of choice of urban populations that lacked access to secure sources of potable water; a commodity of economic as well as social importance; a safe drink for daily consumption that was less expensive than wine; and a major source of tax revenue for the state. In "Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance," Richard W. Unger has written an encompassing study of beer as both a product and an economic force in Europe.Drawing from archives in the Low Countries and England to assemble an impressively complete history, Unger describes the transformation of the industry from small-scale production that was a basic part of housewifery to a highly regulated commercial enterprise dominated by the wealthy and overseen by government authorities. Looking at the intersecting technological, economic, cultural, and political changes that influenced the transformation of brewing over centuries, he traces how improvements in technology and in the distribution of information combined to standardize quality, showing how the process of urbanization created the concentrated markets essential for commercial production.Weaving together the stories of prosperous businessmen, skilled brewmasters, and small producers, this impressively researched overview of the social and cultural practices that surrounded the beer industry is rich in implication for the history of the period as a whole.

Demystify the world of whisky. Whisky experts Nick Morgan and The Whisky Exchange open the lid on the whisky industry, revealing what makes one of the world's simplest spirits just so popular. Everything You Need to Know About Whisky will answer all of your burning questions; from what makes the perfect scotch and how to drink it like a pro to an exploration of distilleries around the world and their fascinating (often scandalous) histories. This indispensable guide is filled with insider tips on finding your new favourite bottle and brewing up the very best whisky based cocktails - essential reading for all whisky fans, novices and experts alike.

"A great primer. . . . If you're new to the natural/organic/biodynamic wine debates, Authentic Wine is the place to start."--Huffington Post
"This is one of the most engaging, thoughtful and enlightening books on contemporary wine. . . . A manifesto for an industry looking to shape its future."--Wine And Spirits

Naturalness is a hot topic in the wine world. But what exactly is a "natural wine"? For this pioneering book, best-selling wine writer Jamie Goode teams up with winemaker and Master of Wine Sam Harrop to explore the wide range of issues surrounding authenticity in wine. They begin by emphasizing that wine's diversity, one of its strengths, is currently under threat from increasingly homogenized commercial wines that lack a sense of place. Drawing on a global array of examples and anecdotes, Goode and Harrop examine complex concepts--terroir, biodynamics, and sustainability--in clear language. They also discuss topics including cultured and wild yeasts, wine "faults," the carbon footprint of the wine industry, "natural" as a marketing concept, and more. "Authentic Wine" illuminates a subject of great interest to wine producers, consumers, and anyone wondering where the wine industry is headed.

Stay Me With Flagons was Healy's love letter to wine, and to the wines he enjoyed with friends during his long study of the subject. He takes you on a comprehensive tour of Europe, visiting all the key wine regions of the time, and sometimes commenting on the impact of the Second World War on wine production. Originally written in 1940, this edition was first published after Healy's premature death in 1950 with notes from his great friend Ian Maxwell Campbell, including insertions when he disagreed with this friend! An elegiac and yet often humorous study of wine, which is as readable now as it was then. With a new foreword by winemaking and wine-writing expert, Fiona Morrison MW. The Classic Editions breathe new life into some of the finest wine-related titles written in the English language over the last 150 years. Although these books are very much products of their time - a time when the world of fine wine was confined mostly to the frontiers of France and the Iberian Peninsula and a First Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy wouldn't be beyond the average purse - together they recapture a world of convivial, enthusiastic amateurs and larger-than-life characters whose love of fine vintages mirrored that of life itself.

Continuing our series of successful drinks-related titles, this book from an experienced bartender contains the best and weirdest bar shots and shooters. The names may be strange, but the drinks range from classic and familiar to the downright 'toxic'!!

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.

Make your own soft drinks that are tastier, healthier, and cheaper than anything you'll find in stores!

From soda water to sarsaparilla, in Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop, you'll find easy-to-follow instructions for more than 60 traditional and modern soft drink recipes. Your whole family can make delicious batches of old favorites and experiment with new combinations of natural ingredients to create your own refreshing recipes.

You'll make fabulous, fizzy creations like:

-- Old-Fashioned Root Beer

-- Sarsaparilla Soda

-- Birch Beer

-- Virgin Islands Ginger Beer

-- Lemon-Lime Soda

-- Cherry Vanilla Soda

-- Cream Soda

-- Raspberry Shrub

-- Molasses Switchel

-- Coffee Whizzer

-- Fruit Smoothie

-- and much more!

Following the enormous decade-long success of his best-selling Winery Technology and Operations, physical chemist and winemaker Yair Margalit comes out with the successive Concepts in Wine Technology, fully updated and revised to meet the advances of modern winemaking. Among the extended topics are fermentation, skin contact, acid balance, phenolics, bottling, the use of oak and quality control. He begins in the vineyard discussing proper maturation, soil and climate, bunch health, vineyard disease states and grape varieties. Next he tackles the pre-harvest with a careful look at vineyard management and preparing the winery for harvest. Dr. Margalit then outlines the entire process of harvesting; from destemming, crushing and skin contact as it applies to both red and white grapes; to pressing, must correction and temperature control. Fermentation is examined fully and includes a lengthy look at the factors affecting malo-lactic fermentation and its pros and cons. There is a huge chapter on cellar operations that deals with racking, stabilization, fining, filtration, blending and maintaining winery hardware, followed by sections on barrelling and bottling. The final chapter pulls together the more general aspects of wine technology, covering sulphur-dioxides, different forms of wine spoilage and ways to ward them off, legal regulations and, one of the most important and enigmatic compounds in wine, phenolics.

Learning about wine can be a daunting task. With terms like assemblage, batonnage and cuvee; ullage, terroir and vielles vignes, it's not surprising that many people are put off and simply reach for the nearest bottle of red or white in the supermarket aisle. This is the perfect, concise guide for anyone who loves wine but wants to find out more. Arranged in an easy-to-use format in which different types of wine are shown schematically on a map like the London Underground, the reader can see at a glance the salient features of hundreds of different wines and how they relate to each other in terms of taste. A unique and original tool to navigate the complex world of wine, The Pocket Guide to Wine enables wine lovers to find out more about the wines they already like and to make informed choices as they explore further.

It's every beer drinker's worst nightmare--a cold brew in hand with no means to open it. Here to the rescue is an indispensable guide featuring 99 ways* to get the job done fast using anything and everything in sight as a bottle opener in a time of need. Photographs and step-by-step instructions for each method walk thirsty readers through the art of opening bottles, revealing the practical use of such handy available implements as a belt buckle, TV remote, baby carriage, dog collar, ski binding, golf club, park bench, BBQ grill, lawn mower, automatic teller machine, police car, and many more. Cheers
*Plus one: the spine of this hardcover opens bottles, too.

Steven Jenkins is our foremost cheese authority--in the words of The New York Times, "a Broadway impresario whose hit is food." Now, after years of importing cheeses, scouring the cheese-producing areas of the world, and setting up cheese counters at gourmet food shops, he's decided to write it all down. Full of passion, knowledge, and an expert's considered opinions the cheese primer tells you everything you need to know about the hundreds of cheeses that have, in the last few years, become available in this country. Region-by-region, he covers all the major cheeses from France, Italy, Switzerland--the top tier of cheese-producing countries--plus the best of Britain, Ireland, Spain, the United States, Austria, Germany, and other countries. Along the way he tells how to pick out a healthy Pont l'Eveque; why to reconsider the noble Fontina for more than just cooking; how to avoid those factory-made chevres; why to seek out the sublime Vacherin Mont d'Or; and how to start exploring--Bleu de Bresse, Cabrales, Crottin de Chavignol, and so on. A complete primer, it includes information on the best ways to store and serve cheese, including which wines to serve alongside them; how to orchestrate a proper cheese course; and the unimportable cheeses to look up when abroad.

From tasting the greatest grapes to creating the perfect cheeseboard, this two volume collection is a definitive guide to the ever-changing character of cheese and wine. It offers a fascinating world tour of wines, from Bordeaux to the Barossa Valley and a guide to the greatest grapes: tasting the top 12 varieties. From the vine to the glass: production techniques are explained and the best ways of storing and serving your wine. The definitive illustrated guide to fabulous cheese of the world, each entry in the visual catalogue details colour, texture, taste and provenance, from the creamy Brie de Meaux to the aromatic Stilton. It includes over 70 internationally renowned classic and contemporary cheese recipes.

This classic book is for any really enthusiastic and ambitious home brewer - the person who wants to brew high quality 'true' beers that were long thought beyond the ability of the amateur. It brings to beginners and experts alike a simple method of 'mashing' for producing the finest flavoured beers, real ales, stouts and lagers from all-grain ingredients. It is the most advanced and comprehensive guide to mashing and brewing.

In Wine & Philosophy, philosophers, wine critics, and winemakers share their passion for wine through well-crafted essays that explore wine's deeper meaning, nature, and significance* Joins Food & Philosophy and Beer & Philosophy in in the "Epicurean Trilogy* Essays are organized thematically and written by philosophers, wine writers, and winemakers* Chapters include, "The Art & Culture of Wine"; "Tasting & Talking about Wine"; "Wine & Its Critics"; "The Beauty of Wine"; "The Metaphysics of Wine"; and "The Politics & Economics of Wine"* Accessible to a general audience while at the same time covering some serious philosophical ground* Incorporates traditional areas of philosophical study, including philosophy of language, philosophy of perception, aesthetics, metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy* A great complimentary text to any guided-tour visit to the Napa Valley or other wineries