For centuries a bastion of tradition and the jewel in the crown of French viticulture, Bordeaux has in recent years become dogged by controversy, particularly regarding the 2012 classification of the wines of St.-Emilion, the most prestigious appellation of Bordeaux's right bank. St.-Emilion is an area increasingly dominated by big international investors, especially from China, who are keen to speculate on the area's wines and land, some of whose value has increased tenfold in the last decade alone. In the controversial 2012 classification, certain chateaux were promoted to a more prestigious class because of insider deals that altered the scoring system for the classification of wines into premier crus and grand crus. This system now takes into account the facilities of each chateau's tasting room, the size of its warehouse, and even the extent of its parking lot. The quality of the wine counts for just 30% of the total score for the wines of the top ranking, those deemed premier grand cru classe A. In Vino Business, Saporta shows how back-room deals with wine distributors, multinational investors like the luxury company LVMH, and even wine critics, have fundamentally changed this ancient business. Saporta also investigates issues of wine labelling and the use of pesticides, and draws comparisons to Champagne, Burgundy and the rest of the wine world. Based on two years of research and reporting, Vino Business draws back the curtain on the secret world of Bordeaux, a land ever more in thrall to the grapes of wealth.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ANYONE WHO ENJOYS A TIPPLE . . . OR TWO . . . OR TEN! Almost every culture on earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. Tracing humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to Prohibition, it answers every possible question: What did people drink? How much? Who did the drinking? Of the many possible reasons, why? On the way, learn about the Neolithic Shamans, who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended), marvel at how Greeks got giddy and Romans got rat-arsed, and find out how bars in the Wild West were never like the movies. This is a history of the world at its inebriated best. 'This book is a laugh riot. I mean the way the author has presented it is hilarious and to the point' Goodreads Reviewer 'Highly entertaining. Cheers! Bottoms up! Good health!' Goodreads Reviewer 'It can make a good gift for someone with a sense of humour and appreciation for the magical powers of alcohol' Goodreads Reviewer

With fantastical narratives, home-brewing instructions, and original craft cocktail recipes, Mead is the ultimate exploration of the resurgent alcoholic beverage that is nearly as old as time itself. Beloved by figures as diverse as Queen Elizabeth and Thor, the Vikings and the Greek gods, mead is one of history's most storied beverages. But this mixture of fermented honey isn't just a relic of bygone eras -- it's experiencing a cultural renaissance, taking pride of place in trendy cocktail bars and craft breweries across the country. Equal parts quirky historical narrative, DIY manual, and cocktail guide, Mead is a spirited look at the drink that's been with us even longer than wine. Mead gives readers a fascinating introduction to the rich story of this beloved beverage -- from its humble beginnings to its newfound popularity, along with its vital importance in seven historic kingdoms: Greece, Rome, the Vikings, Poland, Ethiopia, England, and Russia. Pairing a quirky, historical narrative with real practical advice, beverage expert Fred Minnick guides readers through making 25 different types of mead, as well as more than 50 cocktails, with recipes from some of the country's most sought-after mixologists.

This book is the first of its kind, a deep-dive into a single sake-producing region to highlight its delicious brews as well as the people, land, and culture behind them. Brewing in Yamaguchi - in southern Honshu, Japan - reflects the whole history of sake in Japan, from boom to bust to resurgence, and many of its brands, including the fabled Dassai, are now at izakaya and fine restaurants around the world. Expert Jim Rion takes us on a tour of all 23 Yamaguchi breweries to introduce the character of each and its brewmasters' best picks. Along the way he provides background on such topics as rice farmers, drinkware, brewing methods, and the controversy over sake "terroir" (does it exist?). An added bonus for travelers is a mini sightseeing guide to the region and its many delights. Illustrated with photographs and quick-reference sake labels.

"An intoxicating read. You'll want to consume it twice." -A.J. Baime, New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental President and Dewey Defeats Truman A fun little book packed with historic Churchill information, drinking companions, locations, and preferences, as well as plenty of cocktail recipes! Churchill was seldom short of a witty remark, and made his views on drinking quite well-known: "I have taken far more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me." When feeling down he said he felt like "a bottle of champagne . . . left uncorked for the night." And when encouraging a young government minister to indulge in another drink, he promised, "Go ahead, I won't write it in my diary." Divided into four sections-Drink Choices, Drinking Companions, Drinking Spots, and Drink Recipes-this book will keep readers turning the pages of fresh and fun material as they lift a drink along with Winston. The book will also focus on the various eras-from the 1910s through the 1960s-the times in which he was drinking alone and with others. Working with the historic companies that kept him refreshed, it will include vintage advertisements and marketing material from their closely guarded archives. Winston certainly drank with a colorful cast of characters, and you'll glimpse those such as FDR, Stalin, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplin, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and various other kings, queens, dukes, and duchesses. Among the elegant settings we will pop in and out of for a drink include Hearst Castle, Chanel's house in the South of France, the Ritz Hotel in Paris, the Dorchester in London, Monaco, the Savoy, the Biltmore, and of course the bars and first-class cabins of the famed ocean liners the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary. So raise a glass and join us in toasting Churchill's life and unique abilities!

"At last, a definitive guide to the medicinal origins of every bottle behind the bar! This is the cocktail book of the year, if not the decade." -Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants "A fascinating book that makes a brilliant historical case for what I've been saying all along: alcohol is good for you...okay maybe it's not technically good for you, but [English] shows that through most of human history, it's sure beat the heck out of water." -Alton Brown, creator of Good Eats Beer-based wound care, deworming with wine, whiskey for snakebites, and medicinal mixers to defeat malaria, scurvy, and plague: how today's tipples were the tonics of old. Alcohol and Medicine have an inextricably intertwined history, with innovations in each altering the path of the other. The story stretches back to ancient times, when beer and wine were used to provide nutrition and hydration, and were employed as solvents for healing botanicals. Over time, alchemists distilled elixirs designed to cure all diseases, monastic apothecaries developed mystical botanical liqueurs, traveling physicians concocted dubious intoxicating nostrums, and the drinks we're familiar with today began to take form. In turn, scientists studied fermentation and formed the germ theory of disease, and developed an understanding of elemental gases and anesthetics. Modern cocktails like the Old-Fashioned, Gimlet, and Gin and Tonic were born as delicious remedies for diseases and discomforts. In Doctors and Distillers, cocktails and spirits expert Camper English reveals how and why the contents of our medicine and liquor cabinets were, until surprisingly recently, one and the same.

This is a lavishly illustrated exploration and celebration of real cider and its close cousin perry, for both new converts to cider and more traditional cider-drinkers. With a modern, engaging design, a sharp focus and with fascinating detail, this books aims to appeal to the growing number of cider drinkers, and to persuade drinkers of characterless industrial brands of the merits of the real thing. Cider showcases the best of the British craft cider revolution, with features on some of the characters involved in cider - and perry-making and articles on the history of cider and perry, noteworthy cider pubs, making your own cider, cooking with cider, cider's place in British folklore and foreign ciders.

A witty and immersive look at the history, mythology, science, and magical touch that makes whisky taste like a drop of gold. Braving the "all boys" clubhouse of the world of whisky has not been easy, but Shelley Sackier has managed to do just that out of her love for the drink. By turns funny and poignant and filled with vivid insight into this ancient craft, Make it a Double will persuade even a teetotaler to want a wee dram. As a woman whose first sip of whisky created the female doppelganger of a Mr. Yuk sticker, that experience produced a sharp realization that the liquid was foul, poisonous, and needlessly dirtied a previously clean glass. And then she met Scotland. Her curiosity and growing passion lit a fire-igniting a desire to learn more about this craft's rich and vivid history and the need to break out of an old life and to become the mother, partner, and woman she has always sought to be. After completing a course in Scotland's famed Bruichladdich Distillery, Shelley begins her path of writing about-and working within-the world of whisky. There has never been a better time for Shelley's inimitable voice to shed light on this intoxicating realm. Women are not only impressively contributing to the burgeoning sales of the spirit-making up nearly 40% of the whiskey-drinking population in the United States-but they are also growing in number as they enter in to, train within, and lead the industry with their determined creativity and innovation. In the tradition of Blood, Bones, and Butter, Make it a Double establishes Shelley Sackier as a fresh new voice in the lush world of culinary narrative.

A rich romp through untold American history featuring fabulous characters, "The Wild Vine" is the tale of a little-known American grape that rocked the fine-wine world of the nineteenth century and is poised to do so again today.

Author Todd Kliman sets out on an epic quest to unravel the mystery behind Norton, a grape used to make a Missouri wine that claimed a prestigious gold medal at an international exhibition in Vienna in 1873. At a time when the vineyards of France were being ravaged by phylloxera, this grape seemed to promise a bright future for a truly American brand of wine-making, earthy and wild. And then Norton all but vanished. What happened?
The narrative begins more than a hundred years before California wines were thought to have put America on the map as a wine-making nation and weaves together the lives of a fascinating cast of renegades. We encounter the suicidal Dr. Daniel Norton, tinkering in his experimental garden in 1820s Richmond, Virginia. Half on purpose and half by chance, he creates a hybrid grape that can withstand the harsh New World climate and produce good, drinkable wine, thus succeeding where so many others had failed so fantastically before, from the Jamestown colonists to Thomas Jefferson himself. Thanks to an influential Long Island, New York, seed catalog, the grape moves west, where it is picked up in Missouri by German immigrants who craft the historic 1873 bottling. Prohibition sees these vineyards burned to the ground by government order, but bootleggers keep the grape alive in hidden backwoods plots. Generations later, retired Air Force pilot Dennis Horton, who grew up playing in the abandoned wine caves of the very winery that produced the 1873 Norton, brings cuttings of the grape back home to Virginia. Here, dot-com-millionaire-turned-vintner Jenni McCloud, on an improbable journey of her own, becomes Norton's ultimate champion, deciding, against all odds, to stake her entire reputation on the outsider grape.
Brilliant and provocative, "The Wild Vine" shares with readers a great American secret, resuscitating the Norton grape and its elusive, inky drink and forever changing the way we look at wine, America, and long-cherished notions of identity and reinvention.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Home brewing and wine-making is fun, easy and hugely satisfying. If you garden or forage, can follow a recipe or make jam, and you enjoy a drink, this is the book for you. Andy's no-nonsense, easy-to-follow guide will enable the beginner and inspire the expert with over 100 recipes including beer made from hops and but also yarrow, mugwort, elder and other foraged plants, great tasting wines from fruit, vegetables and the hedgerows, cider and perry from apples and pears, cordials from the leaves of a range of trees, and teas and fizzy drinks from herbs and wayside flowers. - Discover the secret language of home brewing and drinks making. - Make cheap, wholesome drinks, to your preferred taste and strength in little time, with minimum fuss and no need for expensive equipment. - Turn your garden into a drinkers' paradise. - Find where and how to forage for success. - Impress your friends with the weird, wonderful and just plain tasty. Try Carrot Whisky, Sloe and Damson Rum, Parsnip Sherry, Elderberry and Blackberry Wine, Pumpkin Beer, Broom Tonic, Meadowsweet tea as well as classics such as Elderflower champagne, sloe gin, prison brew... Cheers!

A lively, historically informed, and definitive guide to classic American cocktails.
Cocktail writer and historian David Wondrich presents the colorful, little-known history of classic American drinks-and the ultimate mixologist's guide-in this engaging homage to Jerry Thomas, father of the American bar.
Wondrich reveals never-before-published details and stories about this larger- than-life nineteenth-century figure, along with definitive recipes for 100 punches, cocktails, sours, fizzes, toddies, slings, and other essential drinks, plus twenty new recipes from today's top mixologists, created exclusively for this book.
This colorful and good-humored volume is a mustread for anyone who appreciates the timeless appeal of a well-made drink-and the uniquely American history behind it.

A swift half, a cheeky tipple, a tall glass of something special - the world of drink is full of delights, fit for any occasion. Celebrate the joy of aqua vitae with this collection of wit and wisdom from the most quotable quaffers!

Drink & Tell is just that -- a cocktail historian's tour of Boston, a city he knows and loves. Included are over 500 drink recipes created and served by more than 40 bars and restaurants in Boston. While there are plenty of recipes inside from heavy hitters like Eastern Standard and Drink who have basked in well-deserved international attention, the author also hopes to bring to light the other establishments which have crafted amazing drinks through the years to help make Boston a cocktail town. Drink & Tell is perfect for the home bartender, for the Boston barfly looking for a memento, and for trade bartenders near and far for inspiration on improving the cocktail scenes in their cities.

This book belongs on the shelf of every single serious cocktail enthusiast. The author reveals long forgotten methods of producing cocktails from over a century of his family's business in the liquor trade (before, during and after Prohibition) and extensive experiences traveling around the world spanning from Polynesia to Eastern Europe. Nearly a hundred recipes that have never before been published, including secrets from some of the most expensive and exclusive bars in the world (past and present) personally collected over decades - yet this is not simply a recipe book. What makes this most worthwhile is the detailed and thoughtful explanation behind several original methods of producing extraordinary flavors. The section on complexing agents alone is worth the price of this book. As a bonus, there is an appendix with dozens of authentic 1928 recipes for the manufacture of interesting and obsolete cordials and spirits.

When George Washington bade farewell to his officers, he did so in New York's Fraunces Tavern. When Andrew Jackson planned his defense of New Orleans against the British in 1815, he met Jean Lafitte in a grog shop. And when John Wilkes Booth plotted with his accomplices to carry out a certain assassination, they gathered in Surratt Tavern. In America Walks into a Bar, Christine Sismondo recounts the rich and fascinating history of an institution often reviled, yet always central to American life. She traces the tavern from England to New England, showing how even the Puritans valued "a good Beere." With fast-paced narration and lively characters, she carries the story through the twentieth century and beyond, from repeated struggles over licensing and Sunday liquor sales, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the temperance movement, from attempts to ban "treating" to Prohibition and repeal. As the cockpit of organized crime, politics, and everyday social life, the bar has remained vital-and controversial-down to the present. In 2006, when the Hurricane Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act was passed, a rider excluded bars from applying for aid or tax breaks on the grounds that they contributed nothing to the community. Sismondo proves otherwise: the bar has contributed everything to the American story. In this heady cocktail of agile prose and telling anecdotes, Sismondo offers a resounding toast to taprooms, taverns, saloons, speakeasies, and the local hangout where everybody knows your name.