Beverages Books

this was a fantastic trip - the first time we toured an area specifically for wine tasting, and became comfortable stopping into wineries and interacting with those from the industry - the recommendations were fantastic and we lent this book to another couple who were also grateful for it's recommendations

If you are planning to visit the Finger Lakes region and tour the wineries, this extremely well written guide will tell you everything you need to know. The author explains what to look for when tasting wines, the various kinds of wine you'll encounter, and the specific grape varieties the region is known for. There is information on all of the wineries in the area, with special emphasis given to those that are producing the most consistently outstanding wines. There are gorgeous pictures of many of the wineries and information on dining at the ones that have a cafe or restaurant. A dozen noted wine connoisseurs--the author included--each provide a list of top recommendations for purchasing wines. Finally, the text and photographs are beautifully presented on high quality paper. The Finger Lakes Book: A Complete Guide also covers wineries in the region, but if a major focus of your trip is visiting the wineries,you will find this guide to be by far the most informative resource.

As I prepare and pack in order to move to the Finger Lakes region of NY state, I enjoyed reading Wine Tour, which further reinforces my love of the area. I have visited a few wineries and look forward to my permanent residence and a greater dedication of exploring the wine industry there. The book is well organized, informative and has many beautiful photographs of the region and its wineries. It is must read before wine touring.

WINE TOUR OF THE FINGER LAKES is a well-produced, lovely tour of some of the most beautiful scenery in the country--the wine country of the Finger Lakes of New York State. And by leaps and bounds, the Finger Lakes wines are competing with the best of California and Europe for awards. Learn more about the wines in text and pictures. And come visit!

Love it - in line with my two passions - Quotes and Wine!
I own a wine company called The Wine Knot and I use the quotes in the book for wine dinners, wine tastings as well as my wine e-letters.

Quite frankly this book has become a great companion of mine for my love of wine!

A lot of fun with a number of different themes!

Cheers - Jerry

This book is a must for both the beginning oenopile to the full blown wine enthusiast. But what sets this book apart from other wine publications is the beautiful artwork. It's worth the purchase price to view the whimsical cartoons done by John Schmelzer. A great read on the throne. Cheers.

THIS BOOK WILL HELP MAKE YOU THE HIT OF ANY COCKTAIL PARTY! YOU WILL NEVER BE AT A LOSS FOR WORDS AGAIN.IT MAKES A PERFECT GIFT FOR SOMEONE WHO IS DIFFICULT TO BUY FOR.
JOE SCIASCIA

If you ever find yourself looking to fill a few moments with something thoughtful then this is your book. I keep it in my study and I turn to it all the time. The book is filled with quips and quotes about my favorite subject -- wine. This book is basically the wine lovers little instructional book. You'll know that you are hooked when you, like me, "borrow" a couple of the more poignant quotes.

Unlike many other little instructional books, this book goes far beyond just throwing out a bunch of light-hearted sayings. Each section is opened with an informative introduction from a knowledgeable author. Both the novice and the expert will likely learn some unknown fact from a quick perusal of the book. Keeping in mind that the source of a quote can be its most interesting feature, the author has also given cites and references to the many sayings throughout the book.

Even the art work, which appears throughout the book, is splendid.

Despite a seemingly mundane title, I found this book to be quite a pleasurable, fun and easy read, not only for the mass of information Estreicher provides in 200 pages, but because of the variety of information provided. This book takes you on an adventure spanning 7,000 years in which you not only learn about the history of wine, but also fun little bits of information that are entertaining. It also offers a greater oversight about history and how the wonderful invention that is wine has affected us all. You can tell this is a true passion for the author; it is fun for him so he makes it fun for you, the reader, by encouraging a curiosity that keeps you turning the pages.

What a great book! Reading it, one can really sense Estreicher's passion for wine and history. Like a good bottle of wine, you thirst for more when it is done.

There's a lot of information in a compact amount of pages. Most informative books aren't easy to read but this one keeps your attention. I never expected to have so much fun while learning about wines. The footnotes were entertaining and finding James Bond in a wine book was a nice surprise. This book really is great.

Great book for those who love wine and are eager to learn more about its rich history, best vintages and little known facts. Informative, as well as Entertaining!

There are several problems with most cookbooks. First, they are written primarily for those already knowledgeable about cooking- neophytes or casual chefs need not apply. Second, they require absurd fractions of ingredients- once one adds one half a can of cream of mushroom soup to a dish, what is one supposed to do with the other half? Third, the recipies are written in densely packed text and with often vague and confusing instructions. A person who goes to a cookbook with the best will in the world will all too often be turned away to flee back into the arms of Swanson TV Dinners, frozen pizzas, and Hamburger Helper.

Wolf in Chef's Clothing is a cookbook for idiots. No, worse than idiots: bachelors. Using simple diagrams and amusing cartoons, supplemented with a bit of humorous writing, the cookbook presents dozens of recipes ranging from breakfast to after-dinner cocktails. The recipes have been greatly simplified- no 1/3 teaspoons or 3/4 cups, no 1/2 cans or 1/4 onions. The resulting dishes, while perhaps not up to the exacting standards of a three-star restaurant, definitely delight the senses. Even the simple hamburger evolves beyond a mere meat patty into a taste delight!

The only flaw in this book is that it's a reprint- it was first published in 1950. Certain social attitudes, especially towards the fair sex (this book was written for single men on the make by a writer for Esquire, remember), are extremely dated. So are a few of the dishes- I for one don't know of ANYONE who puts grape jelly in an "American" omlet! Despite this, the book rises head, shoulders, and bushy tail above the standard run of cookbooks. It's only a shame there aren't more modern cookbooks with the charm and simplicity of this book.

No bachelor pad should be without a copy!

I recently acquired an original version of "Wolf in Chef's Clothing" and had to pick myself up off the floor, where I happened to be rolling around in laughter. It's a great concept, and what fun to use!

First published in 1950, Robert H. Loeb, Jr.'s Wolf In Chef's Clothing is a unique "picturebook" approach for educating men on how to prepare basic recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snacks, and barbecues. From omelets to Shrimps Cobra, from canapes to Martini's, the step-by-step picture-based instructions are fool proof and will instruct even the most basic male novice to the mysteries of food and drink preparation. Whether a married man seeking to give his spouse a break in the kitchen, or a bachelor seeking to impress friends and family, Wolf In Chef's Clothing is sure to enhance any meal time or special celebration event.

Yes, this book is a throw-back to the height of the original "lounge culture" era (all the way back in [gasp!] 1950!), but it still holds its own today. The main premise of the book is very simple...

You're a suave man-about-town, you know the difference between a Manhattan and a Martini, and will be entertaining friends, guests, or (especially) that "special someone" you want to be intimate with. Sparkling conversation and chilled beer will only go so far. They have to be fed, and delivered pizza isn't going to cut it! If all you know about the refrigerator is that it keeps beer cold and it's where you stick the leftover Chinese take-out, this book comes to the rescue.

The recipes are so simplified, as a female co-worker friend of mine likes to say, "even a man can do it!" But there are no quarter-teaspoon or third-ounce measurements here. Everything is either full cup, half cup, full tablespoon or half tablespoon. All the ingredients are drawn in easy to understand pictures, and the instructions are in comic strip format. If you can count, you can cook a meal. Guys, this cook book is for us!

If all you've ever made in the kitchen was macaroni and cheese or the occasional sandwich, you're in for a shock as to what you can do! There are ultra-simplified recipes for such dishes as Eggs Demi-Benedict, Sea Food Dorothea, Mignon et Bearnaise, Shrimps Cobra, Lamb Steak Figaro, Welsh Rarebit (spelled here as "Rabbit"), Spaghetti da Vinci, even Duck Vincent.

There are suggestions for breakfast, and even instructions on how to use something called a "vaculator" to make coffee (just in case you have one kicking around the bungalow, or find one at the thrift store).

If breakfast or the main course isn't enough, there's recipes for picnic lunches, cocktail canapes, salads and salad dressings, even four whole chapters dealing with drinks (Before, During and After-Dinner Drinks, and there's even a chapter entitled "Drinks That Have Nothing To Do With Meals").

On the Politically Incorrect side, there are suggested recipies for four different "types" of ladies; the athletic type ("who prefers a game a tennis to a shot of 3-star Henness[ey]"), the indoor type ("soft round and fluffy, who thinks Alexander the Great the best cocktail ever made"), the intellectual type ("more an I.Q. than a Q.T."), and the 3-B type ("brains, bonds and beauty").

The author of this tome was Robert H. Loeb, Jr., food and drink editor for Esquire magazine in the 1950's. The illustrations were by Jim Newhall, an ad agency director from Chicago. The men knew what they were doing. The fact that this book has been brought back in print after 50 years, and without a word or picture changed, holds testament to that! Some of the illustrations are a bit dated (the fashions & quasi-McCarthyesque references to Russia), but that just adds to the book's charm. It was even given a glowing review in the January 2001 edition of Playboy magazine!

After you've tackled this book, you'll be ready for other cookbooks. Yes, guys, there are other ways of getting food on the table than take-out, delivery or TV dinners from the microwave.

Be you lounge culture hipster, frustrated batchelor, or just someone who's sick of eating out a styrofoam clamshell, this book is a worthy purchase! Read it, use it, treasure it! You will not be disappointed.

Includes 7 absinthe recipes and a handy reference guide for ordering it over the internet. Just what I needed after seeing Moulin Rouge!

"Like a great civilization, the cocktail flourished, went out of fashion, and faded. These are recipes from the great exodus." says Mark Brown, Food Writer at The Tulsa World. "You never really miss something," says Tom Rush, bartender,"until you don't have it." "D. J. Frienz found Rufus Estes in her mother's kitchen. But to find Tom Bullock, she had to go online. There was just something about Estes' 1911 cookbook. Gravy-splattered and grease-spotted, it told a story that Frienz couldn't let die. In 1999, she published "Good Things To Eat As Suggested By Rufus" so it wouldn't. . . . . This time, it's Bullock and his 1917 recipes from 'The Ideal Bartender.' It's a remarkable collection of cocktail recipes from a remarkable, if mysterious, barman. Up to and perhaps beyond Prohibition, Bullock mixed drinks at the St. Louis Country Club and the Pendennis Club of Louisville and was quite revered for it." "Behind the bar at the St. Louis Country Club, Bullock shook cocktails for such drinkers as Teddy Roosevelt and George Herbert Walker. Sound familiar? His great-grandson is your new president." . . . . Frienz' "concoction is '173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails." As with Estes, she's taken Bullock's original text and shaken it up with anecdotes, quotes, sources and all sorts of imagery from the cocktail's primevil period. It's a longing for the classics that inspired her." "I love things that last," Frienz said, "things that are deep and have meaning. A perfect cocktail is a beautiful thing." . . . . . "Somewhere in St. Louis, his [Tom Bullock's] old house still stands. Like the cocktail of pre-Prohibition America, it's all but condemned."

The only beverage book that includes lost and almost-lost cocktail recipes from before 1920, 173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails: Potations So Good They Scandalized A President is an amazing glimpse into the history of liquor in America, as well as a collection of so many different drink preparations that even the most gregarious connoisseur is certain to find something new and especially intoxicating. In addition to the drink mixes themselves, this book also memorializes the life and times of the recipes' original author, Tom Bullock (1872-1964), the first African-American to write a drink book. Present-day co-author D. J. Frienz has added over 40 illustrations, 20 pages of little-known facts about the history of drinking, and suggestions as to where to purchase ingredients that might be hard to come by. 173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails is a "must" for anyone who enjoys mixing their own drinks, or is searching for a new taste in their cocktail glass.

Un libro veramente bello... Ben fatto un must per ogni appassionato di champagne......... la voglia di berli tutti ti prende fin da subito....
Un'ottimo acquisto che consiglio a tutti gli appassionati di questo straordinario vino....
Fla

Great overview about the history, wine-making, etc. Tasting notes are also very useful as a reference when buying champagne in the region (most small champagne shops in Reims and Epernay have this book available). In addition (and I must admit I haven't had the opportunity to taste 4000 champagnes), I do agree with 85% of the notes for the wines I have tasted! Strong buy!!!!!

Hard to imagine a more hedonistic pursuit than sampling--and rating--4000 champagnes. This book is encyclopedic, well written and easy to use. Some of the tasting notes on small grower's special blends that aren't available to the general public are superfluous but fun to read in any event. If you are into Champagne, this is a book you should have. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The author seems to favor Chardonnay dominated blends and BdB Champagnes. If you like more PN dominated Champagne (as I do) then his ratings may not be all that useful. Nonetheless, I was in general agreement with most of the ratings. The printing stock, layout and pictures/graphics are amazing. However, my first copy had a bad binding that fell apart after a couple of weeks.

The heightened interest in wine review we saw blossom in the nineties has given way to similar interest in beer review in recent years. Books like The Beer Lover's Rating Guide by Klein and Michael Jackson's various Beer Guides and Beer Companions dominate the market, but Stuart Kallen's simple book is far more approachable and to the point.

The big beer guides contain ratings and reviews of between 1200 and 2000 brews--about 1750 more varieties than I have been able to find in the Madison area. Kallen focuses on the 50 beers you are likely to find nearly anywhere--excepting those few beers which are no longer produced (like the #2 Eisenbock): the text could use a quick update. His reviews discuss the unique history of the chosen beers, the way the beer is produced, and gives a sip-by-sip analysis of the beverage as it goes down. His text is a heartwarming introduction to my favorite new hobby.

Stuart A. Kallen demonstrates his prolific knowledge of the world's finest beers in this delightful tome which enlightens and practically intoxicates the reader with its scope and vivacity. Kallen transports his lucky readers far from the commercial boredom of limp, filtered macrobrews and delivers them to a fantastic world filled with deep. flavorful stouts and crisp, complex lagers. Kallen's book is a must have both for the young beer drinker seeking to escape the doldrums of today's mass-produced, watered-down society and the elder beer drinker who wishes to reflect upon and cherish the infinite pleasures delivered by the perfect brew.

I found this short, easy to read text at a local bookstore and so enjoyed it I ordered a bunch from Amazon to give to my fellow zymurgists. The book lolls in those places usually reserved for crosswords or other things that can be read in a brief sitting moment. In the search for information there is always an interesting item about a brewery or style which is fun to learn.

After purchasing the text I then searched all of the local purveyors of malted beverages in order to find the number one beer listed by Kallen. His choice, Delerium Tremens, may be the best beer. If not it was a great one to find not only for the variety of flavors found in its taste but also to introduce one to the Belgian beers. The shortcoming of the book or perhaps better of the ranking of beers is the heavy emphasis on Belgians. On the other hand Kallen also introduced me to a number of U.S. microbreweries which I might not have tried.

I heartily recommend this to any who enjoy beer in its wide varieties and wishes to broaden his or her horizons

I am a baking and pastry student and have made almost every recipe in this book and have enjoyed each one throughly. I have a great collection of dessert recipes from home and school but these have become my standards. The Viennese Crescent cookies are a favorite among friends and family, along with the Choc Coated Orange cookies. The brown sugar ginger cookies are pretty spicy and go great with coffee or tea, as well as the anise and pine nut biscotti which I enjoyed last Christmas morning. Anyone with a craving for rugelach will love this great updated recipe using hazelnuts which gives it a rich but sweet flavor. The chocolate mint swirls along with the bourbon truffles and chocolate raspberry kisses made an elegant platter of after dinner chocolates of course lets not forget the Cognac Brownie Bites which I sometimes subsitute Cointreau for the brandy. The amount of alcohol called for in the topping is just too much, I always cut it in half. These brownie are great to make and freeze. I have frozen then with and without the topping and they both freeze well. The cream cheese and berry tartlets have been very popular for parties during the holidays esp. because you can decorat then with any small fruits and berries, the light lemon taste in the filling is what makes this tartlet into heaven, not to mention how sweet the pastry turns out. When i get a request for tartlets other then the berry I always use the Chocolate-Apricot tartlet recipe with its dreamy smooth choc filling it's bound to satisfy any chocoholic's craving. once again, one of the best books I ever used, think of giving it as a gift for someone who loves sweets.

I own many, many dessert cookbooks, and I find myself returning to this one again and again. All of the recipes that I have made (which is pretty much the entire book at this point!) have turned out great. (Brownie Bites and Fruit Tarts are two of my favorites) The pictures in the book are beautiful, and there are great ideas for after dinner drinks and nibbles. This book is a must have for anyone who does any type of entertaining at their home.

This wonderful book is really more than a cookbook. The book begins with telling the reader how to set the after-dinner scene, and then how to prepare a bar, a cheese tray, and coffee and tea. After that, the book launches into forty-four recipes for wonderful after-dinner snack and drinks. Going along with that, the book has an extraordinary selection of "menus," that is, four items from the book that compliment each other.

This is a grand book, and a worthwhile addition to your library. My three favorite recipes from the book are the Miniature Jelly Thumbprint Cookies (I used blackberry jam, rather than currant jelly), Cardamom Palmiers (quick and easy to make), and the Tiny Chocolate Chunk and Toffee Cookies (as good as they sound). I highly recommend this book!

This book is deffinatly one you should buy if your starting a bussines, in this feald.

I SEARCHED FOR YEARS TO FIND A COMPLETE GUIDE TO BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT/MIXOLOGY. THIS IS IT!! END OF SEARCH.

THIS BY FAR IS THE BEST BOOK WRITTEN FOR BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT, BARTENDING, AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR BAR OPERATIONS. IF YOU OWN ONLY ONE SUCH BOOK ...THIS IS IT.

This is the book you need when a customer asks for those non-standard drinks. It contains all the standards as well as a ton of unusual drinks, plus quite a few shooters. The recipes are easy to follow, with glass recommendations and pouring instructions. All the drinks are listed aphabetically (alaises are listed with the prime name). Several drinks have alternative recipes. The spiral bound version is a must. The index groups the recipes by the prime ingredients. Cons: The index is in very small print, difficult to read in a bar. I would like to see the aliases in the index. It would also be nice to have another index by catagory (eg: shooters, etc). There are no blank pages to write additional recipes. There is software version available (pricey) that allows you to search and select by keyword (eg: martini, etc).

This book was perfect for me-- I got it so I would know what drinks to order when I went to a bar or club, and it helped me out way more than that!! I love it!

This drink guide beats Old Mr. Boston and other drink guides hands down. The drinks are easy to find, make sense to make and it has the drinks my friends and customers want. My one complaint is that it is hard to find in regular bookstores.