Beverages Books

This is by far the best book i've read on sake - it covers (in detail) the history and tradition of the drink from it's earliest roots to the pressures of recent years. It includes guidance on tasting sake (and what an official tasting is like), the science of that taste, in depth details of the brewing process, and a short discussion of some common brands of Sake. It won't provide ratings of sake, but it is a must for anyone truly interested in this drink.

Terrific insights into sake tasting, history, and culture, including fascinating tutorials on how gaijen should conduct themselves eating and drinking in Japan. It's a humble pulpy little book, but it's great.

Excellently written book providing a historical perspective of bourbon's beginnings, its growth, and ending with present day status of distillers and bottlers. It also describes the characteristics of many bourbons currently on the market. If you love bourbon this is a must read.

Bourbon is a favored beverage whose enduring popularity in the American bars and homes continues from generation to generation. Now bourbon expert Ron Givens has written a fascinating, descriptive, and informative book focusing exclusively on this alcoholic masterpiece in all its varied subtleties in "Bourbon At Its Best: The Lore & Allure Of America's Finest Spirits". Beginning with a succinct introduction, Given's continues with describing the process of how bourbon is made from mashing, fermentation, and distillation, to barreling, aging, and mingling. There are chapters devoted to the major distillers, legendary brands, the diversity of drinks that incorporate bourbon as an ingredient, and so much more. Enhanced with the inclusion of an Index and a Bibliography, "Bourbon At Its Best" is profusely illustrated throughout and includes such historical oddities as why all but one of the makers of 'straight bourbon' are located in a small region of Kentucky. A highly recommended addition to community library collections, "Bourbon At Its Best" should be considered a 'must read' by anyone who has ever sipped a glass of one of America's finest whiskies.

Peter Blum served as the official Strohs historian for many years and this book shows the depth of his knowledge. What is truely remarkable is that his knowledge was not limited to his former employer. Reading this book, one truely gets a sense of Detroit's unique and bumpy history of beer. For my Pfeiffer Beer web page, I contacted Peter for research. Even though it was just prior to his passing, he was very generous with his time and even helped me find some of his original source material. I asked him if he had to leave anything out of the book due to space and he replied that "It's all in there!" So, you can trust that by getting this book you'll be exposed to all that Mr. Blum had to offer on the subject - and that's quite a lot! Thanks Peter.

Detroit has had breweries in its history! Blum, an exec at Stroh's for many years, is an authority on the history of Stroh's and its competitors. Anybody interested in breweriana will find this an invaluable guide to ads, labels, and other collectibles from Detroit-area breweries. (The Stroh company provided many of the beautiful color illustrations used in the book.) Oh, that Motown were still Strohtown!

One of the best comprehensive books on home brewing. This book is not for the lay person interested in starting brewing. I would recommend it to someone who has brewed for awhile or is just starting to brew with whole grains. This is written on a technical level with a lot of science behind the brewing process. It is well written and if you want to explore home brewing in greater depth, then this is the book.

Most homebrewers seem to brew ales, or at least start out by brewing ales. While the title of this book includes the word lager and not ale, the techniques and theories are applicable to both style classes. High on science low on recipes; buy it if you want to understand more about mashing and the steps surrounding the mash .

I have been tending "high volume" bar for thirteen years. Over those years I have trained dozens of bartenders. This is the best reference guide that I have ever found on this subject. It is the only book I use.

Buller's book opens like a bar book should. Spiral bound, it lies flat for easy reading at the bar! Great tips even veteran bartenders can benefit from. No bull here - just common sense approach to "tending" your "stage".

I author statistical books that cover the spirits industry and I really enjoyed this book. It gave me new prospectives and useful information that will help me moving forward and shed more light on the trends shaping the business.

It's easy to see a lot of research and hard work went into this book.
It's insightful, interesting and fun to read. Lots of great interviews. enjoyable reading of How & why the cocktail has made a comeback in the last few years. An insiders look at the big business of Spirits.
Fascinating to see how Premium spirits were created and how they have become a significant part of our cocktail culture. An intriguing read all the way.
stephen visakay,
author Vintage Bar Ware, collector books, 1997
founding member The Museum of the American Cocktail

Aaron Brown on CNN's Newsnight has complained two nights in a row that turkey is always dry.

He should read this book. Not because it will necessarily solve his problem directly, but because reading it might just forever change the way he looks at cooking.

The essays (and recipes) in this book show how intelligence and wit, brought to bare on almost any subject, can make it seem fascinating.

I am not sure what initially prompted the editors to ask members of the Royal Society for _recipes_, of all things, but the responses range from directions for making applejack to a recipe for camembert scones. Many of the recipes include the science of how they work (yeast, salmonella, etc.), and some are even worth trying. I highly recommend it for all scientists, whether cooks or not, and for all cooks, whether scientists or not.

The Buzz On Wine is a masterpiece. Finally there is a wine guide that goes beyond the typical, dry language used by wine industry experts. Learning about wine should be fun, not painful. There's no dry, boring technical jargon here, just pure buzz on everything from reislings to port. Sherman takes you all over the world and covers more ground than other books of its type. His writing style is hip and clever. Even The Wine Spectator applauds Sherman's approach in this months Book Review section. Bravo!

This book is the handiest wine guide to wines of today as the old concepts have fallen by the wayside, i.e. French and Californian is the only way to go. But even in this period of great wealth real wine lovers are willing to try wines of Chile and Australia. I reccommend you keep a copy in your car and smuggle it in restaurants to check on what's what.

I saw some of Sliva's coffee prints on the wall at a cafe in Prague this summer and loved them. He has a sly wit that perfectly complements his drawings. This book gathers together the best of his coffee prints.

Great cartoons are very difficult to explain since a drawing speak for itself,even when there is no captions.I love Jyri's cartoons and i don't drink a coffee anymore, without looking at Cafe fetish at the same time.

This is not a splashy picture book, but a thorough and highly informative history of wine making in the Napa Valley, from the earliest German, French and Italian vintners to the present. The book gives a history of the development of varietal wines in the prime wine region of America, or perhaps in the world. It is particularly interesting for its treatment of the Prohibition era, when wine makers resorted to astonishing measures to stay solvent. Handsome hardcover volume, very well designed, with excellent black and white illustrations.

This one of the most entertaining books I've read about the region. Mr. Heintz paints a very colorful picture while introducing you to the more interesting facts concerning the areas history.