Showing titles in Wine & Beverages

Right here, right now is the best time in the history of mankind to be a beer drinker. Globally, beer culture is thriving and constantly innovating. Drinkers can order beer brewed with local yeast or infused with moondust. However, beer drinkers are also faced with uneven quality and misinformation about flavors. And the industry itself is suffering from growing pains, beset by problems such as unequal access to taps, skewed pricing, and sexism.

Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities in the history of the global economy and the world's most popular drug. The very word 'coffee' is one of the most widespread on the planet. Augustine Sedgewick's brilliant new history tells the hidden and surprising story of how this came to be, tracing coffee's 400-year transformation into an everyday necessity. The story is one that few coffee drinkers know.

Is bourbon the quintessential American liquor? Bourbon is not just alcohol - the amber-colored drink is deeply ingrained in American culture and tangled in American history. From the early days of raw corn liquor to the myriad distilleries that have proliferated around the country today, bourbon is a symbol of the United States. This course traces bourbon's entire history, from the 1700s, with Irish, Scottish, and French settlers setting up stills and making distilled spirits in the New World, through today's booming resurgence.

There are few greater pleasures in life than enjoying a wonderful glass of wine. So why does finding and choosing one you like seem so stressful? Now, becoming a happier, more confident wine drinker is easy. The first step is to forget all the useless, needlessly complicated stuff the "experts" have been telling you. Acclaimed wine writer Jon Bonné explains everything you need to know in simple, easy-to-digest tidbits. And the news is good! For example: A wine's price rarely reflects its quality. And you can drink rosé any time of year.

Long before the advent of conventional farming methods - which have focused on constant growth, human intervention, and genetic homogeneity - the apple had already grown to become the ubiquitous all-American symbol it is today. Known for their hardiness, ability to adapt to new environments, natural diversity, and plentiful bounty, wildly grown apples were once known as “America’s fruit” throughout the trading world.

Russia is famous for its vodka, and its culture of extreme intoxication. But just as vodka is central to the lives of many Russians, it is also central to understanding Russian history and politics. In Vodka Politics, Mark Lawrence Schrad argues that debilitating societal alcoholism is not hard-wired into Russians' genetic code, but rather their autocratic political system, which has long wielded vodka as a tool of statecraft. Through a series of historical investigations stretching from Ivan the Terrible through Vladimir Putin, Vodka Politics presents the secret history of the Russian state itself.

From cork taint, to volatile acidity, to off-putting aromas and flavors, all wine connoisseurs have encountered unappealing qualities in a disappointing bottle. But are all faults truly bad? Are some even desirable? Jamie Goode brings his authoritative voice to the table once again to demystify the science behind what causes a good bottle to go bad. By exposing the root causes of faults in wine, Flawless challenges us to rethink our assumptions about how wine should taste and how we can understand beauty in a glass.

Patrick E. McGovern takes us on a fascinating journey through time to the dawn of brewing, when our ancestors might well have made a paleo brew of wild fruits, honey, cereals, and botanicals. Early beverage makers must have marveled at the magical process of fermentation. Their amazement grew as they drank the mind-altering drinks, which were to become the medicines, religious symbols, and social lubricants of later cultures.

If you are ready to put a stop to being tempted by convenience foods and becoming agitated at the hum-drum of eating better. Then you will be surprised at what this smoothie recipe book has to offer for your valuable time and your overall health! Smoothies are an amazing creation that has the power to withhold a variety of good-for-you ingredients all in one delicious concoction.

How much do you know about your favorite drink? If you’ve wondered why whiskey is so popular or what the real difference is between scotch and bourbon, this book is for you. Packed with interesting facts, this book tells you all you ever wanted to know about whiskey. This book explains what proof is and why it matters so much for your whiskey. You also learn the right way to judge a good whiskey, including how it should look, smell, and most importantly, taste.

Imagine a workplace where workers enjoyed a well-paid job for life, one where they could start their day with a pint of stout and a smoke, and enjoy free meals in silver service canteens and restaurants. During their breaks they could explore acres of parkland planted with hundreds of trees and thousands of shrubs. This is no fantasy or utopian vision of work but a description of the working conditions enjoyed by employees at the Guinness brewery established at Park Royal in West London in the mid-1930s.

Since its earliest days, The New Yorker has been a tastemaker: literally. As the home of A. J. Liebling, Joseph Wechsberg, and M. F. K. Fisher, who practically invented American food writing, the magazine established a tradition that is carried forward today by irrepressible literary gastronomes, including Calvin Trillin, Bill Buford, Adam Gopnik, Jane Kramer, and Anthony Bourdain. Now, in this indispensable collection, The New Yorker dishes up a feast of delicious writing on food and drink.

With the six lectures of The Everyday Guide to Wines of Italy, you can experience the dynamism of Italian wine for yourself and become your own expert in the tastes, traditions, and innovations from history’s definitive wine-making regions. Delivered by acclaimed Master of Wine Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, one of the foremost authorities on wines around the world, this course is a chance for you to embark on a delicious, interactive, and unforgettable tasting tour through a country that is equal parts picturesque, romantic, and mysterious.

With new flavors and styles come new ways of enjoying the beer. In this book, I will open your eyes to new ways of preparing and enjoying IPA at home. Brewing IPA might not be as easy as brewing a cup of coffee, but it is not rocket science, either. In my book, IPA Craft Beer - How to Brew Unique India Pale Ale at Home, I show you how to brew the best craft beer, the India pale ale, in a way that you will love to drink it and serve it to your friends and family. No matter what your personal taste may be, I will show you how to craft a homebrew IPA that fits your style.

Who will have the last word on wine, if not Jamie Goode? Over the last decade, Goode has embarked on almost nonstop travel through the world’s vineyards in an effort to understand the beautifully diverse and complicated world of wine. His hard-nosed pursuit of the most interesting stories to tell about wine has led us here, to The Goode Guide to Wine. It is a book designed to provoke and inspire in equal measure, encouraging the listener to be critical and to see the world of wine through fresh eyes.

After three years of sipping, spitting, and slogging her way through bushy vine leaves and cellar cobwebs, award-winning writer Natalie MacLean takes listeners behind the scenes of the international wine world, exploring its history, visiting its most evocative places, and meeting some of its most charismatic personalities. In Red, White, and Drunk All Over, Natalie travels to the ancient vineyards of Burgundy to uncover the secrets of the pinot noir, visits the labyrinthine cellars of Champagne to examine the myths and the mystique of luxury bubbly, and helps with the harvest at the vineyards of iconoclastic Californian winemaker Randall Grahm.

Delicious staples of a great meal, bread, cheese, and wine develop their complex flavors through a process known as fermentation. Katie Quinn spent months as an apprentice with some of Europe’s most acclaimed experts to study the art and science of fermentation. Visiting grain fields, vineyards, and dairies, Katie brings the stories and science of these foods to the table, explains the process of each craft, and introduces the people behind them.

A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse celebrates the contributions of female brewers and explores the forces that have erased them from the brewing world. It's a history that's simultaneously inspiring and demeaning. As women continue to work hard for equal treatment and recognition in the industry, author Tara Nurin shows that women have been - and are once again becoming - relevant in the brewing world.

During Prohibition, while Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One, the townspeople of rural Templeton, Iowa - population just 418 - were busy with a bootlegging empire of their own. Led by Joe Irlbeck, the whip-smart and gregarious son of a Bavarian immigrant, the outfit of farmers, small merchants, and even the church Monsignor worked together to create a whiskey so excellent, it was ordered by name: Templeton Rye.

Are you curious about how to make rum, whiskey, and moonshine at home? Are you a bourbon aficionado? Would you like to learn how to safely and legally make your own home-brewed distilled spirits? What if you could turn this new hobby into a unique craft micro-distillery business? In this book, I will show you how to make your own homemade distilled spirits - safely and legally.