Alcademics

Ahoy! These are the new crop of cocktail and spirits books that have come out in recent months- or are just about to.

The write-ups below come from the publishers and are not reviews. Links are to usually to Amazon.

Julep: Southern Cocktails Refashioned by Alba Huerta and Marah Stets 

A tribute to the spirits and drinking traditions of the South through a leading barwoman's glass, with 80 recipes and photos.

Craft cocktail maven Alba Huerta succinctly tells the story of drinking in the South through themes such as "Trading with the Enemy," "the Rural South," "the Drinking Society," "the Saltwater South," and others that anchor the menu at her destination bar, Julep.

With historical overviews, 15 bar snack recipes, and 65 bespoke cocktail recipes, ranging from the iconic Mint Julep (and variations such as Rye Julep and Sparkling Julep) to modern inventions like the Snakebit Sprout, Liquid Currency, and Hot July, Huerta recounts the tales and traditions that define drinking culture in the American South today. Approximately 80 evocative cocktail and location photographs convey the romance and style that distinguish Julep and serve to inspire beverage enthusiasts to relive Southern history via the bar cart.

Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari: Tenth Anniversary Expanded Edition by Jeff Beachbum Berry

• 10th anniversary expanded edition
• In-depth Tiki history with recipes, 14 of them never-before-published
• Completely redesigned featuring new graphics and photos unique to this edition
• Additional 26-page preface and 29-page afterward
• Hardcover, 315 pages
• Published by Cocktail Kingdom
• ISBN: 978-1-941199-16-9
• List Price - $39.99

The One-Bottle Cocktail: More than 80 Recipes with Fresh Ingredients and a Single Spirit by Maggie Hoffman

A collection of more than 80 wonderfully creative, fresh, and delicious cocktails that only require a bottle of your favorite spirit, plus fresh ingredients you can easily find at the market.

In The One-Bottle Cocktail, Maggie Hoffman brings fancy drinking to the masses by making cocktails approachable enough for those with a tiny home bar. Conversational and authoritative, this book puts simple, delicious, and inventive drinks into your hands wherever you are, with ingredients you can easily source and no more than one spirit.

Organized by spirit--vodka, gin, agave spirits, rum, brandy, and whiskey--each chapter offers fresh, eye-opening cocktails like the Garden Gnome (vodka, green tomato, basil, and lime), Night of the Hunter (gin, figs, thyme, and grapefruit soda), and the Bluest Chai (rye whiskey, chai tea, and balsamic vinegar). These recipes won't break the bank, won't require an emergency run to the liquor store, and (best of all!) will delight cocktail lovers of all stripes.

Tequila Beyond Sunrise: Over 40 tequila and mezcal-based cocktails from around the world by Jesse Estes

Even the world’s most fun drink has a serious side. Look beyond that naughty reputation and become an agave-based beverage connoisseur with this book that delivers over 40 delicious, cheeky, and surprisingly sophisticated cocktail recipes.

It’s the perfect accompaniment to a Mexican meal full of spicy flavors and the ideal fuel for dancing the night away. Made from the fermented juice of the agave plant, this spirit, along with its trendy cousin mezcal, has a complex yet light flavor, which is perfect in cocktails. Premium quality versions are becoming readily available, especially for the discerning cocktail drinker—the simple rule is the higher the percentage of agave, the better. Learn about the proud heritage of agave-based spirits from expert Jesse Estes. Start with a margaritas, choose from a Pink Pomegranate to a Greener Pastures, and then try something longer such as a Hibiscus Highball or Mezcal Mule. If you prefer something a little more moody, try a Fallen Angel or brace yourself for a Tequila Smash. Finally, unleash your wild side with an Under the Volcano!

Wild Mocktails and Healthy Cocktails: Home-grown and foraged low-sugar recipes from the Midnight Apothecary by Lottie Muir

Award-winning cocktail-maker and gardener Lottie Muir brings you another selection of wonderfully wild and flavorful concoctions from her pop-up bar, The Midnight Apothecary. For this new repertoire of drinks, Lottie set herself a threefold challenge: to achieve the same amount of pleasure and balance that refined sugar provides in the taste and mouth-feel of a cocktail, to create new aromatic and bitter-forward drinks, and to make delicious new mocktails for those who want to consume no, or less, alcohol.

Lottie has created delicious infusions, cordials, sodas, shrubs, bitters, teas, and tonics that can be mixed alcohol free as mocktails—try out the Cherry Blossom and Flowering Currant Cordial, the Thyme and Licorice Syrup, or the Iced Spring Tonic Tea—or added to your favorite spirits to create a magical take on old-time classics, such as the Wild Negroni or the Windfall Punch. There is the perfect drink for any time of the year and whatever your mood, so whether it is Dry January mocktails that you need, no-added-sugar fun, or the restorative powers of an indulgent cocktail, Lottie’s plant-powered potions hit the right spot.

Wild Winemaking: Easy & Adventurous Recipes Going Beyond Grapes, Including Apple Champagne, Ginger–Green Tea Sake, Key Lime–Cayenne Wine, and 142 More by Richard W. Bender

Making wine at home just got more fun, and easier, with Richard Bender’s experiments. Whether you’re new to winemaking or a seasoned pro, you’ll find this innovative manual accessible, thanks to its focus on small batches that require minimal equipment and use an unexpected range of readily available fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. The ingredient list is irresistibly curious. How about banana wine or dark chocolate peach? Plum champagne or sweet potato saké? Chamomile, sweet basil, blood orange Thai dragon, kumquat cayenne, and even cannabis rhubarb wines have earned a place in Bender’s flavor collection. Go ahead, give it a try.

The Connoisseur’s Guide to Worldwide Spirits: Selecting and Savoring Whiskey, Vodka, Scotch, Rum, Tequila . . . and Everything Else (An Expert’s Guide ... and Savoring Every Spirit in the World) by Richard Carleton Hacker

Everyone thinks that they know how to drink, but do you really know the difference between a scotch and a whiskey? How about a gin or vodka martini? Do you know whether Johnny Walker is a single malt or a scotch? Well now is the time to finally learn the definitive answers to these questions, and so many more that you’ve always had about your favorite drinks. In The Connoisseur's Guide to Worldwide Drinking, world-class connoisseur and celebrated critic Richard Carleton Hacker provides you with all the information that you’ll ever need to properly enjoy and imbibe every type of spirit, and to start drinking alcohol the right way. After reading this definitive guide, you’ll be able to:

Taste the subtle distinctions between different types of spirits
Learn they difference between varieties of the most popular kinds of cocktails
Recite how many popular spirits are made, distilled, and crafted
How to properly “nose” spirits
The correct containers from which each spirit would be sipped
And so much more!

Complete with more than a 100 full color photographs, The Connoisseur's Guide to Worldwide Drinking is a perfect buy for every alcohol consumer, whether novice or aficionado. With The Connoisseur's Guide to Worldwide Drinking you’ll be the most knowledgeable drinker in every bar that you walk into and at every cocktail party that you attend. 

Craft Cocktails by Val: Drinks Inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton

The book title refers to the character "Val", a bartender played by Clinton herself in an episode of the comedy show "Saturday Night Live". In the skit, which aired on October 3, 2015, "Val" serves drinks to the character "Hillary Clinton" played by the actress Kate McKinnon. In this book, you will find 47 craft cocktails that "Val" could have served. A surprising and often funny book chronicles the US presidential election 2016 - in the form of 47 original cocktails. Whether you feel like pouring a bright red "Shoulder Shimmy" or a luscious "Woman Card", the choices are here. Go for a harsh "Glass Ceiling", opt for an unexpected "October Surprise" or choose a soothing "Swiss Sleep Sanitarium". Or how about a "Hot Roddy"? Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton’s opponents Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump also get their own cocktails. And if you’d rather forget the whole fiasco that was the US presidential election of 2016, grab "The Cloth", an alcohol-rich drink that comes in a bucket.

The book "Craft Cocktails by Val: Drinks Inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton" merges two creative practices, fine art and craft cocktails. The German journalist and cocktail enthusiast Heike Kevenhörster shares her original drink recipes, chronicling the US presidential election of 2016, its lead-up and aftermath. Each cocktail is paired with an original photo collage by the visual artist Sarah Sole, also made in real time during the campaign. Now their unique creations have been transformed from topical instagram accounts to traditional printed paper. This limited edition hardcover book is linen bound and comprises 200 pages. It was printed in color using the classic offset printing technique. "Craft Cocktails by Val: Drinks Inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton" is self-published and available on the website www.craftcocktailsbyval.com.