New Drink Books Late Summer 2021: Seltzer, Cider, Tequila, Negronis, and More
July 27, 2021
As there will be a TREMENDOUS amount of new drink books coming out this September and October, I figured I shouldn't wait to post a round-up of new books until then.
Below are a bunch of books available right now.
As usual, the description of the texts are from the publisher rather than being reviews from me. If you order via a link from this page, I may earn a small affiliate fee. Bookshop.org supports local, independent bookstores, and you should support then rather than Amazon if you're able to.
Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization by Edward Slingerland [amazon][bookshop]
While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place.
Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically-grounded explanation for our love of alcohol. Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Slingerland shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told. In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to cooperate with strangers. Our desire to get drunk, along with the individual and social benefits provided by drunkenness, played a crucial role in sparking the rise of the first large-scale societies. We would not have civilization without intoxication.
From marauding Vikings and bacchanalian orgies to sex-starved fruit flies, blind cave fish, and problem-solving crows, Drunk is packed with fascinating case studies and engaging science, as well as practical takeaways for individuals and communities. The result is a captivating and long overdue investigation into humanity's oldest indulgence—one that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then.
Live your best seltzer life with the original cocktail book designed to make your favorite bubbly boozy beverage all that much boozier, from sparkling Cosmos and daiquiris to a twist on the ever-popular Aperol spritz.
Make every season hard seltzer season! The wildly popular sparkling beverage is a tasty, low-cal treat on its own...but sometimes you have to take it up a notch (or several).
The Hard Seltzer Cocktail Book offers everything you need to add a little snap, sparkle, and pop to your favorite cocktails. Whether you’re team White Claw, a Truly follower, or a Bud Light Seltzer fan, there’s something for everyone with these easy-to-make recipes, including:
Sparkling Frose
Poppin’ Lemon Drops
Watermelon Sugar Slushies
One-Minute Margs
Summer in Moscow Mules
Fizzy Fuzzy Navels
Pantry Cocktails: Inventive Sips from Everyday Staples (and a Few Nibbles Too) by Katherine Cobbs [amazon][bookshop]
Craft delicious, creative mixed drinks using pantry staples with this essential recipe book guaranteed to satiate any cocktail craving.
We all want to be the type of host who can put together a tasty meal or a delicious appetizer for unexpected company by creatively using the odds and ends from our pantry or fridge. That same improvisational approach can be applied to home bartending with impressive (and tasty!) results. Knowing how to enlist the everyday basics cluttering up your kitchen, like condiments, jams, pickles, and sauces, means you can craft inventive, flavorful cocktails on the fly, satisfying cravings and fulfilling your guest’s requests.
Pantry Cocktails is an organized, easy-to-follow guide that not only includes cocktail recipes but accompanying themed food boards (such as The Warming Hut Board inspired by New Mexico flavors), helpful tips and hacks, and useful pantry suggestions. Recipes include:
-A Sushi Mary with the wasabi and white miso pastes in your fridge (from that sushi delivery last week)
-A Basil-Cello Frosecco or Ginger-Orange Shrub Shandy from your garden
-Off-Season Bellini using peaches from your cupboard
You will learn which key bottled spirits to keep in your liquor cabinet, which fridge and cupboard staples you can repurpose, and how to use seasonal herbs from your patio or garden to create outstanding cocktails that are sure to satisfy and impress.
Barantined: Recipes, Tips, and Stories To Enjoy At Home by Mike Wolf [amazon][bookshop]
Barantined is the ultimate guide to creating your own bar experience at home!
Shake, stir, and sip your way through quarantine with more than 80 easy-to-make cocktail recipes, techniques for making cordials, and the best drinking tips from mavericks of the mixology scene. With insights gathered from more than 50 expert bartenders and sommeliers, Barantined provides engaging advice for staying entertained at home―from music playlists, to reading recommendations, to suggestions for drinks to pair with takeout.
Compiled by Nashville writer and mixologist extraordinaire Mike Wolf, Barantined aims to catch a unique moment in time when the world spun out of control and came to a halt all at once. In March 2020, the restaurant and bar business shut down for months when a devastating tornado tore through Nashville and a pandemic rocked the world. Join bartenders from Nashville and beyond in Barantined as they share what they miss about being behind the bar and how their approach to their profession has changed, alongside their favorite DIY drinks and activities designed to bring the bar to you.
A modern take on fermentation and drink-making from the founders of Fruktstereo
Fascinated by the growing trend in natural wines, Karl and Mikael began to produce their own cider using 100% hand-picked fruit from the farms and villages outside Malmo, Sweden. Their aim is to make modern, natural drinks using only the naturally occurring yeast of the fruit, without any additives or preservatives.
In Cider Revolution, authors Karl and Mikael seek to pass on their passion for cider and inspire others to taste, appreciate, and try their hand at making their own batch from home. As well as passing on the understanding of the cider-making processes, there are recipes for pears, cherries, plums, rhubarb, and berries, and notes on tasting cider, so that it can be appreciated in much the same way as any fine wine.
Tarot & Tequila is a positive and spiritually uplifting guide that includes both basic and humorous tequila-inspired meanings of all 78 tarot cards that both beginners and experienced tarot card readers will relate to.
Featuring 40 cocktail recipes—one for each Major Arcana card plus bonus Minor Arcana drinks, too—based on the attributes of the cards themselves, as well as a mystical pairing that explains why professional tarot card reader David Ross chose to pair each card to their respective drink, this magical mixology book can be used as both a guide and a recipe book.
Try drinks like:
-The High Priestess, an elixir of tequila, lemon juice, thyme, and seltzer
-The Chariot, a tequila version of a Moscow Mule, with lemon, beet, and apple juices
-The Four of Wands, a positive concoction of rum, homemade fennel liqueur, and more
Perfect for fans of drinking, bartending, and tarot alike, this beautifully illustrated book makes both a perfect gift and a must-have addition to any home bar.
The Encyclopedia of Cocktails features over 1,000 cocktails for every occasion!
From 3-ingredient drinks to mad-scientist mixology, The Encyclopedia of Cocktails is any bartender’s go-to resource.Clean, uncluttered design and extensive index make finding drinks easy, whether you’re searching by spirit or style. Ever wondered about the origins of a Martini or Old Fashioned? This book delves into the history of over 100 classic cocktails. There are also recipes for hundreds of homemade ingredients; from syrups to blends, infusions, tinctures, foams, and more, you’ll be crafting bespoke ingredients in no time. The Encyclopedia of Cocktails is the perfect gift for anyone who likes to mix drinks – it’s the only cocktail book they’ll ever need!
a narrative about whiskey’s role in eight periods of American history, descriptions and tasting notes for American whiskeys that represent distilled spirits in each historical period, tutorials on how whiskey is produced and its numerous varieties, period-specific food recipes drawn mostly from historical cookbooks, playlists of the popular music during each period.
A guided tour that highlights the recent evolution of the 21 craft and artisan distilleries that have sprung up on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
In the past five years the number of craft and artisan distilleries on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands has more than doubled. A change in the provincial liquor laws in 2013 made small-batch distilling a viable business and with this alternative to high-volume, mass-market liquor comes a focus on local ingredients and distinctive flavours.
From relative veterans like Merridale and Sheringham, to the newest stills on the block, you’ll meet a group of entrepreneurs unbound by traditional liquor-making rules who are creating vodkas, gins, whiskeys, and liqueurs with their own unique characteristics, using a wide range of grains, fruit, botanicals, peat smoke, seaweed, and spices. Craft-spirits enthusiast Marianne Scott introduces readers to the methods distillers use to develop their spirits, how they learned their craft, the products they make, and the recognition they’ve garnered.
With an introduction on the history of spirit making and the process of distilling, a glossary of common distilling terms, cocktail recipes inspired by each distillery’s products, and a map to help you organize your ideal tasting tour, Vancouver Island’s Spirits has everything you need to jump into the region’s burgeoning craft-spirits scene.
—The Wall Street Journal
“A sparkling book of inspiration . . . [The recipes] are at once fragrantly subtle and richly complex.”
—The New York Times
“This book is sure to delight your palate and quench your thirst!”
—David Zilber, coauthor of The Noma Guide to Fermentation
ZERO ALCOHOL, 100% DELICIOUSNESS
Starting with plain sparkling soda, a gazoz layers in fresh fruits and flowers, aromatic herbs and spices, ferments, syrups, and other artisanal ingredients, all to create a beautiful marriage of flavor and fizz. In Gazoz, discover recipes for stone fruit gazoz, citrus gazoz, even “milkshake” gazoz using nut butters. The possibilities are endless, the results amazing. It’s the best nonalcoholic drink you’ve ever tasted, and by far the most fun to make.
Author Brian Ashcraft—the author of the popular guide Japanese Whisky—has put together lively commentaries based on dozens of interviews with master brewers and sake experts across Japan. His fascinating stories are accompanied by over 300 full-color photographs, maps and drawings.
A unique feature of this book is that it includes reviews, tasting notes, scores and a buying guide for over 100 of the leading sake brands, written by respected Japanese sake expert Takashi Eguchi. These include all the sakes most commonly found outside Japan. Each sake has a photo of the label, tasting notes, a score and recommended food pairings. Information on the leading brewers is provided, and the sakes are grouped by flavor profile.
Japanese sake is brewed worldwide today and is winning over many converts. A foreword by sake connoisseur and world-renowned DJ Richie Hawtin addresses the spread in global popularity and the shared mission of making this specialty beverage as accessible as possible. With the help of this book you'll soon become an expert in selecting, serving and enjoying Japan's favorite drink.
Potions, Elixirs & Brews: A modern witches' grimoire of drinkable spells by Anais Alexandre [amazon][bookshop]
An enchanting collection of magical cocktails, punches and teas that function both as delicious recipes and as effective spells, written by witch YouTube influencer Anaïs Alexandre.
Taste real magic.
Drawing on her eclectic craft, harnessing influences from Wiccan and rootwork practices, Anaïs Alexandre shares a collection of delicious potions for the modern witch. From potent cocktails, to restorative elixirs and captivating brews, this book of drinkable spells offers the powers of time-honoured wisdom in truly delectable form. Each potion is accompanied by a simple ritual to supercharge its effectiveness, whether as a solitary witch or with your coven.
Sip on a subtle love potion, draw monetary fortune your way with a lucky prosperi-tea, or spread friendship vibes with a warming party punch; as the wheel of the year turns, discover your own craft through the magic of mixology.
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