Not just another whisky-tasting book, A Sense of Place is an
enlightening travelogue through Scotland’s picturesque whisky regions,
exploring both old and new distilleries, their past and more importantly and
uniquely, their present and future.
Investigating from the ground up, Dave Broom takes you on this
journey with him as the third wheel behind him and the superb photographer,
Christina Kernohan.
Reporting on the expedition as a welcoming diary, it is
simultaneously warm and informative with wide-ranging topics covering the
archaeology of the Orkney Islands, the role of peat through time and even
touching on the politics of the 18th and 19th century
that led to the ‘business’ of whisky, while seamlessly connecting them to the
current effects of climate change and the sustainable whisky making movement of present-day distillers and their diversity.
I was left with Mr. Broom’s
optimism for the future in general and of whisky in this regal locale. This is
a book that would please the would-be world traveler as well as the whisky
imbiber and one that I will surely revisit.
'A Sense of Place blends pin-sharp writing with evocative photography in a book to savour and treasure.' - Ian Rankin
'Mr. Broom, who was born in Glasgow and has been writing about spirits for decades, is the perfect author for this beautiful, evocative book. He knows the whisky territory intimately and the people well, and he has the senses of wonder, empathy and history to tie them altogether, as well as the skill to conjure up the smell of the salt air, the sound of barley shimmering in the wind, the vibrations of hammers shaping copper into stills and the…
Agave Spirits is an excellent overview of the history and future of Mezcal.
The processes at work both on and off the field with some of the world’s major players in agave are all included within. It also is a modern take on the agave industry that explains everything from the history of its distillation to current marketing and popularity.
I also appreciated the author's proactive guidelines and call to arms regarding the future of biodiversity within the agave species and its sustainability moving forward.
The agave plant was never destined to become tasteless, cheap tequila. Follow Gary Nabhan and David Suro Pinera on the trail with archaeologists and botanists to caves where 9,000-year-old remains of agaves have been found, and then fast track to the 1990s, the peak of the "margarita craze," before a deadly cocktail of microbes devastated blue agave plants on Mexican lands.
Culled from decades of fieldwork and interviews with mezcaleros in eight Mexican states, Agave Spirits reveals the stunning innovations emerging today across the mezcal supply chain and offers solutions for improving sustainability and equity. Thousands of years of tradition…
A cocktail book from one of my favorite long-standing neighborhood Brooklyn bars.
Their appreciation of New Orleans and more importantly great food, drinks, and service is now compiled into one concise ‘almanac’ with an extraordinary section on oysters that is a must-read for any lover of these briny bivalves. I also appreciate that a fair amount of the recipes are classic in nature and fairly easy to replicate for the home user, all while explaining the origin stories of the most endearing concoctions.
A delightful, imaginative, and thoroughly original cocktail compendium and bartending manual with 90 drink recipes from the popular and influential Brooklyn bar and restaurant.
A major player in both the craft cocktail revival and the bar and restaurant renaissance, Maison Premiere offers an immersive experience that channels a time when cocktails were not merely a pleasure but an essential part of daily life in late-nineteenth-century New York, New Orleans, and Paris.
As captivating as the bar itself, The Maison Premiere Almanac is both a visual delight—drawing on photography, illustration, and graphic design—and a detailed guide to the rarefied subjects that…
Frank Caiafa—bar manager of the legendary Peacock Alley
bar in the Waldorf Astoria—stirs in recipes, history, and how-to while serving
up a heady mix of the world's greatest cocktails. Learn to easily prepare
pre-Prohibition classics such as the original Manhattan, or daiquiris just as
Hemingway preferred them. Caiafa also introduces his own award-winning
creations, including the Cole Porter, an enhanced whiskey sour named for the
famous Waldorf resident.
Each recipe features tips and variations along with notes
on the drink's history, so you can master the basics, then get adventurous--and
impress fellow drinkers with fascinating cocktail trivia. The book also
provides advice on setting up your home bar and scaling up your favorite recipe
for a party.
