Here are 100 books that Mezcal fans have personally recommended if you like
Mezcal.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
It’s now fifty years or so since I started growing my own fruit and vegetables so as to have the freshest, best quality ingredients for my home cooking and making my own wine and beer. But I was always asking myself why things were done in a certain way: what was the science behind what was going on? I’ve always loved science for its own sake, but I believe such knowledge enhances appreciation. That’s why, when today’s new interest in vineyard geology took off, I put together my own book on that subject, and it’s why I’m enlightened by the books I list here.
I thought I knew a fair bit about whisky until I read this book. The science is here–and how often do you see that in a book on spirits?–but as a means to an end: to make whisky more individual, more expressive of place. The bulk of the world's whisky is manufactured in anonymous, large plants such that the 'handmade' products of relatively small distilleries, epitomized in Scotland and Kentucky/Tennessee in the U.S.A., are cherished by enthusiasts.
Yet even with these, the major ingredients–cereals of different kinds, barley in the case of Scotch–are almost always grown and processed far away and bought on the commodities market. It doesn’t have to be like this. Revelatory and joyful are the author’s explorations and stories of trips to distilleries in the U.S. and the British Isles to chew the fat with like-minded pioneers.
Look at the back label of a bottle of wine and you may well see a reference to its terroir, the total local environment of the vineyard that grew the grapes, from its soil to the climate. Winemakers universally accept that where a grape is grown influences its chemistry, which in turn changes the flavor of the wine. A detailed system has codified the idea that place matters to wine. So why don't we feel the same way about whiskey?
In this book, the master distiller Rob Arnold reveals how innovative whiskey producers are recapturing a sense of place to…
I'm an award-winning travel and drinks writer and have worked for National Geographic, The Times, BBC Travel, American Express, AAA, Waitrose Drinks, and many more. My love of spirits and travel led to me starting the Travel Distilled website and I'm the author of Cask Strength, which tells the story of the barrel, and of the travel guides Islay Distilled and Cognac Distilled. I've visited numerous distilleries in the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Greece, Iceland, Sweden, Mexico, and elsewhere. I was persuaded to try drinking vodka for breakfast while touring Siberia. It seemed a good idea at the time but it's not a habit I've kept up.
Proof is a fascinating read about the science of booze. If you think that sounds a little dull and academic, it isn't. I bought it at the recommendation of a writer friend, Reid Mitenbuler (author of Bourbon Empire), and was so glad I did.
It delves into the science of creating alcohol, but in a way that the general reader can enjoy: a fungus called yeast eats up sugar and poops out ethanol, in layman's terms. But it goes way beyond that into what makes us want and enjoy a drink, what's happening in our brains and our bodies, and, yes, the science of hangovers.
A New York Times bestseller, science journalist Adam Rogers's Proof is a spirited narrative on the fascinating art and science of alcohol, sure to inspire cocktail party chats on making booze, tasting it, and its effects on our bodies and brains, from "one of the best science writers around" (National Geographic).
Winner of Gourmand Award for Best Spirits Book An IACP Cookbook Awards Winner Finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Humans have been perfecting alcohol production for ten thousand years, but scientists are just starting to distill the chemical reactions behind the perfect buzz. In a…
I'm an award-winning travel and drinks writer and have worked for National Geographic, The Times, BBC Travel, American Express, AAA, Waitrose Drinks, and many more. My love of spirits and travel led to me starting the Travel Distilled website and I'm the author of Cask Strength, which tells the story of the barrel, and of the travel guides Islay Distilled and Cognac Distilled. I've visited numerous distilleries in the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Greece, Iceland, Sweden, Mexico, and elsewhere. I was persuaded to try drinking vodka for breakfast while touring Siberia. It seemed a good idea at the time but it's not a habit I've kept up.
I love books that delve deep into seemingly small topics, like the best-sellers Cod and Salt, on subjects we take for granted.
The author, who has written several history books, here chooses six beverages through which he does indeed tell a history of the world, by linking each beverage to a time period. Only one is spirits, the others being beer, wine, tea, coffee, and Coca-Cola.
Again it's aimed at the general reader, not the specialist, and is an entertaining journey down the centuries. It zips along and is packed with those quirky 'I never knew that' facts.
“There aren’t many books this entertaining that also provide a cogent crash course in ancient, classical and modern history.” ―Los Angeles Times
Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola: In Tom Standage’s deft, innovative account of world history, these six beverages turn out to be much more than just ways to quench thirst. They also represent six eras that span the course of civilization―from the adoption of agriculture, to the birth of cities, to the advent of globalization. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age…
I'm an award-winning travel and drinks writer and have worked for National Geographic, The Times, BBC Travel, American Express, AAA, Waitrose Drinks, and many more. My love of spirits and travel led to me starting the Travel Distilled website and I'm the author of Cask Strength, which tells the story of the barrel, and of the travel guides Islay Distilled and Cognac Distilled. I've visited numerous distilleries in the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Greece, Iceland, Sweden, Mexico, and elsewhere. I was persuaded to try drinking vodka for breakfast while touring Siberia. It seemed a good idea at the time but it's not a habit I've kept up.
Stephenson truly is a curious bartender and has written a shelfful of books about cocktails, and cocktail recipes.
My favorite books of his, though, are the more recent ones when he started looking at individual spirits, and not just what you can do with them but how and where they are made. The best is this road trip around the USA, visiting whiskey distilleries large and small, which combines drink writing and travel writing - my own two writing topics!
He visits 50 distilleries, from Vermont to California, including names you'll know, like Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam, and names you need to know, like Leopold Brothers, Wyoming Whiskey, and Garrison Brothers. It's a terrific romp of a read.
"Rigorously researched and richly illustrated...Meticulous in detail and gleeful in its discoveries, this trip is a joyride for any whiskey lover." Publishers Weekly
Buckle up and join bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur Tristan Stephenson on a Stateside tour and learn all there is to know about the finest whiskey and bourbon America has to offer.
Whiskey in America is a regional product that has evolved in different ways and at a differing pace depending on where you go. Tristan Stephenson's road trip enabled him to visit more than 40 unique distilleries, from long-established makers in the states that are the…
I’ve been writing about cocktails and spirits for over a decade, often in collaboration with my mixologist husband and co-author, John McCarthy. Our mission is to create delicious, practical cocktail recipes for the home bartender. There are a number of cocktail books out there, but they usually fall into two camps. Novelty books, which are often silly and untested. Or books written by professionals, for professionals, impractical if you don’t have a centrifuge, dehydrator, and 300-odd liqueurs in your home bar. What about the vast middle ground–people who love cocktails, want to make them at home, and learn something while they’re sipping? We believe in finding the best books for them.
I love the premise of this book. When someone asks us for a cocktail recipe, 90% of the time–or more–it’s because they’re making it for a party. So, an entire book of cocktails already proportioned for a crowd and tested for success when made in bulk just makes sense.
Quite a number of cocktails are actually a pain to make in advance. This book spares you the nuisance of considering those and gets right to the (sophisticated, beautifully crafted) party drinks.
A hip, accessible guide to batch cocktail-making for entertaining, with 65 recipes that can be made hours—or weeks!—ahead of time so that hosts and hostesses have one less thing to worry about as the doorbell rings.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED
As anyone who has hosted a dinner party knows, cocktail hour is the most fun part of the evening for guests—but the most stressful for whomever is in charge of keeping the drinks flowing. The solution, though, is simple: batch it! In this fun collection, Maggie Hoffman offers 65 delicious and creative cocktails…
I have been a journalist for over a decade, most frequently writing on the subjects of spirits, cocktails, and drinking culture for such publications as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Playboy, and VinePair. I have written 12 books—6 of them on booze—my latest of which is Dusty Booze: In Search of Vintage Spirits.
Booze books can too often be overly positive, cheerleading for the industry at large; it’s rare you see one so incisive and damning.
Once nothing more than a headache-inducing frat house shooter, today tequila (and mezcal) has become the trendy spirit of those in the know…or those who want to seem like they are. But as Martineau details, the rapid expansion of this agricultural spirit into all bars, retailers, and marketplaces—much of it driven by, yes, gringos, some of them bold-faced names—has inherently ruined this beautiful spirit in many ways that may never be recovered.
Once little more than party fuel, tequila has graduated to the status of fine sipping spirit. How the Gringos Stole Tequila traces the spirit's evolution in America from frat-house firewater to luxury good. But there's more to the story than tequila as upmarket drinking trend. Chantal Martineau spent several years immersing herself in the world of tequila--traveling to visit distillers and agave farmers in Mexico, meeting and tasting with leading experts and mixologists around the United States, and interviewing academics on either side of the border who have studied the spirit.
I think I was always meant to write about drinks for a living, it just took me a while to realise. Ever since my Dad gave me a copy of Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails as a kid (to look at the cartoonish illustrations) I've been fascinated by these particularly adult delights. I've also followed flavour around all my life like a Loony Tunes figure in the thrall of a beckoning wisp of fragrant steam. Studying this stuff for various drinks industry qualifications has only made that interest grow stronger, and so I take it out on you, dear reader, in the nicest way, of course.
We're back to drinks proper with another feast for the eyes. This book has a deep appeal to me because I've always been a francophile. France has pulled at me from the earliest family holidays through to the years I lived in Paris.
Now, back in London, there's a bittersweet nostalgia in the mix. This book captures a lot of what I miss from those years because it's not just about the drinks but also the culture that surrounds them.
It reminds me that a drink is always an occasion. It doesn't have to be a fancy one either. There's the domestic and quotidian side, too, like preparing a café au lait the French way in one of those ridiculous footed bowls; they're totally useless to drink from yet somehow all the more appealing for it.
TALES OF THE COCKTAIL SPIRITED AWARD® WINNER • IACP AWARD FINALIST • The New York Times bestselling author of My Paris Kitchen serves up more than 160 recipes for trendy cocktails, quintessential apéritifs, café favorites, complementary snacks, and more.
Bestselling cookbook author, memoirist, and popular blogger David Lebovitz delves into the drinking culture of France in Drinking French. This beautifully photographed collection features 160 recipes for everything from coffee, hot chocolate, and tea to Kir and regional apéritifs, classic and modern cocktails from the hottest Paris bars, and creative infusions using fresh fruit and French liqueurs. And because the French…
I have been researching and writing about cocktails for over two decades. My first book, The New Cocktail Hour, appeared in 2016 and I have since written seven more books pairing mixed drinks with topics such as classic movies, vinyl music, the DC Comics universe, Westerns, and travel. Cocktails are truly global concoctions, invented by using tea from the Far East, sugar from the Caribbean, liquor from Europe, and citrus from the tropics. The best books about mixed drinks transport us to a worldly state of mind wherever we are.
Australian bartender Chad Parkhill tells the origin stories of eighty iconic cocktails, mixing history and geography in this clever book that is at once a resource and drinks manual. Want to know how the G&T traveled from India to England? Or the history of the Kir Royale? This book shares it all so readers are sure to be the smartest guests at the next cocktail party. Vibrant, lush illustrations make the book extra-captivating.
Ever since its invention in the late 18th century, the cocktail has been a global traveller. Born in England and raised in America, a cocktail can take influences from all over the world and mix them up into exciting new combinations. This book celebrates this globe-trotting history through 80 cocktails - each with its own story to tell.
Bartender and writer Chad Parkhill takes you on a whirlwind global tour, with recipes designed to be made at home. You'll learn about the surprising military history behind the bubbly Venetian Spritz; how the G&T moved from India to England (and why…
I’ve been writing about cocktails and spirits for over a decade, often in collaboration with my mixologist husband and co-author, John McCarthy. Our mission is to create delicious, practical cocktail recipes for the home bartender. There are a number of cocktail books out there, but they usually fall into two camps. Novelty books, which are often silly and untested. Or books written by professionals, for professionals, impractical if you don’t have a centrifuge, dehydrator, and 300-odd liqueurs in your home bar. What about the vast middle ground–people who love cocktails, want to make them at home, and learn something while they’re sipping? We believe in finding the best books for them.
Once you’ve mastered the basics, some folks get really into the science of cocktails. If that’s of interest to you, the venerable Dave Arnold has the book for you.
This book gets at the “why” behind cocktail technique, delving deep into matters of acidity, carbonation, temperature, and more; it’s an incredible resource for true cocktail nerds. Even if you’re not likely to pull out the liquid nitrogen or quinine powder on your own, this book is an engaging and fascinating read.
Dave Arnold's philosophy is simple: if you think like a scientist, you can make better drinks. Liquid Intelligence takes readers behind the bar and into the lab, where Arnold tinkers with temperature, carbonation, sugar concentration and acidity in search of new ways to enhance classic cocktails, from bubble formation to the ideal sugar compound for a daiquiri. With innovative techniques-clarifying cloudy liquids using gelatins, chilling drinks with liquid nitrogen-and practical tips for making infused liquors and homemade bitters, Liquid Intelligence is for anyone eager to learn the hows and whys of a beautifully made drink.
Noel has over 15 years of experience in the hospitality sector and opened Three Sheets with his brother Max in 2016 to critical acclaim. Specialising in cocktails, the bar has a focus on simple, elegant serves that put the customer first. We were voted as the UK’s best bar at the Class Awards 2019. Three Sheets has also been listed in the World's 50 Best Bars list, rising to number 16. Three Sheets is currently Timeout London's Best Bar.
Ryan is undoubtedly the biggest name in cocktails right now. He has pioneered numerous venues in London and around the world focused on changing the way we think about bars and cocktails.
His book is not only a great entry into the world of cocktails with great classic recipes, but it also showcases interesting flavour combinations and techniques that can be used both in a bar and at home.
"An essential companion and an exciting treat" - Marco Pierre White"Mr Lyan is king of cocktails" - Todd Selby. Cocktails aren't just for fancy nights out and snobby home mixologists. Join award-winning and internationally acclaimed mixologist Mr Lyan (the man behind the White Lyan and Dandelyan bars in London) for cocktail hour as he shows you how 60 innovative and exciting cocktails can be part of your everyday life. Easy to make and beautifully photographed, here you will find a cocktail for every mood and occasion, from sunny day drinks and winter warmers to Friday night cocktails and morning revivers.…
