Drinks Industry Books

A Brief History of Lager

In this fascinating book, beer expert Mark Dredge dives into the history of lager, from how it was first brewed to what role was played by German monks and kings in the creation of the drink we know so well today. From the importance of 500-year-old purity laws to a scrupulously researched exploration of modern beer gardens (it's a hard life), Mark has delved deep into the story of the world's favourite beer.

ABSOLUT Story: From Vikings to Vodka

The story of ABSOLUT vodka, probably not the easiest book to find to buy and I got this when working with the brand in my Maxxium UK days.

Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas

The Spirits Business magazine book recommendation: "New York-based writer Brad Thomas Parsons has penned the definitive guide to the mysterious yet essential cocktail ingredient – the bitter liqueur."

A Proper Drink - The Untold Story of How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized Drinking World

The Spirits Business Magazine book recommendation: "Ever wanted to know the history of the cocktail renaissance? New York Times cocktail writer Robert Simonson has interviewed more than 200 key players from around the world, and the result is a rollicking (if slightly tipsy) story of the characters, bars, bartenders, patrons, and visionaries who in the last 25 years have changed the course of modern drink-making."

A Short History of Drunkenness

Almost every culture on earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day's work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle.

Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits

Drawing on interviews with baijiu aficionados, distillers, and key players in the alcoholic beverage industry, Sandhaus introduces the history and development of alcohol in China--the birthplace of grain-based alcohol. Distillation and production processes, the landscape of the industry today, and a page-by-page guide to the major varieties, distilleries and brands all feature in Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits.

Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business

In 2011 Goose Island, a family-owned Chicago brewpub, was sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the biggest beer company in the world. The sale forced the craft beer industry to reckon with its growing mainstream appeal and a popularity few envisioned.

Beer Blast: The inside Story of the Brewing Industry's Bizarre Battles for Your Money

A member of the Van Munching brewing dynasty offers stories about the personalities, feuds, fads, and follies of the beer business

Beer Means Business: Economics and Marketing in the UK Brewing Industry

Beer Means Business takes a holistic view of the beer industry today. It is a systematic assessment of the beer supply chain from farmers to consumers without mentioning any one product, brand or business. Unveiling the complexities of the UK brewing industry in a structured manner, this book provides a stimulus for forward thinking beer entrepreneurs and enthusiasts. Read this book to better understand: Key factors that are driving the evolution of the beer market; The challenges and opportunities this presents for new wave breweries; Potential scenarios you will face when conducting business in the UK marketplace; The sustainability of different brewery business models.

Beer School: A Crash Course in Craft Beer

Welcome to Beer School, brought to you by the heroes of YouTube sensation The Craft Beer Channel, a guide to everything you need to know about the wide and wonderful beers of the world. In Beer School, Jonny and Brad explain the intricacies of the finest artisan craft brews including: ales, lagers, porters, stouts, IPSs, and bitters.

BrewDog: Craft Beer for the People

It includes a look at what makes craft beer great and how it's made, explains how to understand different beer styles, how to cook with beer and match beers and food, right through to how to brew your own at home. It's not just about BrewDog's beers either - plenty of other excellent breweries and their beers from around the world are featured. This book is both a window into the BrewDog world and a repository of essential craft beer information.

Bursting Bubbles

The rise and rise of a group of artisanal producers in Champagne over the last twenty years has challenged everything we thought we knew about this famous region. In Bursting Bubbles, Robert Walters takes us on a journey to visit these great growers. Along the way, he reveals a secret history of Champagne and dispels many of the myths that still persist about this celebrated wine style.

Cocktail Cookbook

The Spirits Business Magazine book recommendation: "Kicking off our round up of recent spirits tomes is Cocktail Cookbook by Oskar Kinberg of Oskar’s Bar in London’s Michelin-starred restaurant Dabbous, due for release next month. The book focuses on food-based ingredients rather than spirits, with each chapter in the recipe book highlighting a specific ingredient, such as melon, cucumber, plum, sorrel leaf, pea-shoots and tonka beans. The book consists of 75 “easy-to-follow but creative” recipes which have all been invented and tasted at Oskar’s Bar, also instructing consumers how to make bar ingredients such as nettle cordial, olive oil-infused gin and kiwi and avocado puree."

Cognac a liquid history

Very good reference book on Cognac written by 'the maestro' Salvatore Calabrese - a well known mixologist/ bartender worldwide.

CO Specs: Recipes & Histories of Classic Cocktails

With tens of thousands of cocktails in existence, how many of those could be considered classic, essential, or even tasty? - CO Specs distills down to the 200 true classics everyone should know. For Bartenders, it's a thorough field manual of all the classics you should know. A one stop shop. The book Cas wishes he'd had (and spent far too long creating).

Cuba: The Legend of Rum

Who really invented the Daiquiri and the Mojito, the world's most beloved rum drinks? Is it true that Christopher Columbus brought the first sugar cane seedlings to Cuba? What makes authentic Cuban rum different from all others? Spirits and drinks historians Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown explore the birth of Cuban rum and the inseparable relationship it has with the Cuban people and their culture together with rum historian Dave Broom and mixologist Nick Strangeway.

Difford's Guide to Cocktails

Difford's Guide to Cocktails #12 includes 3,000 new and 1,200 updated recipes. It is the most complete and authoritative cocktail guide available and boasts the world's largest single photographic collection of cocktails. Designed for professional bartenders and home enthusiasts alike this heavyweight book is an indispensable guide to mixed drinks.

Distilled: From absinthe & brandy to gin & whisky, the world's finest artisan spirits unearthed, explained & enjoyed

Today's world of spirits is experiencing an explosive increase in craft distillers and pioneers of new distillates. It's about men and women tearing up rule books and creating new spirits with extraordinary personality and passion.

Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production

Divided Spirits tells the stories of tequila and mezcal, two of Mexico’s most iconic products. In doing so, the book illustrates how neoliberalism influences the production, branding, and regulation of local foods and drinks. It also challenges the strategy of relying on “alternative” markets to protect food cultures and rural livelihoods.

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

World-renowned Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology David Nutt breaks down the science and effect of alcohol on our health, mood, sleep and productivity and how it travels through our bodies and brains and explains on a practical level how we can make changes to positively impact our relationship with it and understanding of it, thereby improving our quality of life for the long-term.

Drinks: A User's Guide by Adam McDowell

The Spirits Business Magazine book recommendation: "Every drinks enthusiast has a good book on their shelves – whether its their favourite spirit or tips and tricks from the lives of famed bartenders. However booze columnist Adam McDowell does his best to answer those simple everyday questions, from how to make a Martini to what Scotch to buy for the boss. McDowell really hits it on the nail with his ‘How to’ guide to all things drinks. Readers can learn the ancient art of choosing the right drink to elevate any occasion – and McDowell certainly has it covered."

Drunk in China: Baijiu and the World’s Oldest Drinking Culture

China is one of the world’s leading producers and consumers of liquor. In turn, alcohol infuses all aspects of China’s culture, from religion and literature to business and warfare. Yet to the outside world, China’s most famous spirit remains a mystery. That’s about to change: baijiu, the most popular alcoholic drink in China, is now being served in cocktail bars overseas. The baijiu invasion is beginning. Drunk in China follows Derek Sandhaus’ journey of discovery into the world’s oldest drinking culture.

Empire of Booze

The Spirits Business Magazine book recommendation: "From renowned booze correspondent Henry Jeffreys comes this full-bodied and rich history of Britain and the Empire, told through the improbable but true stories of how the world’s favourite alcoholic drinks came to be. Empire of Booze traces the impact of alcohol on British culture and society: literature, science, philosophy and even religion have reflections in the bottom of a glass."

Garden to Glass: Grow Your Drinks from the Ground Up

Garden to Glass: Grow Your Drinks From the Ground Up, written by expert mixologist, Mike Wolf focuses on the movement and philosophy illustrating how to incorporate the natural world into the drinks we love to make, drink, and share with friends. This book offers readers simple gardening tips and instructions on how to use those plants to make dynamic cocktails and delicious cordials and elixirs. Complete with recipes, striking photography, and detailed illustrations, Garden to Glass is as valuable a resource to bartenders and bar owners as it is to home bar enthusiasts.

Imbibe by David Wondrich

This book is a definitive guide to classic American cocktails from Cocktail writer and historian David Wondrich

Inside Bordeaux

Written by author and critic Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux is a ground-breaking guide to the region. Jane has used her extensive knowledge of Bordeaux, alongside newly commissioned research, to delve into the region’s wines and winemakers. You’ll discover underrated properties, learn why particular wines taste as they do and much more. It’s an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the world’s most famous wine region.

Inside the Bottle

Really enjoyed reading this book about the drinks industry and the 'people, brands and stories' by Arthur Shapiro ex-Seagram. It is always fascinating to better understand the background and history of the industry and this gives you that perspective in full as well as highlighting some movers & shakers of the future, small entrepreneurs trying to change the industry with their new brands and products. Worth a read!

Lonely Planet's Global Distillery Tour

Featuring the best distilleries and bars in over 30 countries, we'll tell you where to go and what to taste - from gin, bourbon and whisky to vodka, cachaca, tequila and more. Includes unmissable regional drinks from South Africa, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, France, Italy, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently--And Succeeding

Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff began Honest Tea fifteen years ago with little more than a tea leaf of an idea and a passion to offer organic, freshly brewed, lightly sweetened bottled tea. Today Honest Tea is a rapidly expanding national brand sold in more than 100,0000 grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores and drugstores across the country. The brand has flourished as American consumers move toward healthier and greener lifestyles.

Order, Order!: The Rise and Fall of Political Drinking

This was our Book of the Month for August 2017.

Port and the Douro

Essential guide and reference book to Port, this fortified wine and the region of its production. Suggest buying the latest version available online if interested.

Proof: The Science of Booze

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 spirited tour across continents and cultures, Adam Rogers takes us from bourbon country to the world's top gene-sequencing labs, introducing us to the bars, barflies, and evolving science at the heart of boozy technology. He chases the physics, biology, chemistry, and metallurgy that produce alcohol, and the psychology and neurobiology that make us want it. If you've ever wondered how your drink arrived in your glass, or what it will do to you, Proof makes an unparalleled drinking companion.

Quench your own Thirst

I listened to Jim Koch, as this audiobook is read by the author himself, recalling his own experiences of bringing the Boston Beer Company to life and effectively start the craft beer movement in the US. Also have to admit that listening to it, it did make me want to drink a cold Samuel Adams...enjoy!

Regarding Cocktails

The Spirits Business Magazine book recommendation: "Regarding Cocktails is the only book from the late Sasha Petraske, the legendary bartender who changed cocktail culture with his speakeasy-style bar Milk & Honey and his wife, spirit writer Georgette Moger-Petraske. The book has a selection of 85 cocktail recipes from his repertoire, from beloved classics to modern variations – with stories from the bartenders he personally trained. Ingredients, measurements, and preparations are beautifully illustrated so that readers can make professional cocktails at home. Sasha’s advice for keeping the home bar, as well as his musings, are collected here to inspire a new generation of bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts."

Rum by Dave Broom

Dave Broom is well known for his writing on all matters relating to whisky, however he has also written this gem on rum.

Rum the Manual by Dave Broom

The Spirits Business Magazine book recommendation: "The new book from renowned spirits writer Dave Broom is the third member of his ‘Manual’ series; Broom has previously looked at whisky and gin, and now it’s rum’s turn. The idea with the series is to give the reader, whether they are consumer or bartender, aficionado or newcomer, an idea of how the spirit has been drunk over the years, where its flavours come from, and how 110 rums taste on their own and mixed. He provides a description and graded tasting notes for each brand, plus a selection of classic and contemporary cocktails to show just how versatile the spirit is."

(Guide to) Sherry

Good reference book on the Sherry category of drinks. Suggest buying the most up-to-date version available online - first issue came out in 1961.

Spirit Guide: In Search of an Authentic Life

Born in 1962, Daniel Szor is a native New Yorker now living in the heart of the Cotswolds. After a career in finance spanning 30 years and multiple cities, he gave it all up after relocating his family to a remote farmhouse and starting his own distillery. This is the story of how Dan found himself quite so far from where he grew up as the son of Polish immigrants, swapping hedge funds for hedgerows, befriending strange Swedes, grizzled Scots and a former cage fighter along the way, all to make his dream a reality.

Spirits – Looking behind the label

This textbook is the official WSET textbook accompanying WSET Level 2 Award in Spirits. The text is supported throughout with colour diagrams, photographs and maps.

Tasting Beer, 2nd Edition: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink

This completely updated second edition of the best-selling beer resource features the most current information on beer styles, flavour profiles, sensory evaluation guidelines, craft beer trends, food and beer pairings, and draft beer systems. You'll learn to identify the scents, colours, flavours, mouth-feel, and vocabulary of the major beer styles -- including ales, lagers, weissbeirs, and Belgian beers -- and develop a more nuanced understanding of your favourite brews with in- depth sections on recent developments in the science of taste.

That Sh*t Will Never Sell!

This excellent book by David Gluckman was first highlighted on our blog through an 'Inside the Cask Chat..' with the author.

The Art & Science of Foodpairing

Foodpairing is a method for identifying which foods go well together, based on groundbreaking scientific research that combines neurogastronomy (how the brain perceives flavour) with the analysis of aroma profiles derived from the chemical components of food.

The Noma Guide to Fermentation (Foundations of Flavor)

At noma--four times named the world's best restaurant--every dish includes some form of fermentation, whether it's a bright hit of vinegar, a deeply savory miso, an electrifying drop of garum, or the sweet intensity of black garlic. Fermentation is one of the foundations behind noma's extraordinary flavour profiles.

The Bar Cart Bible: Everything You Need to Stock Your Home Bar and Make Delicious Classic Cocktails

Like with any good drink, the secret to creating a winning bar cart is to understand its components. The Bar Cart Bible breaks down these elements and provides you with the necessary information.

The Drunken Botanist- The Plants That Create The World's Great Drinks

An intoxicating and eclectic new book on the hidden botany behind your favourite booze! This quirky guide explains the chemistry and botanical history of over 150 plants, trees, flowers and fruits, showing how they form the bases of our favourite cocktails.

The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto

One part celebration, one part history, two parts manifesto, Bernard DeVoto's The Hour is a comic and unequivocal treatise on how and why we drink -- properly. The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author turns his shrewd wit on the spirits and attitudes that cause his stomach to turn and his eyes to roll -- warning: this book is not for rum drinkers.

The Japanese Art of the Cocktail

The first cocktail book from the award-winning mixologist Masahiro Urushido of Katana Kitten in New York City, on the craft of Japanese cocktail making Katana Kitten, one of the world’s most prominent and acclaimed Japanese cocktail bars, was opened in 2018 by highly-respected and award-winning mixologist Masahiro Urushido. Just one year later, the bar won 2019 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New American Cocktail Bar. Before Katana Kitten, Urushido honed his craft over several years behind the bar of award-winning eatery Saxon+Parole.

The Periodic Table of COCKTAILS

See how the most popular cocktails - new and old - were dreamed up, learn how these cocktails are made, how to order them and, most crucially, how to enjoy them at their best. Plus find out more delicious concoctions to try in this expert guide.

The Thinking Drinkers Almanac

Steeped in eccentric events, fascinating facts and with all the recipes and recommendations a discerning drinker requires –– this alternative almanac will both broaden your booze horizons and arm you with essential, some would say useless, anecdotal ammunition to impress your friends .. and it’s all chased down with a generous free-pouring measure of funny.

The Ultimate Book of Craft Beer: A Compendium of the World's Best Brews

The Ultimate Book of Craft Beer is the bible for beer lovers and foodies everywhere. From simple lagers to complex stouts, scattered between all the sage advice and mouth-watering recipes, there are profiles on beers from around the world that you’ll definitely want to try. Perfect for everyone from beginners to old hands, this fun and accessible book guides you from how beer is made and how to store it, to what to look for when you’re in a pub.

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Wine Beer Spirits & Liqueurs

The version I have is from 2006, so a bit dated but still a useful reference book to have.

The War on Alcohol

How Prohibition reshaped politics and criminal justice in America. For the review from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21689518-how-prohibition-reshaped-politics-and-criminal-justice-america-stocking-filler

Understanding sake: Explaining style and quality

This book not only offers a very detailed and comprehensive overview of the techniques used in the production of sake – it also explains how these techniques are combined to produce the impressive array of different styles that brewers are able to tease out of a humble grain of rice.

Understanding spirits: Explaining style and quality

"Understanding spirits: Explaining style and quality" is the official WSET textbook accompanying WSET Level 3 Award in Spirits. The book not only offers a detailed and comprehensive overview of production techniques, it also seeks to show how they are used in the context of individual spirit categories in order to explain how and why these spirits have the style and quality they do.

Vodka by Dave Broom

There is an old Latvian saying which translates something like, "The first glass of vodka is drunk to everybody's health, the second for pleasure, the third for insolence, the last for madness." All of this may be true, but vodka's popularity continues to grow while other spirits' sales tread water at best.

Where Bartenders Drink

This is a reference book of bars from around the world as selected by some (225 or so) of the top bartenders.Adrienne Stillman has compiled a collection of 700 bars, from the top cocktail destinations to dive bars and unsung neighborhood pubs.Adrienne Stillman is the co-founder, editor-in-chief, and event director of Dipsology, a curated digital guide and online community for cocktail enthusiasts.

Which Wine When: What to drink with the food you love

This is for anyone who knows their sourdough from their sliced white but still finds themselves standing in the wine aisle making panicked decisions about what to drink based on special offers, a vague memory or a nice-looking label.

Wine Girl

An affecting memoir from America's youngest sommelier, tracing her path through the glamorous but famously toxic restaurant world. At just 21, Victoria James became America's youngest sommelier at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Even as Victoria was selling bottles worth hundreds and thousands of dollars during the day, passing sommelier certification exams with flying colors and receiving distinction from all kinds of press, there were still groping patrons, bosses who abused their role and status, and a trip to the hospital emergency room.

Drink Books