The Thinking Drinker's Guide to Alcohol: A Cocktail of Amusing Anecdotes and Opinion on the Art of Imbibing

by Ben McFarland, Tom Sandham

Inspired by its successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Thinking Drinker's Guide to Alcohol presents a dryly humorous cultural history of liquor for those who long to drink less—but drink better. Written by two of the UK's top drinks journalists, it celebrates alcohol's influence on life, love, literature, and learning. The amusing alternative and intellectual guide spans the ages from Ancient Egypt to the gin-drenched debauchery of eighteenth-century London to absinthe-induced French impressionist art and beyond. Here you will learn how drink has oiled the wheels of civilization and invigorated the minds of history's greatest figures.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[Joy Matteson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was definitely the most amusing part of my week. UK food author Ben McFarland has already written much on the topic of craft beers and the like, but unlike most "thinking" books on food and drink, this one is drenched in truly great witticisms and smart cracks about why we drink, who was truly the most rum drinking pirate, Ben Franklin's 200 synonyms for drunkenness, and so many more witticisms they're difficult to count. It did cross my mind that the author must have been at least slightly tipsy while writing this, but this is not a derogatory statement--in fact, I found the writing to add a sparkle to the glut of information available on this topic. A great coffee table book or gift book. I'm not giving it 5 stars before of the horrible, horrible editing job (was there an editor? SO many misspellings it was embarrassing), but that did not detract from this lovely book.

[Sean Hoade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was marvelous -- witty, informative, and generally beautiful. However, I had to subtract one star for the most horrendous copy editing I've ever seen from a major publisher. VERY MUCH worth your time to read if you're interested in the culture, science, or insanity of alcohol.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a terrific romp through the liquor store this was! Tucked into a delightfully breezy and hilarious narrative on each of the main categories of spirits were arcane factoids that only a wonk could love. If there was one thing that stuck out as being problematic, however, it was the sloppy editing and numerous typos. I could have done with a little bit larger type on the great timelines, too.

Aside from that, the recommendations for good bottles to stock in one's home bar were appreciated. I just wish the Virginia ABC stores would read this and take it to heart! Too many really good products don't show up on their shelves, nor in their special order lists.

I was surprised to learn that Benedictine is no longer produced by monks, and that only Chartreuse carries that distinction. I was delighted to see that they eschewed Maker's Mark in favor of Woodford's Reserve, which is, in my opinion, a smoother and more grown up bourbon.

I've already begun a list of spirits to add to our already overstocked bar, and look forward to trying several that I've only seen when traveling.

Cin-cin!

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books I kept on my phone and went to instead of scrolling social media. Incredibly interesting in places, the links to the drinks and events/people were a little weak in places but the way the authors made the connection was amusing enough for it not to matter too much. Would be good if there was a list of drinks also.

[Veronika Matuscinova · Rating 3 out of 5]

vedecko-popularna kniha o alkohole. mne to priblizilo zakladne rozdiely alkoholu, jeho zlozenie a dejiny. barmanske kecy o chuti a sile, nic moc. ale spojenie s historiou bolo fajn

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative and amusing, but one of the most poorly edited books I’ve ever read.

[Peter Rúfus · Rating 4 out of 5]

vynikajúca kniha, v opise a predstavení základných druhov alkoholu (pivo a cider, víno, rum, whisky, tequila, vodka, gin, brandy) predstavuje ich históriu, vývoj, známe osobnosti ako pijanov, miešateľné drinky a tipy, s ktorými zažiarite pri bare či v spoločenskej konverzácii. kombinuje prvky humoru, rozumu aj nonšalantnosti o alkohole, ktorý by ste mali poznať a náležite si ho vychutnať