Gift Ideas

Make extraordinary homemade wines from everything but grapes! Exotic wines, honey meads, spicy metheglins and fruity melomels - there’s no end to the great-tasting elixirs you can make using ingredients from your local market and even your own backyard!

You’ll find easy, step-by-step winemaking instructions plus memorable recipes, including:

- Apricot Wine
- Dry Mead
- Marigold wine
- Almond Wine
- Cherry Melomel
- Cranberry Claret
- Pea Pod Wine
- Lemon-Thyme Metheglin
- Strawberry Wine
- Rose Hip Melomel

Chef Bill Collins shows you how to make your own vinegars, including wine, apple cider, malt, white, and rice vinegars, and then flavor them with herbs for exactly the taste you want. He also offers recipes for cooking with your custom-made vinegars, creating everything from a basic Italian salad dressing to Asian coleslaw, sweet potato salad, pot stickers, lentil soup, caponata, sauerbraten, caprese sliders, pickles and chutneys, and even chocolate chip cookies.

From the Back Cover:
Vinegar is the secret ingredient that adds bright flavor and sparkle to countless dishes. Personal chef and cooking instructor Bill Collins offer step-by-step instructions for making your own vinegars and developing flavor infusions for purchased or homemade vinegars. Enjoy your creations in refreshing shrubs (a vinegar soft drink) and more than 30 delicious recipes. You'll also find information on pickling in the section on the many household uses for distilled white vinegar.

The Pilsner glass is best for serving this crisp and clean style of beer from Germany to the Czech Republic. The tall and slender design preserves the carbonation and delicate flavors of the Pilsner style.

An English Pub Glass is designed to enhance the character of many British and American ales from Pale Ale to Stout. The 20oz size is ideal for serving a full pint with enough space for a good head of foam.

This large glass is inspired by the elegant Wheat beer glasses of Germany and is perfect for serving a wide variety of styles. The slender form is also particularly suited to Pilsners, Lagers and Draft Beer. The height of the glass preserves the higher levels of carbonation found in these styles and a slender base enhances the subtle color. Finally, the top of the glass is wide to contain a large, fluffy head and to release the aroma the beer.

Meet the natural lovechild of the popular local-foods movement and craft cocktail scene. It’s here to show you just how easy it is to make delicious, one-of-a-kind mixed drinks with common flowers, berries, roots, and leaves that you can find along roadsides or in your backyard. Foraging expert Ellen Zachos gets the party started with recipes for more than 50 garnishes, syrups, infusions, juices, and bitters, including Quick Pickled Daylily Buds, Rose Hip Syrup, and Chanterelle-infused Rum. You’ll then incorporate your handcrafted components into 45 surprising and delightful cocktails, such as Stinger in the Rye, Don’t Sass Me, and Tree-tini.

From the Back Cover:
Start with more than 50 recipes for bitters, garnishes, syrups, infusions, and juices using plants readily found in backyards, farmers' markets, and along roadside fields. Bottle up the goodness of fresh berries, fruit, flowers, leaves, roots, and seeds; then delight in their flavors all year by incorporating your wildcrafted components into 45 surprising and delicious cocktails.

Make any beer style at home with this advanced home brewing equipment kit. It includes essential brewing tools plus a 7.8 gallon fermenting bucket and 6 gallon plastic carboy. This kit is suited for brewers who prefer a plastic carboy because it is much lighter and safer than glass carboys. The PET carboy also allows brewers to make both ales and lagers because the PET carboy is impermeable to air and can be used for beer styles that require long-term fermentation.

Many other accessories are included such as a twin-lever bottle capper, automatic pump siphon, triple-scale hydrometer, bottle brush, cleanser and more! In addition to this equipment kit, you will also require an ingredient kit, a stainless steel stock pot, beer bottles and bottle caps (available separately).

Shipping Restriction:
This kit can not be shipped outside the United States or Canada because it exceeds maximum size restrictions. Please consider purchasing any of the components individually for shipment outside the US or Canada.

Most recipes produce a hard frozen yogurt that's not much fun to eat. However, with Nicole Weston's unique technique, the result is creamy, smooth, and delicious and all you need is a simple meringue and your ice cream maker! If you do not have an ice cream maker, don't worry! There are even recipes that don't require it. Weston shows you her method and then offers recipes for 56 irresistible flavors, from classic vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry to mango, coconut, key lime, chai, honey, ginger and cardamom, white chocolate raspberry, dulce de leche, avocado, maple bacon, and mint julep. She even offers festive flavors for the holidays, including candy cane, spiced pumpkin, cranberry, eggnog, and gingerbread.

The popularity of frozen yogurt is at an all-time high. And now it can be made at home. This book begins with an overview of equipment, ingredients, and techniques and then offers recipes for 56 delicious flavors that use Greek yogurt (or homemade). Simply mix it up, pour it into an ice cream machine, and enjoy!

The Bottle Tree is a clever way to store bottles for draining and drying. After rinsing a bottle, simply insert it over a peg of the bottle tree to allow it to drip dry. The rotating base has a raised outer lip which will contain all the accumulated liquid. This is a great way to keep bottles sanitary prior to bottling or to dry them for storage. It also features a rotating rack that will spin to provide easy access to all sides. The Bottle Tree can be used for beer or 750mL wine bottles. However, we do not recommend using very large or heavy bottles such as 1.5L bottles or Champagne bottles. It can be assembled and disassembled very quickly for storage. It is also designed to be used with the Vinator bottle rinser (sold separately) which mounts to the top of the tree to make a complete bottle rinsing and drying station.

Like a lively course from an expert teacher, The Wine Bible grounds the reader deeply in the fundamentals while layering on informative asides, tips, amusing anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, photos (all new for this edition), maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Karen MacNeil’s information comes directly through primary research; for this second edition she has tasted more than 10,000 wines and visited dozens of wine regions around the world. New to the book are wines of China, Japan, Mexico, and Slovenia. And through it all the reader becomes ever more informed—and, because of the author’s unique voice, always entertained: “In great years Pétrus is ravishing, elegant, and rich—Ingrid Bergman in red satin.” Or, describing a Riesling: “A laser beam. A sheet of ice. A great crackling bolt of lightning.”

Discover how to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory. The reason behind Champagne's bubbles. Italy, the place the ancient Greeks called the land of wine. An oak barrel's effect on flavor. Sherry, the world's most misunderstood and underappreciated wine. How to match wine with food - and mood

Plus everything else you need to know to buy, store, serve, and enjoy the world's most captivating beverage.

Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Thirsty yet? In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries.

Of all the extraordinary and obscure plants that have been fermented and distilled, a few are dangerous, some are downright bizarre, and one is as ancient as dinosaurs—but each represents a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history.

This fascinating concoction of biology, chemistry, history, etymology, and mixology—with more than fifty drink recipes and growing tips for gardeners—will make you the most popular guest at any cocktail party.

This complete guide to North America’s oldest beverage celebrates hard cider’s rich history and its modern makers, as well as its deliciously diverse possibilities. Flavor profiles and tasting guidelines highlight 100 selections of cider — including single varietal, dessert, hopped, and barrel-aged — plus perry, cider’s pear-based cousin. A perfect addition to any meal, cider pairings are featured in 30 food recipes, from Brussels sprouts salad to salmon chowder, brined quail, and poached pear frangipane. An additional 30 cocktail recipes include creative combinations such as Maple Basil Ciderita and Pear-fect Rye Fizz.

From the Back Cover:
Discover the vibrant and growing world of today's craft cider producers. Erin James of Cidercraft magazine takes you on a tasting tour of modern ciders - highlighting more than 100 North American ciders in 11 categories, from hopped to barrel-aged - and profiles some of the most dynamic cidermakers across the continent. Pairing suggestions and creative cider-based cocktails, plus dozens of savory and sweet cooking recipes, enhance your appreciation of the newest flavors of the age-old drink.

The Barbecue Bible for Smoking Meats. A complete, step-by-step guide to mastering the art and craft of smoking, plus 100 recipes—every one a game-changer –for smoked food that roars off your plate with flavor. Here’s how to choose the right smoker (or turn the grill you have into an effective smoking machine). Understand the different tools, fuels, and smoking woods. Master all the essential techniques: hot-smoking, cold-smoking, rotisserie-smoking, even smoking with tea and hay—try it with fresh mozzarella. USA Today says, “Where there’s smoke, there’s Steven Raichlen.” Steven Raichlen says, “Where there’s brisket, ribs, pork belly, salmon, turkey, even cocktails and dessert, there will be smoke.” And Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue says, “Nothin’ but great techniques and recipes. I am especially excited about the smoked cheesecake.” Time to go forth and smoke.

From the Back Cover:
A complete, step-by-step guide to mastering the art and craft of smoking, plus 100 recipes - every one a game-changer - for smoked food that roars off your plate with flavor. Here's how to choose the right smoker (or turn the grill you have into an effective smoking machine). Understand the different tools, fuels, and smoking woods. Master all the essential techniques: hot-smoking, cold-smoking, rotisserie-smoking, even smoking with tea and hay - try it with fresh mozzarella.

A Field Guide to Whisky is a one-stop guide for all the information a whisky enthusiast needs. With the whisky market booming all over the world, now is a perfect time for a comprehensive guide to this popular brown spirit. What are the basic ingredients in all whiskies? How does it get its flavor? Which big-name brands truly deserve their reputation? What are the current whisky trends around the world? And who was Jack Daniel, anyway? This abundance of information is distilled into 324 short entries covering basic whisky literacy, production methods, consumption tips, trends, trivia, geographical maps and lists of distilleries, whisky trails, bars, hotels, and festivals by an industry insider. Boasting 230 color photographs and a beautiful package to boot, A Field Guide to Whisky will make a whisky expert out of anyone.

From the Back Cover:

Everything Whisky Lovers Need to Know About Their Favorite Spirit:
- Who the 'Big Five' whisky nations are, and how they distill
- The dos and don'ts of whisky-food pairings
- How to discern complex flavor patterns to get the most out of your glass
- How to read a whisky label
- Which whiskies you should try immediately
- How to buy 'investment' whisky
- Why you might want to add water to your whisky but skip the ice
- The proper way to store whisky, opened and unopened
- How to conduct a tasting

With hundreds of color photographs, maps, travel and festival resources, bar recommendations, and more.

Blending your grandmother’s pickling know-how with today’s internet resources, Andrea Chesman shows you how easy it is to fill your pantry with tasty homemade sauerkraut, Salt-Cured Dilly Beans, and Rosemary Onion Confit. Explaining classic techniques in simple language, guiding you to helpful websites, and making you laugh with humorous stories, Chesman provides inspiration and encouragement for both first-time picklers and dedicated home canners. With tips on pickling everything from apples to zucchini, you’ll enjoy exploring the stunning variety of flavors that can fill a Mason jar.

From the Back Cover:
Why limit yourself to cucumbers when pickling out the best in so many vegetables and fruits? Andrea Chesman offers dozens of zesty possibilities in this comprehensive guide to pickling that features recipes for the crisp cucumbers you've always loved - dills, half-sours, bread and butters - plus delicious ideas for pickling everything from carrots to rhubarb, cabbage to pineapple.

It doesn't matter whether you have a few fresh-picked cucumbers or ten pounds of beets. Single-jar recipes, big-harvest ideas, relishes, chutneys, fermented pickles and krauts, and freezer and refrigerator variations provide pickling solutions for every situation. And once your pantry is fully stocked, Chesman provides recipes for 36 delicious ways to use your pickles in prepared dishes.