Description:
Once upon a time, ancient alchemists tried to bake, blend, and boil base ingredients to create something nobler. If they'd succeeded in turning tin into gold, then Jon Beckman would have had to find another subject to write about. Instead, the fruits--and grapes and grains--of these ancient distillers' labors are fêted with the accuracy of a historian and the style of the born raconteur in the elegant and informative After-Dinner Drinks: Choosing, Serving, and Enjoying. This is not a book of recipes, but rather a beautifully illustrated hop, sip, and jump through the worlds of brandies, fortified wines, eaux-de-vie, single malts, and religion-inspired elixirs. And like a pousse-café--that layered, coat-of-many-colors liqueur construction--Beckman supplies layer after delicious layer of information: "small batch" bourbons aren't from small batches; Benedictine was originally created in 1510 as a malaria antidote; colonist George Washington made good money producing rye whiskey before the American Revolution, but as President Washington, he taxed it. Included is a remarkably outrageous list of some of the things that have been distilled into brandy--things like coconut, celery, pine buds, and wild mint. As he writes in his book's foreword, "If Alsatians had lawns, they would make an eau de vie out of grass clippings." There are a couple of missteps--a reference to the Napa Valley's Carneros Alambic Distillery neglects to mention that it changed its name to RMS Distillery some time ago; likewise a discussion of Canadian Eiswein trumpets British Columbian over the prestige produce of Ontario. Yet at a time when Grappa--once a brutal rotgut made as a potent way to use grape-crush leftovers--is displayed on the top shelf in hand-blown bottles, it's fascinating to discover that the second-largest market for cognac, after the USA, receives the two to three percent that evaporates through the oak barrels. After-Dinner Drinks is for anyone who has ever been touched by an "angels' share." --Tony Mason
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