The Southside, Diamondback and the Preakness--Marylanders imbibe history in their native cocktails, from local favorites to little-known classics. Early residents favored fruit brandies and potent punches until the Civil War, when rye whiskey laid claim to local palates. During the golden age of the cocktail, grand hotels like Baltimore's Belvedere created smooth concoctions such as the Frozen Rye, but the dry days of Prohibition interrupted the good times. Using historic recipes with mode...

Read Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune's posts on the Penguin Blog.Move over, Merlot. Craft beer has finally found a place at the fine dining table.Renowned beer sommeliers Hallie Beaune and Christina Perozzi offer a down-to-earth guide to craft and artisanal brews that celebrates beer for what it truly is: sophisticated, complex, and flavorful.Beaune and Perozzi cover everything from beer basics to the science behind beer, food a...

Imagine that Alice had walked into a bar instead of falling down the rabbit hole. In the tradition of J. R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar and the classic reportage of Joseph Mitchell, here is an indelible portrait of what is quite possibly the greatest bar in the world—and the mercurial, magnificent man behind it.The first time he saw Sunny’s Bar, in 1995, Tim Sultan was lost, thirsty for a drink, and intrigued by the single bar sign among the forlorn wareho...

Discover the ghosts who wander these upstate New York mountains—includes photos!Washington Irving called the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York a "spellbound region"—and the ghosts that linger from more than four hundred years of history provide proof of Irving's intuition.In Hudson, Maggie Houghtaling's ghost haunts the Register-Star building, where she was hanged in 1817 for murdering her child—a crime for which she was later cleared. The ghost of a y...

"An engaging and uber-knowledgeable guide to gin from spirits guru Ian Buxton" (Alice Lascelles, author of Ten Cocktails).From Adnams to Zuidam, Beefeater to Bombay, and London to Plymouth (and beyond), this new book from a bestselling drinks writer is the authoritative guide to the world of gin and the first book to explore the explosion of innovative gin brands and the artisanal distillers that are reinventing this most English of drink...

An innovative, captivating tour of the finest whiskies the world has to offer, brought to you by bestselling author and whisky connoisseur Tristan Stephenson. Tristan explores the origins of whisky, from the extraordinary Chinese distillation pioneers well over 2,000 years ago to the discovery of the medicinal 'aqua vitae' (water of life), through to the emergence of what we know as whisky. Explore the magic of malting, the development of flavour and the astonishing barrel-ageing process a...

Over 200 never before published photographs are presented in this pictorial history, which spans the early 1800's through the early 1950's. As we approach the end of the century, this new book looks back at over one hundred years of Canandaigua's history, with photographs of the people, places, and events that have defined the proud and vibrant community we know so well today. Readers will be fascinated by the immense changes that have occurred since the early days, but will also draw conn...

Bordered by the Hudson River and the Berkshire Mountains, Columbia County is part of the famously picturesque Hudson Valley region. But look beyond the rolling hills to discover the secrets of Columbia County. A mastodon tooth rolled down a farmer's hill in Claverack, changing the world's understanding of prehistoric times. President Martin Van Buren lost his wife, Hannah, in Kinderhook and hardly mentioned her again. Hudson's gallows were the scene of New York's last hanging, as hundreds ...

When shipbuilder Zattu Cushing passed through western New York State at the beginning of the 19th century, he saw a beautiful area that had great potential for settlement. He vowed to come back and settle with his family as soon as possible. In 1805, Cushing came back and became the first permanent settler in what was to become the town of Pomfret. Pomfret quickly grew, attracting people of great talent to the small settlement situated on Canadaway Creek near Lake Erie. Soon the village of...

"Gives the reader a sense of lost New York, of the incredibly rich and biologically diverse ecosystem that once was the lower Hudson River estuary." —Ted Steinberg, author of Gotham UnboundHeartbeats in the Muck traces the incredible arc of New York Harbor's environmental history. Once a pristine estuary bristling with oysters and striped bass and visited by sharks, porpoises, and seals, the harbor has been marked by centuries of rampant industrial...

Mudslides. Daiquiris. Margaritas. Whether you’re trying to beat the heat or just take a mental vacation, these icy indulgences are irresistible. Now, you can make restaurant-quality frozen cocktails at home, with Frozen Drinks: An A to Z Companion to All Your Frozen Favorites.Expert bartender Cheryl Charming shares her secrets on how to:-Whip up the best frozen drinks, with or without a blender-Impress guests with fresh mixers-far superior to...

Forest Glen, Maryland, a sleepy suburb of Washington, D.C., has weathered the arrival of the railroad, construction of a summer resort, development of a fashionable girl�s finishing school, and the establishment of a U.S. Army base. Throughout these times there has always been a close-knit community of homes and people that were often overshadowed by the many diverse events and changes that prevailed here. The focal point of the community�one of only a few extant eclectic architectural fol...