Beverage ExpertsA Tasting Course (Hardcover)

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Beer: A Tasting Course

Beer is now brewed in a dizzying variety of styles, available to enjoy like never before. Let’s drink to this diversity with a new appreciation of just how complex and mind-expanding beer can be.

Crack open this book and enjoy a series of guided tastings of more than 50 different beer styles—from smoked black lager to sour-fermented wild ales, triple green-hopped IPAs and cask-matured barley wines. With each tasting, you will learn to identify how aroma, taste, texture, and finish all combine to create the distinctive flavour profile of the particular beer style. You will discover which unique ingredients and aspects of the brewing process combine to produce each style, while quick reviews of the best examples from around the world will lead you to explore further. 

To help establish your beer palate, the course starts with a solid grounding in the range of flavours found in beer and the art of detecting them—opening your nose, mind, and throat to the complete sensory experience of flavour and pouring the perfect glass! 

Travel through time and across the globe to grasp the ongoing story of beer, its heritage, and its innovation. Also learn how to pair beer with food and to cook with beer. In the end, you always return to what really matters: that miraculous glass of cold, liquid joy.

Gin: A Tasting Course

Become a gin expert and discover your own gin tasting experience.

A relatively loose definition of gin has allowed for a boom in specialist gin distilleries and an ever-broadening range of floral, citrus, herbal, spiced, fruity, and umami gins. Originally sought after for its host of medicinal properties, curing (almost) everything from the pestilence to malaria, gin has seen many peaks in its popularity. But the spirit's long history has at times been murky, its history firmly rooted in and tied to Empire, a slide into being known as "mother's ruin", and a large part to play in the rise of abstinence movements. It has not always been the carefree spirit we know today.

Join award-winning drinks writer Anthony Gladman as he explores the story of gin, from ancient uses to its present-day renaissance, offers insight into the unique distillation processes, teaches you to establish and develop your own palate and write your own tasting notes, before guiding you through over 100 of the most exciting gins from across the world. Featuring a classic cocktail section and how to make an icon - the G&T - as well as the spirit's impact on the climate and the ways the industry is changing as a result. This is an all-encompassing guide to the ongoing story of gin - its heritage and innovation - and a celebration of the multitude of complex flavours present in the spirit today.

Rum: A Tasting Course

Open the bottle on this comprehensive tasting course to discover the variety, complex history, and distinct flavours that rum has to offer

From its origins in the West Indies and its seafaring associations, rum is now distilled all over the world and its popularity as a spirit is experiencing a new rise. Ian Burrell, a passionate advocate for all things rum, reveals the spirit’s long and complex history, the production, distillation, and ageing process, and the myriad flavours of this delicious drink available today.

Discover who we have to thank for inventing rum, how it is created from sugarcane, and how best to enjoy it. With tasting notes for 100 global rums, and recipes for 12 cocktails – both classic favourites and those with a modern twist – Ian Burrell has the know-how and encouragement to allow you to establish your own palate, and write your own tasting notes. Open up the world of premium and bespoke spirits for a lifetime of enjoyment with this all-encompassing guide to the ongoing story of rum.

Tequila: A Tasting Course

From a herbal sip of blanco to a classic Margarita, tequila is a global hit with a long history dating back to the Aztecs.

You might know that tequila is distilled from the agave plant, but did you know that ancient goddesses, wars, and even bats, play a crucial part in its story, too? Tequila expert Millie Milliken is your guide to the art and craft of tequila – the type of agave used and how it is harvested, the jimadors who grow the agaves, the distillers and blender who make tequila, the types of tequila, and the different levels of ageing. From precolonial times, to its use in Mexican culture and history, and all the way through to today’s resurgence, delve into the fascinating history of one of the world’s oldest spirits.

Next, the tasting course. Explore the wide variety of flavours you can expect to taste in different tequilas, the significance of the glass you drink from, and the equipment you need to start making cocktails. Tequila may all be made from one type of agave, but they are categorised in six different flavour categories, showcasing the variety of this fascinating spirit.

Finally, experiment with making your own cocktails, with Millie’s tips on making the perfect Margarita, Batanga, Paloma, Tequila Sunrise, and more.

Wine: A Tasting Course

The ultimate visual course for wine lovers seeking no-nonsense, practical information that brings the subject to life

The essential, jargon-free guide for anyone who wants to get more out of their wine glass.

Which end of a bottle of Chianti is the "nose"? How are you meant to smell notes of honeysuckle in that glass of sauvignon blanc? Does expensive really mean better quality?

Wine: A Tasting Course is a practical, no-nonsense guide that will make you think about what you drink. Discover which wines you like and why, read about the journey from grape to glass, and get to grips with those all-important food and wine pairings. Pore over vibrant infographics, and pair with a glass of red or white as you try out a selection of taste tests.

A corker of a guide that combines essential know-how with plenty of fun facts, Wine: A Tasting Course contains everything you need to talk, taste, and enjoy your favourite vintage.