Barrels & Drams: The History of Whisk(e)y in Jiggers and Shots
By William M. Dowd

My friend Bill Dowd knows an awful lot about spirits. So, too, do the estimable scribes he's included in Barrels & Drams, an outstanding collection of writing about that most beloved and oft-quaffed fortified liquid, whiskey. Tom Wolfe, David Wondrich, Jim Murray and Daniel Okrent are among the 20-plus essayists included in this fun, conversational ride through the history of bourbon, Scotch and Irish whiskey.

There are profiles of colorful industry icons such as Jack Daniel, John Jameson and the Beams, along with instructive articles on home vatting and distillation. Wondrich's ode to Jerry Thomas, the Father of Modern Mixology, is essential reading for anyone who appreciates a finely crafted cocktail, while "The Case of Capone's Whiskey" by Scottish journalist Jim Leggett is a compelling look at a salvage diver who unearthed one of the Prohibition era's long-lost liquid treasures. In "The Mathematics of Prohibition," Okrent - whose Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition is the definitive account of the 18th Amendment - offers a concise breakdown of the demise of that ghastly statute.

And Dowd's no slouch himself when it comes to spinning a yarn. His essay "From Forest to Flask" tells you everything you need to know about the interaction between wood and new-make whiskey. In it, he solicits expert opinions on the essential role cooperage plays in production from the likes of Glenmorangie master distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden and Bob Russell, who oversees the barrel-making operation at Brown-Forman.

The great Mark Twain famously opined that "Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough." As Dowd has shown here, the same goes for good whiskey stories. Already looking forward to the next edition. But for now...order Barrels & Drams by clicking here

To your health!

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Many people drink, few do it professionally. My name is Dan Dunn and I consume alcohol for a living.

That’s right. I get paid to run around boozing, carousing, and getting into all manner of trouble, all in the name of covering the “adult beverage beat” for one of the most iconic brands on the planet, Playboy.

I hereby invite you to join me, as I conduct “revealing” hotel room interviews with porn stars in LA; go Zip Cat racing in Scotland with Stifler from American Pie; turn the notoriously posh Pebble Peach Wine Tournament into the opportunity for a 3-day bender (thank God for my trusty voice recorder); enjoy whiskey-fueled romantic encounters in alleyways behind East Village watering holes; get forcibly removed from a boxing match at a Vegas casino (thanks to an unfortunate misunderstanding involving lots of liquor, and the flag of Cuba); get dumped by my stripper/med student girlfriend (mid-lap dance, no less) simply for not being "husband material;” wake up naked on a big-shot Hollywood producer’s living room floor; and learn, the hard way, why NEVER to order an Irish car bomb in a Dublin pub.

Along the way, I’ll share with you the hard-won wisdom from a life lived loaded, including how to amass a kick-ass collection of bar memorabilia, to how to be Yankee and survive bars in the sticks, to how to maintain the perfect buzz during air travel. And for those of you really serious about cocktails, I’ve even included 16 original recipes created just for this book by the world's best-known practitioners of the mixocological arts. You can thank me later.

A bawdy barroom confessional that leaves no shot glass un-shot, no beer un-chugged, no potential paramour un-hit-upon, this is the most entertaining and honest book about the Drinking Life ever written. At least, ever written by me.

One part infotainment, two parts desperate cry for help, Nobody Likes a Quitter chronicles Dunn's rise from Philly street kid to Aspen ski bum to lofty status as one of the world's most widely read wine and spirits writers. Along the way, readers learn what to drink, how to drink it, and why they should drink it while meeting the motley crew that shares Dunn's sauce-soaked ways: the degenerate roommate "Bottomfeeder," a string of women who populate Dunn's nights, a host of the famous and fabulously drunk, even the occasional appearance by Dunn's mentor, the great Hunter S. Thompson. A mosh-up of fact and well-oiled flights of fancy, Dunn's riotously funny story is destined to become the Bible of the 21st-Century Drinking Class. Along with hilarious yarns involving celebrities, hapless Hollywood agents and executives, porn-star neighbors, and expensive liquor company events, this bawdy barroom confession contains cocktail recipes, product reviews, and wine and liquor history, as well as profiles of some of the giants of the spirits industry.