Publisher's Synopsis
From the bacchanals of Ancient Rome to the speakeasies of Prohibition New York and beyond, this alcoholic miscellany explores mankind's age-old love affair with booze. It is a light-hearted and entertaining collection of eye-witness accounts, newspaper reports, drinkers' guides, long-neglected slang dictionaries, beautiful artwork and advertising, cocktail recipes and bartenders' wisdom. Whether your poison is wine, gin, beer, bourbon or even absinthe, this handbook will reveal how your favorite tipple has featured in the annals of history - perhaps even how it has changed the world. Featuring the story of Bacchus, Roman god of winemaking; King John's own excessive fondness for a drink; the Gin Craze of eighteenth-century London and the liquor-fuelled experience of the Moulin Rouge, it also includes a selection of historical cocktail recipes, including Ben Franklin's Milk Punch.
