A funny and fascinating guide to liqueurs and spirits, featuring more than 60 drinks from 40 countries and easy-to-follow guides to making liqueurs at home. From the Eastern European favorite Becherovka whose recipe is known to only two people; to classic cocktail ingredients like Midori, the bright green Japanese melon drink that was launched at the Studio 54 wrap party for Saturday Night Fever, Goldwasser, the gold-flecked German drink that has been brewed since the 16th century and is supposed to have alchemical effects--this collection tells the stories behind the word's most extraordinary drinks. Alongside the A–Z is a series of easy-to-follow recipes for liqueurs and spirits, for readers eager to concoct their own fruit brandies or make a traditional summer cup like PIMMS. The more than 100 cocktail and shooter recipes include, of course, the classic 1980s cocktail the Slippery Nipple.

Joseph Piercy is the founder of the literary journal Samidzat.