School of Booze: An Insider's Guide to Libations, Tipples, and Brews

“An intoxicating brew of drinking lore, boozy anecdotes and hop-driven history—this is the sort of school I wish I’d gone to.” —Adrian Tierney-Jones, author of 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die

Humans were seeking out alcohol millions of years before the word “keg” was coined. School of Booze contains everything you have ever wanted to know about alcoholic beverages, from how to make absinthe to the cultural history of zythos (beer). It covers the discovery and invention of fermented alcohol, ancient history, toasting, alcohol and health, alcohol’s role in religion, origin of slang expressions, virtually every known form of alcoholic beverage and their histories, temperance and prohibition movements and law, and much more.

Packed with fascinating miscellany and curious facts to entertain your friends at the pub, this book is an essential compendium of knowledge about what essayist Dr. Samuel Johnson called life’s “second greatest pleasure.” It is the perfect gift for yourself, or for anyone who enjoys raising a glass to good health. Bottoms up!

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Good Books and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of cookbooks, including books on juicing, grilling, baking, frying, home brewing and winemaking, slow cookers, and cast iron cooking. We’ve been successful with books on gluten-free cooking, vegetarian and vegan cooking, paleo, raw foods, and more. Our list includes French cooking, Swedish cooking, Austrian and German cooking, Cajun cooking, as well as books on jerky, canning and preserving, peanut butter, meatballs, oil and vinegar, bone broth, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Jane Peyton is a respected beverage writer and historian as well as the founder of School of Booze, a company that puts on beer, cider, wine, and spirits tasting and events. Her writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the Guardian and Independent and has appeared on TV and is a regular guest on BBC radio. She was named UK beer sommelier of the year for 2014 and is also the author of Beer O’Clock: Craft, Cask, and Culture. She lives in London, England.