After-Dinner Drinks: Choosing, Serving and Enjoying [Hardcover]

Jon Beckmann (Author), Frankie Frankeny (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

For everyone who's wondered about the difference between cognac and Armagnac, or whether brandy really has to be served in a snifter, here is an entertaining and informative guide to the most popular after-dinner drinks. Author Jon Beckmann presents lively profiles of all the classics, including port, sherry, Madeira, dessert wine, grappa, Scotch whisky, American bourbon, tequila, and a select group of liqueurs. The first guide dedicated solely to postprandial spirits, After-Dinner Drinks offers budding connoisseurs a pleasurable way to expand their knowledge and palate.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Once upon a time, ancient alchemists tried to bake, blend, and boil base ingredients to create something nobler. If they'd succeeded in turning tin into gold, then Jon Beckman would have had to find another subject to write about. Instead, the fruits--and grapes and grains--of these ancient distillers' labors are fêted with the accuracy of a historian and the style of the born raconteur in the elegant and informative After-Dinner Drinks: Choosing, Serving, and Enjoying. This is not a book of recipes, but rather a beautifully illustrated hop, sip, and jump through the worlds of brandies, fortified wines, eaux-de-vie, single malts, and religion-inspired elixirs. And like a pousse-café--that layered, coat-of-many-colors liqueur construction--Beckman supplies layer after delicious layer of information: "small batch" bourbons aren't from small batches; Benedictine was originally created in 1510 as a malaria antidote; colonist George Washington made good money producing rye whiskey before the American Revolution, but as President Washington, he taxed it.

Included is a remarkably outrageous list of some of the things that have been distilled into brandy--things like coconut, celery, pine buds, and wild mint. As he writes in his book's foreword, "If Alsatians had lawns, they would make an eau de vie out of grass clippings." There are a couple of missteps--a reference to the Napa Valley's Carneros Alambic Distillery neglects to mention that it changed its name to RMS Distillery some time ago; likewise a discussion of Canadian Eiswein trumpets British Columbian over the prestige produce of Ontario. Yet at a time when Grappa--once a brutal rotgut made as a potent way to use grape-crush leftovers--is displayed on the top shelf in hand-blown bottles, it's fascinating to discover that the second-largest market for cognac, after the USA, receives the two to three percent that evaporates through the oak barrels. After-Dinner Drinks is for anyone who has ever been touched by an "angels' share." --Tony Mason

Review

In After-Dinner Drinks, a new release from Chronicle Books, Jon Beckmann covers the topic in an informal yet enlightening format. Rich color photographs help make this a good primer on Port, Sherry, dessert wines, Cognac, and the like.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 2 Enlarged edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811820947
• ISBN-13: 978-0811820943
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Useful Book in A Non-traditional Area, February 22, 2000

By 

WineGuy (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After-Dinner Drinks: Choosing, Serving and Enjoying (Hardcover)

Many wine lovers in the United States don't really know much about after-dinner drinks - it is partially because most of the people drink coffee with desserts, not wines or spirits. This book provides information from the very basic to the in-depth inspections - helping the readers explore this wonderful new territory. Nice illustrations/pictures are a definite plus. Hopefully, this book will encourage you to take a closer look at the dessert wine list next time when you dine out!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars After Dinner Drinks: Choosing, Serving, Enjoying, October 4, 2000

By 

John Pheasant (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After-Dinner Drinks: Choosing, Serving and Enjoying (Hardcover)

I have to say that I was looking forward to this book. However after reading chapters on whisky, grappe and cognac, I found the book rather lacking, disappointing and a slight inaccurate. In the instance of inaccuracy, "Eau de Cerise" or "Kirschwasser" is not Cherry Brandy. Cherry Brandy is a rather sweet liquor with a ruby colour. Also I was disappointed to see no chapter on Rum, and scant recognition of such digestives as the wonderful range of different herb liquors and bitters. To be blunt I paid alot of money for this and I felt totally ripped off