Slippery Tipples: A Guide to Weird and Wonderful Spirits and Liqueurs

by Joseph Piercy

From European favorites such as Mastichato Chios, which saved 2,000 Greeks from a bloody massacre at the hands of vengeful Turks, to legendary drinks such as Amarula, invented by African elephants; from classic cocktail ingredients like Midori, the bright green Japanese melon drink launched at the wrap party for Saturday Night Fever at Studio 54, to student stalwart Jagermeister, dreamt up by a confidant of Herman Goring and hugely popular among senior Nazis, Slippery Tipples tells the stories behind the world's most extraordinary drinks. Alongside a country-by-country guide to murky and mysterious booze and dozens of cocktail recipes is a series of easy to follow recipes for making your own liqueurs and spirits. If you would like to concoct your own fruit brandies or make a drop of traditional full-strength Pimms then this is the book for you.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful little book on various alcoholic concoctions throughout the globe and how to drink them, what makes this a worthwhile read is the little tit bits of knowledge and the humorous anecdotes that go with it, my favourite one is that Jägermeister used to be known as Göring-Schnapps and was a great favourite with Nazi hunting parties!

[Kyle Youngblood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part history, part cocktail book. Mildly entertaining book that explored a world I was not familiar with.

[Bria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Wonderfully researched with intriguing stories and inspiring recipes, it also contains a thoughtful layout with tasting notes, background, trivia and lovely vintage style illustrations. I’ll use this as a reference for years to come and have already rushed out to expand my liquor cabinet.

[Bryce · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever been in a very well stocked liquor store and seen the weird bottles with foreign names, this book tells you what a lot of them are. The writing is clear although occasionally snarky (with good reason).

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at the wide range of liqueurs, digestifs, aperitifs, & a few random alcoholic beverages around the world.

I am a total geek about this stuff so I enjoyed reading it, but YMMV.

[AskNezka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful little history on spirits and bitters from around the world. Wish there were some citations, but otherwise very interesting collection of stories.

[Ietrio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not very complete, yet amusing and as far as I can tell rather accurate story of spirits.

[Dani]

The book is well-written but not what I was looking for. I thought this was just a recipe book, but it was more academic than I expected.