The River Cottage Booze Handbook

I'll admit, I'm not even a novice when it comes to making booze, I'm a nothing. I can't even properly mix a drink and I tend to bastardize drinks by choosing the cheapest of ingredients (I'm a tightwad, I'll admit it). This guide has definitely made me inspired though to at least try infusing. I've always been jealous of all the home brewers out there and I'm super impressed with all the craft breweries, wineries, and meaderies that have cropped up in Indiana. I love craft beer and homemade wine and this book has inspired me to at least consider trying it. The book is broken into four sections: infusions, wines, ciders, and beers. Each section is meticulously broken down and filled with pictures and illustrations on how to attempt the process. It doesn't look as daunting as I imagined it, but it still looks a little out of my league. All of the recipes include are catered to the UK and the wild fruits, plants, and edible foliage out there, but most of it can be replicated here in the states as well. I plan on starting small and trying some of the heavenly sounding infusions: blackberry whiskey, raspberry vodka, pomegranate rum, and rhubarb vodka. I need to start making them now so they'll be readiny in a few weeks. I'm already thirsty!

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.

Trip Highlights

Things I Can't Believe I Got To Do!
1. See works of art by Picasso, Da Vinci, Renoir, Monet, Degas, Caravaggio, Raphael, Matisse, and more! And I got to take pictures of them!
2. Get a behind a scenes tour of the Hermitage and it's amazing library!
3. Meet the director of the BAN (it would be like meeting the director of the Library of Congress!) and getting to see rare materials that aren't put on display (medieval manuscripts, papyrus, 2,000 year old maps, etc!). Talk about red carpet treatment!
4. See the final resting place of Anastasia and the rest of the last Tzar's family!
5. See Peter the  Great and Catherine the Great's tombs!
6. See books signed and authored by Benjamin Franklin!
7. See musical compositions handwritten by Bach, Mozart, and Schubert and get so close to them that you could touch them!
8. See a page from the Guttenberg Bible!
9. See the "8th Wonder of the World" the Amber Room!
10. See Voltaire's personal library shipped over from France!
11. Walk in palace's that the Nazi's once destroyed but have been painstakingly restored!

Things I Don't Want to Forget!
1. Beer with low alcohol content is popular among children
2. No car seats required for babies
3. Tepemok has the best fast food (crepes and borscht!)
4. Drivers are insane, if there are traffic laws, none are followed
5. The metro is mildly terrifying. It's more than 6 stories down and you have to take an insanely fast moving escalator to get to the bottom (it still takes over 4 minutes to get to the bottom though!)
6. Armenian and Georgian food is amazing!
7. Boxed moscato!
8. Brides are EVERYWHERE! They like to pose next to monuments and as such I saw at least a dozen in the city
9. The freaky dead babies in jars at the Museum of Curiosities
10. A typical breakfast consists of hot dogs and macaroni noodles
11. The trololo guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oavMtUWDBTM
12. "The Diamond Arm" a hilarious soviet comedy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062759/
13. Women wear high heels everywhere, to not wear heels is a sin, I'm not even kidding
14. Mr short shorts guy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlN5LC3I4SE
15. My awesome new friends!!!