The Drunken Botanist- The Plants That Create The World's Great Drinks

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Stewart has written a book that, while small, is encyclopedic in style. First she takes us through the plants- grains, potatoes, cacti, grasses - that are fermented and distilled to make hard liquors; then she goes through categories like fruit, sap (sugar maple), and roots that are fermented and the herbs, seeds, nuts, and barks that are used to flavor the brews. For each plant she tells us how and where it was/is used, what it adds to the brew, which brands of the brew are best, and for many, how to grow the plant. This is where the book ties into gardening: while the average gardener won’t be growing grain and setting up a still, most gardeners are able to grow some mint for mojitos, jalapenos for some special margaritas, cherry tomatoes for a Blushing Mary, or a fruit tree. Face it; nearly everything in an alcoholic drink comes from plants except for bacon vodka and Irish cream. And a lot of those things are easy to grow. The author includes over 50 drink recipes for the home mixologist. Stewart mentions that anything can be distilled except for mother-in-laws. She shares that every great drink starts with a plant. Plants and herbs are also a critical part of the history of medicine. Plants have sugar which when combined with yeast creates alcohol.

Some fun science facts, "The DNA of apples is more complex than ours; a recent sequencing of the Golden Delicious genome uncovered fifty-seven thousand genes, more than twice as many as the twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand that humans possess." You will get a good handle on the process of fermentation. "The science of fermentation is wonderfully simple. Yeast eat sugar. They leave behind two waste products, ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. If we were being honest, we would admit that what a liquor store sells is, chemically speaking, little more than the litter boxes of millions of domesticated yeast organisms, wrapped up in pretty bottles with fancy price tags." Bonus, "But what about the other waste product, ethyl alcohol? That is what we call pure alcohol, or ethanol. After some tinkering, it makes for a great drink—but not for the yeast. As they excrete this alcohol, yeast make their own grave. They can’t survive in high concentrations of their own waste product, so as the alcohol content rises above about 15 percent, the yeast die off. That explains why, until distillation was invented, no human had ever enjoyed a stronger drink than beer or wine." The writing here covers the many various plants, herbs, and spices involved in the production of alcoholic drinks. Stewart's writing proceeds through the various different plants in an alphabetical fashion, while splicing in many different associated drink recipies along the way. Continue to taste it regularly. You might be pleased with the result after just a few days or a week. Then strain the mixture again, and add simple syrup to taste. Let it sit for 3-4 weeks, then drink it within a few months—it’s not intended to keep forever. I enjoyed The Drunken Botanist. I would recommend it to anyone interested. It would make a great coffee table book.Vodka became popular in America only after WWII because distillers couldn't get enough grain to use, so begged potato growers to send them all the small and misshapen potatoes they had, since appearance wouldn't matter. Distillers sold 1M gallons of Vodka in 1946 and 30M by 1965. BTW, Vodka uses rye, wheat, and other grains in its manufacture, but most Americans think of it as only made from Potatoes. There is also a big controversy over where Vodka originated, whether Poland or Russia. [p70] The first plant featured is an agave, a century plant, they grow around here, so I was interested to know how to make pulque because it is ferments in a day. First you have to wait for the flower spike which is about every 8-10 years, not 100. You lop it off. The stem swells. After a while you cut inside, the centre rots. You scoop out the centre and it fills daily with sap. 250 gallons is possible before the agave dies. The pulque which is an 'acquired taste' but can be flavoured with fruits is ready a day or so later. Two things stop me from doing this. Do yourself a favor and watch it! Even the worms have a happy moment! Believe me, those hangovers are REAL!

We learn the Barley is the most prolific grain at converting its starches into sugar to make alcohol because it has a high level of enzymes and that it is an easy plant to grow not being much affected by cold, drought, or poor soil conditions. This book goes into meticulous detail in listing all the plants, trees, herbs, nuts, flowers, spices and pretty much anything else that has ever been fermented and distilled to make alcohol. Stewart tells how agaves are harvested, what that flavor in Amaretto di Saronno is (nope, not almonds), what kind of bugs find their way into what liquour and gives comparison charts for the multiples of say, violet liqueurs. This isn't just a gathering of dry facts though; when something is badly made Stewart tells you.The second part delves into the plants that are added for flavoring or the like, and these are organized by: 1.) herbs and spices, 2.) flowers, 3.) trees, 4.) fruit, and 5.) nuts and seeds. And then there's proper tonic water: "proper tonic water, made with actual cinchona bark and real Saccharum officinarum, not that artificial junk... Amy Stewart has a way of making gardening seem exciting, even a little dangerous.” — The New York Times