This concise, yet comprehensive introduction to the history, science and varieties of alcoholic beverages includes an anecdotal history of alcoholic beverages and their cultural influences. The user-friendly approach offers a unique presentation of wines, beers and spirits: wines are taught by the grapes from which the wines are made; the study of beers is differentiated by the type of yeast used in fermentation; and the approach to studying spirits is broken into aged and non-aged and fruit or grain-based.