Al’s little books series

Al’s Little Book of Tavern Drinks

Featuring over twenty recipes spanning the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century. These include four beer cocktails, two flips, three punches, a hot buttered rum and a hot apple toddy, six members of the toddy-sling-cocktail family, and three temperance beverages. There’s also a robust “preparing the pantry section with all kinds of syrups, infusions, and the like, including cranberry shrub, ginger-molasses syrup, and peach-infused brandy. I added a “library” section to this one with eight books I come back to again when researching this period with little write-ups about each one.

Second edition will be available in November 2026.

Al’s Little Book of Holiday Drinks

The new-and-improved second edition of my little book. The first edition was such a hit last year that I wanted to expand it to include new recipes and a more effective approach to some of the sections where there is a central process with variations on classic large-format recipes (punch, eggnog, and Tom & Jerry).

I’ve increased the total number of recipes from 15 in the first edition to 26! I also reformatted to group by category rather than time period—except the medieval/tudor! had to keep that, of course.

Will be doing another print run of the second edition available in December 2026.