In the past few decades, many of us have become sophisticated about food, but we have not given the same attention to what we drink. In How to Drink, Victoria Moore aims to redress the balance, by showing how to drink well throughout the seasons and at all times of day.

She explains how to make the most delicious coffee and juices; how to choose wine that complements your food; and how to make cocktails for every occasion–whether to serve a garden barbecue, as a cold weather aperitif, or just to unwind with at the end of the day.

Here are recipes for mint juleps in the spring, sloe gin in the autumn, hot buttered rum in the winter, and year-round showstoppers including the world’s best gin and tonic. Moore is also an impassioned advocate of unfairly maligned drinks such as sherry, Campari and saki, and gives fascinating historical background on different spirits as well as invaluable advice on creating your home bar.

How to Drink is a hugely readable, browseable and authoritative handbook, whose aim is to inform, entertain and crucially, make sure you can find the right drink at the right time.

“It doesn’t need to be either difficult or expensive to drink as well as you eat, it just requires a little care…”

“A splendid book. Victoria Moore is quite right–it’s not how much you drink but how you drink.” –Fergus Henderson, chef and co-owner, St. Johns Restaurant

“I loved How to Drink. For the first time in years I have broken open a bottle of vodka for a Bloody Mary, remembered how much better mulled cider is than mulled wine, drawn a fresh kettle for tea…” –Joanna Weinberg, author of How to Feed Your Friends with Relish

“Anyone who loves their food should heed this unmatchable tutorial in the art of enjoying drink; Victoria Moore succinctly puts every sip in lively context, banishing the guilt from the pleasure of it all.” –Rose Prince, author of The New English Kitchen