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The bible for every aspiring sommelier and for enthusiasts of Italy’s most iconic beverage: wine.

A comprehensive manual that covers every aspect, from viticulture to oenology, from national and international wine geography to tasting. It serves as an indispensable resource for studying the sommelier profession in Italy and around the world.

Vaccarini’s volume allows readers to acquire a well-rounded technical and cultural knowledge not only about the world of wine, but also about other beverages that accompany meals. The new sommelier, as interpreted by modern dining, must also be able to understand and pair food with spirits, liqueurs, infusions, or mineral waters.

With forewords by William Wouters, President of ASI – Association de la Sommellerie Internationale, and Marco Gatti, food and wine journalist and critic.

How do colours affect the creation of a cocktail and how should they be balanced in a glass? In this book, the “spice master bar-lady” explains the secret colour combinations in contemporary mixology.

Describing a watermelon magenta, a basil green, a lemon yellow, a liquorice black, a strawberry red or a chocolate brown is easy because their names describe the expectations you’ll have when tasting them. However, everyone has their own imagery of a sky blue, therefore the author tries to make it objective by creating a sky-blue cocktail that anyone can recognize.

Here cocktails are conceived between stills, mortars, scales, stoves, ampoules, decorated vases filled with cardamom, nutmeg, ginger and many other elements of unconventional concoctions. In this manual, the author explains how to make a cocktail starting from the colour taken from natural ingredients and food colourings to create a new drink that can stimulate discerning consumers.

99 well-known cocktails are present, which have been reinterpreted by the author, complete with photographs and a technical preparation sheet.

Edited by Federico Mastellari, this edition has been updated to the official IBA 2023 list, with the most well-known, successful, and appreciated cocktails by the International Bartending Association, but also the great drinks left off the list.

The book is divided into three sections: the first two sections collect all the information a bartender should know to mix and make a cocktail (spirits and other ingredients, equipment, glasses, cocktail construction techniques and “homemade” preparations from raw materials).

The third section is the core of the book: a description sheet is given for each cocktail, showing photos of the drink, historical notions, the official IBA 2023 recipe, the recipe with products and balances suggested by the author, the description of the preparation and tips not to be missed, the alcohol content and the flavour.

The photographs have always been edited by Felix Reed, one of the 200 best advertising photographers in the world.

Here is the world of coffee from A to Z for professionals and demanding consumers, with every phase of the production and roasting process up to technical tasting and cupping detailed by a stand-out figure in the industry.

The book is divided into sections packed with photos, illustrations, infographics and focus call-outs, providing plenty of information on the product and the figures involved in the coffee supply chain: producers, traders, roasters, baristas and specialty baristas.

The first part of the book draws on the author’s real-life plantation experiences to detail the journey from the coffee plant seed to the harvest, the coffee’s classification, the journey to the countries where the coffee is consumed and the lesser-known aspects of cultivation. This is the culture of Specialty, or high-traceability coffee.

The second part of the book looks at the more technical aspects of coffee: defect analysis, roasting, tasting techniques and elements of sensory analysis, standard and alternative extraction techniques. Subjects such as latte art and vegetable drinks are also touched upon.

As well as being the cornerstone of Italian mixing, the Americano is also the most popular drink of all times. Here, its mysterious origins are explored, as well as the legends and anecdotes that have made it an icon, along with the twists of famous bartenders.

So many stories and recipes go into one glass of this iconic cocktail. The Americano wins over the most diverse palates thanks to its bittersweet taste coming from a blend of two Italian giants, namely Vermouth and Campari. The Americano has a long and exciting history that the authors have retraced thanks to historical documents and recipes, in order to share it with the world of bartending. When did the Americano really arrive in Italy? De Roberto mentioned it in his 1895 book on love, talking about “a kind of vermouth-bitters-soda water that whets the appetite and sets up digestion.”

This book is the story of the first mixed drink in Italy, which later gave rise to other cocktails such as the Negroni and the Negroni Sbagliato. After an absorbing historical journey, the focus shifts to the basic recipe of this iconic cocktail and then goes into detail with variations by national and international bartenders, making the book a must for cocktail amateurs and professionals alike. Learn everything about this traditional Italian drink – the symbol of the Italian aperitif.

Mixology is an up-to-date guide to the world of cocktails. It has everything you need to know about what’s new while building your awareness of the classics. It is, in short, a bartender’s bible.
Mixology consists of two parts. The first tells you what you need to know in order to understand a cocktail: the taste, the ice and the mixing technique. The second part is packed with over one thousand recipes ranging from past classics to present trends as well as contemporary classics. Each recipe provides step-by-step instructions on how to handle and prepare your own ingredients, choose the best tools and combine flavours to revisit and try new combinations.

Let this book guide you into the past and present of the most aristocratic of all beverages.

Grappa used to be the most plebeian of all pomace brandies and possibly the oldest, too. Then its charm began to shine through and since then, it has been the most aristocratic of all distilled beverages. Since strict regulations protecting the production and labelling of grappa have yet to be defined, the writers of this book have gone the extra mile and done all the work for us to help us find the real deal among the countless varieties available on the market. Everything in this book is thoroughly documented and proven. Interviews, comparisons and in-depth research involving the historic Italian producers of grappa make this book a real guide into the past and present of this sought-after liquor.

Nel costante sforzo di rinnovare le competenze del sommelier, in questo suo nuovo volume Giuseppe Vaccarini spalanca le porte alla birra, valutandola sotto l’aspetto della degustazione e dell’abbinamento con il cibo. Il manuale della birra è un indispensabile testo di riferimento per i professionisti del settore ristorativo e uno straordinario strumento di promozione e valorizzazione della birra quale bevanda che può contribuire ai piaceri della tavola.

Un manuale per la formazione e la conoscenza approfondita delle tematiche oggetto della professionalità di un sommelier, professionalità sempre più richiesta dai consumatori e clienti finali che hanno fatto diventare il consumo delle bevande un atto ben preciso. I contenuti aggiornati e l’esperienza degli autori rendono il manuale particolarmente adatto a tutti gli amatori del mondo del vino e delle bevande che desiderano acquisire un bagaglio di conoscenze e competenze specifiche. Gli argomenti pratici, grazie all’uso di immagini, sono trattati con scorrevolezza e consentono un approccio immediato a chi vuole avvicinarsi a questo mondo divenuto ormai centro degli eventi quotidiani dell’enogastronomia. L’uso equilibrato delle nozioni tecniche lo rendono di sicuro riferimento, di positiva fruibilità e di agevole consultazione.