Booze for Free

Some guys have all the luck. Andy Hamilton has 'road tested' over 100 DIY drinks - many of them pleasantly alcoholic- to be made from the plants of the garden, hedge, field and wood, and has brought the results to the pages of his Booze for Free. The result is a home imbiber's delight, full of lore, sense, entertainment, humour, botany, history and tongue-tantalizing recipes. Hamilton has that wholly underrated, but absolutely essential skill in a practical matters, of writing with pure clarity and absolute readability. His recipes won't let you down. You may fall down after sampling some of the stronger brews, but that's another matter -- John Lewis-Stempel, author of THE WILD LIFE: A YEAR LIVING ON WILD FOOD For those who give a damn about the planet but still want to enjoy a beautifully crafted pint of the finest, Booze for Free is absolutely compulsory reading. Slainte Andy -- Mark Boyle, author of THE MONEYLESS MAN Wow... it's brilliant! So many mouthwateringly delicious ideas and recipes!... But this is so much more than a 'recipe' book. Packed with fascinating and useful information about the world of foraging, not to mention a good pinch of humour, it makes me want to abandon life as I know it -- Brigit Strawbridge, star of `It's Not Easy Being Green' Booze for Free is a book-of-the year contender... a book which I'll be reading again and again (trying out recipes and techniques as I go along), and you'd have to be drunk not to want to do the same! * www.realepicurean.com * Andy's book reveals the treasure trove in our hedgerows, fields and woodlands -- Kate Humble