Drinking in Maine: 50 Cocktails, Concoctions, and Drinks from Our Best Artisanal Producers and Restaurants

Fifty sensational drinks featuring Maine distilled gins, vodkas, and brandies, local honey meads, fruit wines, and heirloom apple ciders--all created by producers and barkeeps from Maine restaurants and bistros. From a piping hot Apple Hot Toddy--featuring Maine mead, gin, and cranberry bitters--from Portland's 555 Restaurant to a cooling fresh take on a favorite summer drink, Back Porch Lemonade--with Cold River Vodka and local ginger beer--from Seagrass Bistro in Yarmouth, you'll find drinks for all seasons and all tastes. Scattered throughout the book are portraits of Maine producers in their own words telling the stories of how they capture a little bit of Maine in what they make. Take Bob Bartlett, who founded Bartlett Maine Estate Winery in 1983: "A lot of people," he recounts in the book, "thought we were nuts when we told them what we were going to make wine in Gouldsboro, Maine. But then when we opened, we had a line of people here out the door and sold out our first wine--3000 bottles of blueberry wine--in a week and a half. Today we make 70 thousand bottles and more than a dozen wines. We're no different than a small California boutique winery, with stainless steel tanks and barrels of French and American oak--and a lot of passion."