• 1011 K Street, Downtown Sacramento, CA 95814
  • (916) 492-6657
  • Mon-Sat: 10 am – 6 pm Sun: 11 am – 4 pm

Shake Strain Done: Craft Cocktails at Home

by | Dec 2, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Entertainer, For the Gentleman, For the Home Chef, For the Wine/Cocktail Lover

Shake Strain Done: Craft Cocktails at Home
J. M. Hirsch
$25.00

Are you done with generic gin and tonics, mediocre Manhattans and basic martinis? You can use pantry staples and basic liquors to produce more than 200 game-changing craft cocktails worthy of a seat at the bar.

Many cocktail books call for hard-to-find ingredients and complicated techniques that can frustrate home cocktail makers. Shake Strain Done shows a better way:

  • If you can shake, strain, stir and turn on a blender, you can make great cocktails.
  • No tedious secondary recipes hidden between the lines.
  • No mysteries. You’ll know what each drink will taste like before you pick up a bottle.
  • No fancy equipment needed. A shaker, strainer and spoon are as exotic as it gets.
  • The ingredients are mostly pantry and bar staples–things you already have on hand.

Every drink is rated by its characteristics — Warm, Refreshing, Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Fruity, Herbal, Creamy, Spicy, Strong and Smoky — to help expand your horizons and find more drinks to love.

These are drinks with the sophistication of a high-end speakeasy, minus the fuss, like:

  • The Sazerac 2.0 – a spice cabinet update that takes the classic back to its origins
  • A new White Russian that lightens the load with coconut water instead of cream
  • A grownup Singapore Sling that’s fruity without tasting like fruit punch
  • A Scorched Margarita that uses the broiler to char those lemons and limes
  • A feisty new Gin and Tonic in which black pepper is the star ingredient
  • And plenty of originals, like the Pooh Bear. Butter, honey and bourbon? Yes, please! And Mistakes Were Made, for tiki time
PURCHASE

Tequila & Tacos: A Guide to Spirited Pairings

by | Nov 16, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Gentleman, For the Wine/Cocktail Lover

Tequila & Tacos: A Guide to Spirited Pairings
Katherine Cobbs
$19.99

Tacos have been trending for years, and finally tequila is having its taco moment. While a crunchy, savory beef taco washed down with a frozen margarita is always acceptable, today the inspired options for what can be stuffed in an edible wrapper or blended with agave spirits are infinite.

Behind the bar, the burgeoning array of top-shelf tequilas and mezcals available hold their own—and even outshine—liquor mainstays like vodka, gin, and bourbon. The ubiquitous tequila shot with requisite salt and lime chaser can’t compete with the complex, nuanced flavors of the finely crafted blanco, reposado, and añejo tequilas and smoky mezcals that deserve sipping and savoring.

Featuring authentic classics like Tacos Al Pastor and Baja-style fish tacos, Tequila & Tacos also includes entirely new spins on the taco—such as fried Brussels sprout tacos, spicy cauliflower tacos in Indian paratha shells, or tempura-battered seaweed tacos cradling ahi tuna—paired with uncannily delicious cocktails crafted with the finest agave spirits, like a traditional tart Paloma cocktail rimmed with spiced salt or an eye-opening Mezcal Manhattan. Curated from bars and taco stands around the country, this book is a must-have for the taco and tequila aficionado.

PURCHASE

Telephone Tales

by | Nov 16, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Gentleman, Stocking Stuffers

Telephone Tales
Gianni Rodari
27.95

Every night, at nine o’clock, wherever he is, Mr. Bianchi, an accountant who often has to travel for work, calls his daughter and tells her a bedtime story. But since it’s still the 20th century world of pay phones, each story has to be told in the time that a single coin will buy.

Reminiscent of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights, Gianni Rodari’sTelephone Tales is composed of many stories––in fact, seventy short stories, with one for each phone call. Each story is set in a different place and a different time, with unconventional characters and a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy. One night, it’s a carousel so beloved by children that an old man finally sneaks on to understand why, and as he sails above the world, he does. Or, it’s a land filled with butter men, roads paved with chocolate, or a young shrimp who has the courage to do things in a different way from what he’s supposed to do.

Awarded the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1970, Gianni Rodari is widely considered to be Italy’s most important children’s author of the 20th century. Newly re-illustrated by Italian artist Valerio Vidali (The Forest), Telephone Tales entertains, while questioning and imagining other worlds.

PURCHASE

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition

by | Nov 3, 2020 | 2020 Gift Guide, For the Gentleman, For the Wine/Cocktail Lover

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition
Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark
$99.99

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter graphic novel debuted in July 2008 to instantaneous popular and critical acclaim. It made the New York Times bestseller list and won coveted Eisner and Harvey awards. The second graphic novel, The Outfit, was released in 2010 and was met with similar response, and won the 2011 Eisner for Best Writer/Artist.

The Hunter and The Outfit tell the story of Parker, Richard Stark’s classic anti-hero, as he returns to New York to settle the score with his wife and partner in crime after they betray him in a heist gone terribly wrong. After evening the field and reclaiming his prize, the Outfit decide to do some score settling of their own… and learn much too late that when you push a man like Parker, it had better be all the way to the grave.

Also contains the short stories The Man With the Getaway Face and The Seventh.

PURCHASE