A book at bartime

Booze, glorious booze. How we Londoners love it. Beer, wine, alcopops, cocktails - we'll throw anything down our necks in pursuit of alcoholic nirvana. And at last there's a book which will help us sound slightly more coherent while we do.

Booze - by maverick wine hack Richard Neill - slips into the hefty gap in the market for accessible books about alcohol. For anoraks it ain't, so there's none of the pomposity or just plain daftness of typical drink-related writing (whooshes of hollyhocks, anyone?). Instead, you get witty, practical advice on how to make, taste, mix and generally know lots more about alcohol.

Under chapter headings such as 'Rum: shaking off its navy bell-bottoms', Neill's aim is to pass on expertise to the 'nomadic drinker' (which presumably means someone who'll drink just about anything). His effective descriptions are a godsend for anyone from the shut-eyes-and-point school of wine choosing. How about this for a vision of the Merlot grape: 'the John Candy of the varietal family: a big-hearted cuddly character'? Or this for Chardonnay: 'has the reliability of a Volvo with all the enjoyment of a soft-top MG'?

Neill also crams in plenty of anecdotes and case studies. The account of ongoing brand battles between the Czech and US Budweiser companies is fascinating, and advice on how to buy wedding booze without breaking the bank is invaluable. The only downside are the graphics, which are all a bit Clipart and very disappointing. But hey, I'm sure they look better when you've had a few.