A Good Pre-Holiday Read for the Thirsty

Even non-foodies like to pick up culinary glossies during the holiday season, and even if you're not a foodie-mag-reading type of guy or gal, I highly recommend perusing a copy of this month's Imbibe. I found it at Liberty Books and News, (whose periodical selection is incredible) but it's also available at Borders and Barnes & Noble. It's filled to the brim not only with guides to spirited holiday cocktails, but also with interesting roundups of products like coffees, tea infusers, even the history of the egg cream soda, a New York classic. (Which, interestingly enough, contains neither egg nor cream. Knowing this seemingly useless tidbit of information gave me the edge I needed to win an uber-competitive Trivial Pursuit game once. Perhaps this is another good reason to read Imbibe.)

Here's a few other things you'll find in the November/December issue:
-A "how-to" guide to Irish coffee
-A taste test of seven premium drinking chocolates
-A recipe for Guinness chocolate cupcakes
-Five affordable champagne alternatives