Product Review

Pub crawl your way through the sacred seasons with this entertaining and useful collection of cocktail recipes, distilled spirits, beer, and wine for virtually every occasion on the Catholic liturgical calendar. One part bartender's guide, one part spiritual manual, a dash of irreverence, and mixed with love: Drinking with the Saints is a work that both sinner and saint will savor.

You may think you're savy on saintly drinking, but did you know: 

• Beer may have been invented by the ancient Egyptians, but it was perfected in medieval monasteries?
• The méthode champenoise was invented by a Benedictine monk whose name now adorns one of the world's finest champagnes: Dom Pérignon. According to the story, when he sampled his first batch, Pérignon cried out to his fellow monks: “Brothers, come quickly. I am drinking stars!"
• Whiskey was invented by Irish monks, who probably shared their knowledge with the Scots during their missions. Whiskey was first prescribed medicinally as a cure for “paralysis of tongue," and apparently it works: no Irishman since has ever been accused of having a paralyzed tongue.
• Chartreuse, the world's most magical liqueur, was perfected by Carthusian monks and is still made by them. Only two monks at a time know the recipe.
• The California wine industry began when Blessed Junípero Serra and his Franciscan brethren brought the first wine grapes to the region. And its rebirth in Napa County after Prohibition was thanks in large part to a chemistry teacher and LaSalle Christian Brother named Brother Timothy...