Pattie Vargas

A nicely packaged resource. I'm a little taken aback by how many recipes are of the quick and dirty variety- meaning they substitute extracts for actual fruit. That doesn't seem to me to be what the target audience for this particular recipe book would want- I think cordial makers are more likely to be purists, persons motivated by wanting to give a heartfelt, homemade gift. Some of the recipes are intriguing enough that it went on my cookbook shelf for next summer's fruit harvest.

This book is filled with a lot of unique recipes, but I found most of them to be either too adventurous to try or too reliant on honey. Definitely try this out if you're into things like cornmeal wine or beet wine or any kind of mead.

This is not a bad book for home brewing. My only problem is that written for 1 gallon batches. Plus they rely on adjuncts such as tea and lemon to adjust the chemistry of the must.

There are a bunch of interesting ideas, but it should not be your first book for making wine and mead.