Drinking with the Saints, Michael P. Foley, Four Stars

The book basically combines a Lives of the Saints with a cocktail recipe book. It is written from a very Catholic perspective, yet Foley maintains a wry, sometimes even impious sense of humor. His descriptions and recommendations for beers and wines are extraordinary, he clearly knows his subject both broadly and deeply. For instance, when I used to live in Munich, one of my favorite breweries was Ettaler, but this was not even widely available through all of Germany, much less in lands abroad. Yet Foley mentions it and describes it accurately. He gives a great many cocktail recipes too; while there are plenty of sweet examples, it seems pretty clear that Foley himself is not a drinker of the sweet stuff, preferring bitter or citrus-flavored cocktails. 
I wonder about the choice of his style. He could have tried to make this an inclusive work, basing drink ideas and recipes around the calendar of the saints, but in a way to introduce them to non-Catholics in a friendly and open way. However, he cannot seem to help taking witty jabs at Protestants, Muslims, and others, and proclaiming forth Catholic stances on a variety of issues. This ought to be well-received by at least the Catholic audience, but the impiety of Foley's humor might well turn off the sterner sort. Especially as Foley relies on a pre-Vatican II calendar and an older translation of the Bible, one would think he would at least want to appeal to the Opus Dei crowd. It seems that he instead left himself with a pretty small cross section of committed Catholics but with a sense of self-deprecating humor. A pity, given the quality of his drink advice and recipes. Anyway, if you can stomach the saints part of the work, I think you will find the drinking part of it truly outstanding.