By Stephen Harrod Buhner. Although many of us may be tempted to only read the chapter on "psychotropic and highly inebriating beers," this whole book is a trove of information on offbeat, historical, and indigenous fermented beverages. Buhner traces the threads between the traditional indigenous beers, wines, and meads of Asia, Africa, and the Americas and the medieval European beginnings of brewing as we know it. Includes recipes for things like chicha (saliva-mashed corn beer), chang (Himalayan millet beer), nwenge (banana beer from Kenya), as well as a variety of ales made from a range of plants, trees, and herbs. 534 pages.