Drinks: Books for tipplers

The bookshelf is heavy this year. Here are some gifts for your imbibing associates, each to be enjoyed with a good drink at hand.

You'll be sipping along with "The Oxford Companion to Beer" (Oxford, $65), edited by Brooklyn Brewery's Garrett Oliver; it's an authoritative work that's also a lot of fun. Dip in anywhere and savor. For devotees, it's the book of the year.

And to ensure you have something to nibble, there's DK Publishing's "Ultimate Food Journeys" (DK Eyewitness Travel, $40), to guide you from dim sum in Hong Kong to deli in New York. Small world, big plate.