Wine Enthusiast magazine, the country's top tour guide when it comes to the vino lifestyle, is lending its expertise to the world of booze, with a crash-course pocket guide that promises to tell you "everything you need to know" about spirits.

Well, not everything. "The Pocket Guide to Spirits" (Running Press, $7.95) contains no spirits recommendations, which you might be expecting to find if you've ever read Wine Enthusiast. So you won't necessarily know which whiskey to buy when you walk into the state store. That's what Wine Enthusiast's Web site, winemag.com, is for, I guess, with its online spirits ratings and buying guides.

But what the booklet lacks in advice it makes up for with a concise history of the primary spirits categories -- white spirits such as vodka and gin, whiskeys, brandies, and liqueurs and bitters -- and a handy glossary, plus some advice on cocktails and tastings.

The guide is at its most informative when it dives into history -- the post-World War II creation of the happy hour, for example: "This national phenomenon was a two-hour buffer zone that eased the middle class from the eight-hour workday into the recreational pleasures of the evening." Who created the single-column still? Where was gin invented? What's the difference between cognac and armagnac?

It would have been the perfect stocking stuffer, slender as it is, but alas, Christmas was two months ago, and we discovered the book justthis month. But it fits just as neatly in your glove compartment or desk drawer. If you're just getting into spirits, keep it nearby.

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