Echo Spring is the liquor cabinet in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ….here’s three different books about ‘liquor’ from finding wine, the story of gin, to writing, drinking and creativity.

French savant Guy Debord: “I have written much less than most writers,” he said, with pride, “but I have drunk much more than most drinkers.”

The trip to Echo Spring: on writers and drinking by Olivia Laing

Why is it that some of the greatest works of literature have been produced by writers in the grip of alcoholism, an addiction that cost them personal happiness and caused harm to those who loved them? In ‘The Trip to Echo Spring’, Olivia Laing examines the link between creativity and alcohol through the work and lives of six extraordinary men: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever and Raymond Carver

Gin glorious gin: how mother’s ruin became the spirit of London by Olivia Williams

In and out of both legality and popularity, gin is the only drink to be simultaneously shorthand for metropolitan glamour and alcoholic squalor. It crosses paths with all professions and cuts through class: from writers and artists to politicians, scientists, royalty, gin is a great leveller. ‘Gin Glorious Gin’ is funny, quirky, interesting, informative and full of famous names – Dickens to Churchill, Hogarth to Hemingway – as well as providing an entertaining account of the role gin has played in the history of the city of London

The knackered mother’s wine club: everything you need to know about wine – and much, much more by Helen McGinn

Do you frequently panic in the wine aisle and end up reaching for the same old thing. Every. Single. Time? Simply pick the bottle with the nicest-looking label? Automatically pick the second-cheapest wine on the wine list? Feel it may be time to extend your wine horizons beyond Pinot Grigio? If this is you, then you need to join the Knackered Mother’s Wine Club. Come and explore the wonderful world of wine