British beer writer Martyn Cornell has carefully researched 28 short (7- to 8-page) articles about beer in the 19th and 20th centuries. Although most of the stories in Strange Tales of Ale ($20, Amberley Publishing) are about beer in England, they are well-written and accessible to a North American audience. Cornell certainly knows his history... View Article
With picturesque beaches and tourist traffic, Southeast Asia is ripe for beer exploration. In his e-book Beer Guide to Vietnam and Neighbouring Countries ($9.99, Vulkan), Jonathan Gharbi brings undoubted enthusiasm to the project of cataloging Vietnam’s beer scene. During the two years that he was working in Vietnam as a state employee, Gharbi became such... View Article
If you think about Denmark, then you probably imagine stylish design, innovative architecture or perhaps high-end Bang & Olufsen sound systems. However, when it came to beer, Denmark was for many years represented by two big global brands, Carlsberg and Tuborg, both of which produced rather bland lagers. It was partly in reaction to the... View Article
Can’t find time to brew? Yeah, we’ve all been there. From that sneering, 2-month-old yeast starter languishing in the fridge, to the perfect Oktoberfest recipe wistfully begging to be brewed as July turns to August, it’s just one of those aggravations of homebrewing. If that obstacle stares you down more often than not, then consider... View Article
The biggest problem with the present overabundance of books appealing to beer’s ever-growing audience is that many don’t seem to have figured out whom they’re talking to. Following the formula that was scratched onto the walls when Michael Jackson named the planets and distorted over the decades by Chinese whispers, you often find obligatory sections... View Article
As craft beer mania rolls on, so, too, does the deluge of beer primers. Primers are textbooks, educational guides written to tutor readers in the basics of craft beer culture. Primers cover beer styles (in all their irritating multiplicity), flavors and tastes; glassware; IBUs, BJCP and ABV; food pairings, etc. Peruse a primer and you,... View Article
Brewing Porters and Stouts (Skyhorse Publishing, Paperback, $16.95, 224 pp) is a love story. But not for the romantic or faint of heart. It is a rigorous and passionate investigation into the life of porters and stouts. Foster is the perfect person for this subject. He combines a scientist’s rigor for data with a beer lover’s passion... View Article
There comes a point in most homebrewers’ lives when they just want to step out from under the elementary brewing techniques. Perhaps this means moving from extract to all-grain. The change in processes seems relatively straightforward, but the results fail to meet expectations. Maybe they want to nail the perfect IPA or re-create something encountered... View Article
More than a half-dozen years ago, Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson paused in the middle of a conversation about the relationship between agriculture and beer and nodded toward Eric Toft, a Wyoming native who has brewed beer in Bavaria for more than 20 years. He said he wished he could be “as connected as [Toft]... View Article
