Randy Mosher

This book made me really thirsty. Seriously -- it took me over a month to read it, because I couldn't sit down with it without a glass of beer to keep me company. It's impossible to read the lush descriptions of malt and hops without sipping along on something with those flavors.

I learned a lot from this book. I now know why I hate IPAs and why I love nut brown ales. I want to make myself a Black Velvet (a cocktail that's half stout and half champagne). I want to try practically every style show more mentioned in the book at least once.

I was a beer fan already. I may have just turned into a full-on beer geek because of Mosher's writing.

One small complaint, though: in the section on fruity witbiers, Mosher says 'Chick beers' are what beer geeks call these." This implies that a) beer geeks are all male; b) women can't appreciate good beer; and c) male beer geeks are misogynists. Not cool, Mr. Mosher. Not cool at all. show less

I tracked this book after having a beer that was inspired by a Thomas Jefferson recipe. I found a blog post that cited this book as a source of the recipe, so... I admit I don't care much about the recipes. Sacrilege for the home Brewer, but it will never be more than an infrequent hobby for me. I read this, rather, for the history. For instance, we have the Germans to "thank" for first discovering the bottom fermenting yeasts that are used in the nasty species of beer called "lagers", and show more then as immigrants, being responsible for polluting the brewing US with it in the 1840s-1860s (Anheuser and Busch, of course, hailed from Germany.

And for the science. (I thought IBUs were arbitrary like pepper ratings, and not spectrophotometrically determined, though there is a calculation that predicts the IBUs and I suspect most Brewers use it, if they aren't just guessing.)

And for the many nuggets of trivia... I learned what the "wee" in a Scottish Wee Heavy means. This was quite an enlightening book.

Couple of bits to share, of the many... On serving and enjoying beer:

It takes effort to brew your own beer, so you might as well make sure you serve it in the best possible manner. A well-crafted beer, when served at the proper temperature, in the proper glass, with a proper head, can be a thing of wonder.

Spot on.

And this:

The Laws of Aroma in Beer
1. You want some.
2. Use more than you think. It will go away.
3. Complexity is good.
4. Complicated is bad

Life's too short for bad beer. Prost. show less

Randy Mosher is a delightful writer. his descriptions of beer and food couldn't be more passionate. his sense of humor is impeccable. this book is filled with nice charts and pictures of what he calls Breweriana (that is beer's wealth of material culture: labels, glassware, bottles, even brewery floor plans). nice, friendly design. the charts are very entertaining and well made: beer styles by color, bitterness and beer style, there is even a graph of the relationship between original show more gravity and international bitterness units.

although this book is not necessarily aimed at the homebrewer, if you are one, you will enjoy it. the book is aimed at the beer lover in general. it can get very specific at times but it's also an ongoing invitation to try things. the chapter on beer styles has suggestions for commercial brews to try, i feel it could be used as road map on my beer purchases.

i like that Randy is knowledgeable and playful at the same time. he can go from almost reverence to beer styles and the proper way of tasting them and enjoying them to wacky suggestions on mixed beer drinks (there is a recipe for beernog of all things). i like this book a lot. i'm not sure it would be a proper introduction to beer in general -it's not a beginner's book- but i haven't found that book yet and i wouldn't hesitate in recommending it regardless of your level of beer geekiness. show less

I actually do like this book quite a lot. It is well written, with lots of information. I do love the quotes he brings into the book, and this liven it up quite a lot.

While I am not a beer expert, I wonder if the USA is a beer heaven, as he claims. Possibly, yes. The march of tasteless beers due to steady commercialisation is inevitable.

Some of the technical aspects went over my head, and this is the only reason I give it four stars instead of five.

All in all, a really enjoyable book