The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
6 books for the beer lover on your gift list
The holidays are just around the corner. While beer is the obvious gift for that beer lover in your life — something to impress, like a winter seasonal or other specialty brew — you might consider giving them one of the many stellar beer books that debuted in 2017. Here are a few favorites.
One of this year’s best was “Beer is for Everyone! Of Drinking Age” (One Peace, $19), written by my friend Em Sauter. She works for a brewery in Connecticut but also uses her cartooning skills to do comic strip-style beer reviews on her blog, Pints and Panels. In the book, she did all-new beer reviews and peppered it with lots of clever offhand wisdom, history and basics on brewing.
A fun overview of international beers is “Best Beers” (Mitchell Beazley, $17) by Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb, who also wrote “The World Atlas of Beer.” Their pocket guide is a slim volume that includes short reviews of over 2,000 beers written by them and over 30 colleagues, including me. They also share picks for can’t-miss breweries and new breweries to watch.
For the history buff on your list, there’s Pete Brown’s “Miracle Brew” (Chelsea Green, $20), which takes a fresh look at beer history through its primary ingredients — barley, hops, water and yeast. Brown details the history of those primary ingredients and how they’re grown, harvested and processed to be used in making beer.
If your history buff wants to go even further back, there’s “Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created,” by Patrick E. McGovern. McGovern is an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. “Best Beers” by Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb offers a fun overview of beers from around the world.