Book – Craft Beer For The People
Authors – Richard Taylor with James Watt and Martin Dickie
Year – 2017
Pages – 233
Genre – Non-Fiction
Bought for me by Alex
Lockdown bought many different new hobbies for people across the country, and in typically healthy fashion, one of my big ones was craft beer. I signed up to a subscription service – Beer52 – to receive a monthly box of interesting beers from around the world, and even invested in a beer fridge to keep them all cool. Cool being the main word here. I am cool.
So it was great to get at Christmas last year this book from Alex (which incidentally, she bought in a BrewDog bar. When the barman asked her what she wanted and she replied “A book please.” I think he was suitably confused.) This book was written about the rise of what has become the biggest of the independent breweries in the country, and charts how they started and developed their signature beers, before becoming an excellent starter guide for a new beer enthusiast. It explains how to best taste a new beer (protip: breathe in before drinking some, then after you swallow exhale through the nose. I read this here, tried it, and it works every time), what the difference is between all of the overwhelming number of beers that you might encounter, and even delves into the brewing process to tell you a little about how it is all done. Along with the Punk IPA brewing kit Alex also got me (which yielded impressive results even if I do say so myself!), this proved to be a really good introduction to the craft beer world. One of the benefits of writing this so long after having read it is that I can say with absolute honesty that I have really appreciated so many of the things I have learned in this book which I have been able to look back on as I try new and interesting drinks.
9/10