Table of Contents

Foreword xvii

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You’re Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part I: Getting a Taste of Beer 3

Part II: Taking a Look at Beer Styles — Old, New, and Revived, Too 3

Part III: Buying and Enjoying Beer 4

Part IV: Exploring Beer around the World and at Home 4

Part V: The Part of Tens 5

Part VI: Appendixes 5

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 6

Part I: Getting a Taste of Beer 7

Chapter 1: Drink Up! Beginning with Beer Basics 9

Introducing Beer’s Building Blocks 10

Surveying Different Styles of Beer 11

Ales versus lagers 12

Hybrid and specialty beers 12

Shopping for and Savoring Beer 13

Buying beer 13

Serving and tasting beer 13

Dining with beer 14

Cooking with beer 14

Taking a Tour of Beers around the Globe 15

North America 15

Europe, Asia, and beyond 16

Brewing Your Own Beer 16

Chapter 2: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous: Beer Ingredients 17

Barley: Cereal for Beer, Not for Breakfast 18

Hops: Flowers for Flavor and Aroma 19

Getting to know top hops 20

Hopping for bitterness, aroma, and more 21

Yeast: A Fungus Is Among Us 21

Water: A Big Influence on Beer 23

Wing of Bat, Eye of Newt: Adjuncts You May Love or Hate 24

Chapter 3: A Little Brew Magic: Understanding How Beer Is Made 25

Kettles, Tuns, and Tanks: Brewing Equipment 26

Ale Alchemy: The Brewing Process 27

Malting 28

Milling 29

Mashing 29

Boiling 30

Fermenting 31

Aging 31

Packaging 32

Cleaning 33

Part II: Taking a Look at Beer Styles — Old, New, and Revived, Too 35

Chapter 4: Getting to Know the Mother Beer Categories: Ales, Lagers, and More 37

Two Big Branches on the Beer Family Tree: Distinguishing Ales and Lagers 37

Yeast makes the beer 38

You can taste the difference, sometimes 38

Old-School Beer: Understanding Ales 40

The “New” Beer on the Block: Getting Familiar with Lagers 41

Mixed Up: Taking Note of Hybrid Beers 42

Warm fermentations with lager yeast 42

Cold fermentations with ale yeast 43

Everything but the Kitchen Sink: Looking at Specialty Beers 43

The Anatomy of Beer Styles: Examining the Traits of Different Beers 44

Defining beer styles with three parameters 45

Using a few tasting terms 46

Crafting great beers 46

Style Is Everything: Listing Common Beer Styles 47

Ales 48

Lagers 54

Hybrid beers 56

Specialty beers 57

Chapter 5: Investigating “Real” Ale 59

Understanding What Makes Ale “Real” 59

Starting the Real Ale Journey in Casks 61

A barrel of fun: Checking out the parts of a cask 61

Sizing up the situation: Pins, firkins, kilderkins, and beyond 62

Refining and Conditioning Real Ale 63

Let me make this perfectly clear: Clarifying with finings 64

From the spile file: Letting real ale breathe 65

Dispensing Real Ale 66

Pulling real ale through a beer engine 66

Using a tap for gravity dispense 68

CAMRA: Campaign for Real Ale 69

Chapter 6: Exploring Barrel-Aged and Wood-Aged Beer 71

Differentiating Between “Barrel-Aged” and “Wood-Aged” 71

Figuring Out Which Wood Is Best 72

Choosing new or used barrels 73

Opting for oak 73

Creating new beer flavors with old barrel flavors 74

Marking Some Milestones in the Aging Process 76

Checking the beer’s oxidation 76

Deciding whether to let the beer sour 77

Blending beers from two or more barrels 80

Chapter 7: Diving In to Extreme Beer 81

What Makes a Beer “Extreme”? 81

Bigger body 82

Bolder flavor 82

Higher alcohol content 83

Monastic Brews: The Original Extreme Beers 85

The origins of Dubbels, Tripels, and Quadrupels 85

The creation of Doppelbock 86

If It’s Imperial, It Rules: Intensifying Beer Styles for a Bigger Punch 87

Beer Wars: My Beer Is More Extreme than Yours 88

Stealing attention away from other brews with zanier names 88

One-upping the competition with wackier packaging 89

The Future of Extreme Beers 90

Chapter 8: Checking Out Organic, Gluten-Free, and Kosher Beer 93

Natural Selection: Organic Beer 93

In the beginning: The rise of organic beer 93

Sorting through organic beer certifications 94

Why go organic? Help the environment — drink a beer! 95

Organic movement: A list of organic beers 96

Some Hope for People with Celiac Disease: Gluten-Free Beer 98

The gluten-free gang: Grains and starches used in gluten-free beer 99

Free of gluten but full of flavor: A list of gluten-free beers 100

Following the Law: Kosher Beer 101

Figuring out what qualifies as kosher 102

Everything’s kosher: A list of kosher beers 103

Part III: Buying and Enjoying Beer 105

Chapter 9: The Better Way to Buy Beer 107

Cans, Bottles, Growlers, and Kegs: Deciding on Your Container of Choice 107

Doing the cancan 108

Opting for bottles 109

Going for growlers 109

Kicking it with kegs 110

Purchase or Perish: Looking for the Freshest Beer 113

Knowing that time isn’t on your side 113

Aging beer like fine wine — but only in a few special cases 114

Staying away from beer left out of the cold 115

Avoiding the light 115

Checking out the store scene before buying 116

Making friends with your local beer retailers 117

Did You Get Burnt? Checking Your Beer at Home 117

Popping your top 117

Battling the oxidation blues 118

Chapter 10: Looking at Label Lunacy and Marketing Mayhem 119

Understanding Labeling Laws 119

Label must-haves 120

The weak, the strong, and the unintelligible: Alcohol content 121

Know-nothing labels: Additives and preservatives 122

The Reinheitsgebot: The German beer purity law 123

Beer Advertising and Marketing 124

Touting nonessential details 124

Invading craft brew territory with stealth micros from megabrewers 126

Getting the lowdown on contract brewing 127

“Guinness Is Good for You”: Nutritional Content 128

Cholesterol and fat free 129

Drink beer, live longer 130

Chapter 11: Serving Beer 133

Choosing a Glass with Class 133

The glass lineup: Basic types of glassware 134

To the next level: Sport drinking tools 138

Let’s get practical: Determining the glasses you really need 140

Pouring It On 141

Knowing the right serving temperature before you pour 141

Deciding whether to tilt or not to tilt 142

Neatness Counts: Cleaning and Storing Glassware 144

Understanding “beer clean” 144

Putting everything away 146

Chapter 12: Making Your Buds Wiser: Tasting and Evaluating Beer 147

Evaluating Beer 1-2-3 (Actually, 1-2-3-4-5) 148

Smell: The Nose Knows 149

Look: You Can’t Judge a Bock by Its Cover 150

Every color in the rainbrew 151

On a clear day 151

A head in the hand 152

Taste: Nuts and Bolts, Malt and Hops 152

Marvelous malt taste 153

Heavenly hops taste 154

Fabulous fermentation 154

Aftertaste: Let it linger 155

Touch: Mouthfeel and Body 156

Reflect: Is the Whole Beer Greater than the Sum of Its Parts? 157

Put Your Tongue to the Test: Recording Your Beer Ratings 158

Rating beer in online forums 159

Maintaining a personal journal 160

Chapter 13: Dining with Beer 161

What a Pair! Making a Match with Beer and Food 161

Guessing at general guidelines 162

Cutting, contrasting, and complementing different flavors 166

Paring down your pairing list 166

Timing Is Everything: Serving Beer for Different Occasions 168

Selecting beers for before and after dinner 168

Serving beer according to the season 169

Chapter 14: Cooking with Beer 171

Using Beer as an Ingredient in Any Dish 171

Knowing when you can (and can’t) use beer in a recipe 172

Choosing the right beer for a recipe 173

Checking Out Great Recipes Featuring Beer as an Ingredient 174

Part IV: Exploring Beer around the World and at Home 187

Chapter 15: Sampling Beer in North America 189

Looking to Beer’s Past in the United States 189

Respecting the elders: Tracing back great U.S brewing traditions 190

Moving on up: The boom in U.S brewing during the 20th century 191

Teaching an old dog new tricks: The rise of small craft brewers 192

Renaissance or revolution? U.S brewing today and tomorrow 194

Howdy, Neighbors! Checking Out the Beer Scene in Canada and Mexico 194

Oh, Canada 195

Down Mexico way 196

Going Where the Beer Is 198

Beer bars 199

Brewpubs 200

Gastropubs 202

Beer dinners 203

Celebrating at North American Beer Festivals 203

Discovering beer festival do’s and don’ts 204

Looking at notable beer festivals in the United States, Canada, and Mexico 206

Exploring North American Beer Museums 207

Chapter 16: Trying Beer in Europe, Asia, and Elsewhere 209

Building Your Own Beer Adventure 210

Exploring Beer in Germany 210

Discovering regional tastes: The north, west, and east 211

Heading south to Bavaria 212

Tapping German shrines, festivals, and museums 214

Looking at Beer in the United Kingdom 216

Biting the bitters in England and Wales 217

Holding strong with Scotland 218

Exploring shrines, festivals, and museums in the United Kingdom 219

Getting a Taste of Ireland 220

Brewing Guinness for the nation 220

Going beyond traditional Dry Stout 221

Checking in to Irish breweries and pubs 221

Sipping Beer in Belgium 222

Trekking for secular brews 222

Marketing Trappist beers and Abbeys 223

Finding the best Belgian shrines, festivals, and museums 223

Checking Out Beer in the Czech Republic 225

Visiting the birthplace of Pilsner 225

Trying other Czech beers 226

Exploring historical Czech beer establishments 226

Finding Noteworthy Beers in Other Corners of the World 227

Austria 227

Denmark 227

The Netherlands 227

Norway 228

Australia and New Zealand 228

Japan 229

Thailand 229

Chapter 17: Embarking on Beer Travel and Tours 231

Keeping a Few Beer-Trekking Tips in Mind before You Leave Home 231

Working Beer into Your Vacation Adventures 233

All together now: Going with tour groups 233

Malty meandering: Unplanned beer adventures 236

Hop Pillows for Everyone! Lodging Near and in Breweries 237

Beer, bed, and breakfast 237

Steep ’n’ sleep, mash ’n’ crash: Spending the night at a brewery 238

Taking a Look at Brewery Tours 240

Touring breweries on your own 241

Trying group bus tours 242

Pedaling your way to Pilsners and Porters: Bike tours 243

Chapter 18: Brewing Beer at Home 247

Getting Started with Homebrewing 248

Supply shopping 249

Pots, buckets, brushes, and such 249

Brew ingredients 253

Department of Sanitation: Keeping Clean During the Brewing Process 256

The importance of sterilizing and sanitizing 256

Soaps for suds 257

General cleaning practices 258

Following Step-by-Step Homebrewing Instructions 258

Ready, set, brew! 259

Fabulous fermentation 262

Bottle it up! 264

Keeping records 268

Stepping Your Brewing Up a Notch 269

New toys: Equipment upgrades 270

Specialty grains 272

Secondary fermentation and the art of siphoning 274

Part V: The Part of Tens 277

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Grow Your Appreciation of Beer 279

Drink Beer with a Purpose 279

Post Beer Reviews Online 280

Maintain a Beer Blog 280

Write a Great Book about Beer 281

Become Beer Educated and Beer Certified 281

Brew Beer at Home 283

Become a Certified Beer Judge 283

Collect Beer-Related Stuff 284

Associate with Others Who Share Your Passion for Beer 284

Go Pro — Brewer, That Is 285

Chapter 20: The Ten Best Beer Cities in the World (And a Few Extras) 287

Munich, Germany 287

Bamberg, Germany 288

Bruges, Belgium 289

Prague, Czech Republic 289

London, England 290

Portland, Oregon, United States 291

Seattle, Washington, United States 291

Denver, Colorado, United States 292

San Francisco, California, United States 293

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States 293

A Few More Great Beer Cities to Consider 294

Chapter 21: The Ten Best Beer Festivals in the World 295

Great American Beer Festival, Denver, Colorado, United States 296

Great Taste of the Midwest, Madison, Wisconsin, United States 296

Oregon Brewers Festival, Portland, Oregon, United States 297

SAVOR, Washington, D.C., United States 297

American Craft Beer Fest, Boston, Massachusetts, United States 298

Mondial de la Bière, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 299

Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany 299

Great British Beer Festival, London, England 300

Zythos Bier Festival, Belgium 300

Poperinge Hop and Beer Festival, Poperinge, Belgium 300

Part VI: Appendixes 301

Appendix A: A Quick Guide to Beer Styles and Stats 303

A Sampling of Beer Styles 303

Gravity and Alcohol Content of Various Beer Styles 308

Ales 309

Lagers 312

Hybrid beers and specialty beers 313

Appendix B: A Short History of Beer (For the True Beer Nut) 315

Beer at the Dawn of Civilization and throughout World History 315

Beer History in the United States 318

Colonial times through the 1800s 318

The Volstead Act 320

Post-Prohibition blues 321

The Contemporary Beer Renaissance in the United States 323

Index 325 

About the Author

Marty Nachel is a beer educator, an award-winning homebrewer, a BJCP Certified Beer Judge, on the panel of professional beer judges at the Great American Beer Festival, and a former beer evaluator at the Beverage Testing Institute. He is also the founder and administrator of the Ale-Conner Beer Certification Program. Steve Ettlinger is the author of seven books, most of which are about food and food-related subjects. His most recent is Twinkie, Deconstructed.