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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