The Everything Beer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Buy and Enjoy the Best Beers-Or Even Brew Your Own (The Everything Series)

Rating:
Summary: So much misinformation it's scary
Review: As a brewer for over 12 years, as well as an experienced beer judge, I must say that I've never seen a WORSE book on the subject.

The author shows an embarassing lack of knowledge of the subject in which he claims to have a passion.

In the Glossary section, on page 301 he refers to Porter as "Almost black, porter is a bitter dark lager." This is not only incorrect (porter is an ale), it doesn't even begin to describe the complexities of this classic English style.

Regarding homebrewing, he suggests that one should never add hops at the beginning of the boil, only in the last 15 minutes or so and makes the claim that hop bitterness is derived only in the last 15 minutes. This, too, is grossly incorrect.

I could continue with a whole litany of things that are just plain wrong with this book. Anyone who tries to learn about beer and the brewing process using the misinformation in this book is going to be sorely disappointed.

The author should be ashamed of himself for writing such nonsense and the publisher should be ashamed for printing it.

Rating:
Summary: The Everything Beer Book
Review: As an avid skier and mountaineer, I do considerable domestic and international travel and drink my fair share of beer in the process. And, I always try to bring a few longnecks back as souveneirs for my pals.

Last year, a friend gave me The Everything Beer Book for my birthday and I was surprised with the wealth of information it provided. As a novice beer drinker with an appreciation for the work that goes into it, I liked the subjects and reability of this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a basic understanding of the history and mechanics of beermaking and beer drinking. I even gave it as a present to my brother's father-in-law, a self-brewer in New Orleans.

That's all.

Rating:
Summary: The Everything Beer Book
Review: As an avid skier and mountaineer, I do considerable domestic and international travel and drink my fair share of beer in the process. And, I always try to bring a few longnecks back as souveneirs for my pals.

Last year, a friend gave me The Everything Beer Book for my birthday and I was surprised with the wealth of information it provided. As a novice beer drinker with an appreciation for the work that goes into it, I liked the subjects and reability of this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a basic understanding of the history and mechanics of beermaking and beer drinking. I even gave it as a present to my brother's father-in-law, a self-brewer in New Orleans.

That's all.

Rating:
Summary: Gets my vote as the *worst* book on beer ever written
Review: Dear lord, where do I begin? This book is just plain awful. There are so much disinformation in one book it is hard to believe it is not some kind of satire of bad beer books. When I read about this book I had to immediately run to the local bookstore to see for myself if it was half as bad as described and low and behold it was even worse! Painfully bad is the glossary section where various beer styles and terms are defined. For example, "porter. Almost black, porter is a bitter dark lager." Um, yeah, right, whatever you say. Or this one, "gravity. A weighing system used to measure the heaviness of a beer. When a beer is said to have gravity, it means it has body and heft. In actuality, it judges the amount of hops in a beer." Ok, that's possibly the stupidest thing I've ever read in ANY beer-related book. And these are not just isolated examples, they just keep going and going like the Energizer bunny. My advice is to avoid this book at all costs. If it is beer knowledge you seek you can do a lot worse and any of the several great beer books written by noted beer author Michael Jackson.

Rating:
Summary: Gets my vote as the *worst* book on beer ever written
Review: Dear lord, where do I begin? This book is just plain awful. There are so much disinformation in one book it is hard to believe it is not some kind of satire of bad beer books. When I read about this book I had to immediately run to the local bookstore to see for myself if it was half as bad as described and low and behold it was even worse! Painfully bad is the glossary section where various beer styles and terms are defined. For example, "porter. Almost black, porter is a bitter dark lager." Um, yeah, right, whatever you say. Or this one, "gravity. A weighing system used to measure the heaviness of a beer. When a beer is said to have gravity, it means it has body and heft. In actuality, it judges the amount of hops in a beer." Ok, that's possibly the stupidest thing I've ever read in ANY beer-related book. And these are not just isolated examples, they just keep going and going like the Energizer bunny. My advice is to avoid this book at all costs. If it is beer knowledge you seek you can do a lot worse and any of the several great beer books written by noted beer author Michael Jackson.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, simplistic but gets you started
Review: There have been some people who have said that this book is too simplistic, and that it has misinformation. That can be true, but this book is a very simple start for beer. Let's face it, the vast majority of beer drinkers aren't brewmasters, or don't know the difference between dry hopping and beechwood aging. For those of you who really want to get started, and learn a little about beer and various points of interest in the beer world. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the write-ups of famous or notable beers, from Yuengling, America's Oldest Brewery, to Anheuser Busch, Americas Largest. This book lays out a beginners plan to whet their appetite. More advanced beer lovers move on.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, simplistic but gets you started
Review: There have been some people who have said that this book is too simplistic, and that it has misinformation. That can be true, but this book is a very simple start for beer. Let's face it, the vast majority of beer drinkers aren't brewmasters, or don't know the difference between dry hopping and beechwood aging. For those of you who really want to get started, and learn a little about beer and various points of interest in the beer world. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the write-ups of famous or notable beers, from Yuengling, America's Oldest Brewery, to Anheuser Busch, Americas Largest. This book lays out a beginners plan to whet their appetite. More advanced beer lovers move on.