To be in the brewing industry means walking a continuously path of discovery. From processes to ingredients, unlocking history, and more cerebral pursuits, there are endless avenues to explore. Over the last several months there have been a number of books released that offer insight or can be inspiring to brewing professionals. From histories that give us context on today, to thoughtful guides, or peeks inside operations, there are a lot of tomes to choose from.
ProBrewer contributor John Holl has put together a list of recent releases that are worth your time and a place on your shelf. In keeping with the spirit of the industry, remember to support independent booksellers and book shops.
Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland
By Dr. Christina Wade
In Filthy Queens, Dr Christina Wade looks at the history of beer alongside some of the biggest events in the story of Ireland. You’ll find an 18th-century courtesan who had a wicked streak of beer snobbery and early medieval monks who wrote beer reviews so terrible, any Untappd fan would feel right at home. There will be beer tastings, parties, music and wakes. You’ll meet thieves and murderers, saints and goddesses. You’ll hear stories of kings and paupers, witches and bishops, Irish, English and Vikings from the Late Iron Age all the way up to the early 20th century. Oh, and don’t forget the zombies. We’ve been drinking beer for millennia, so it’s a perfect way to embrace the past and those who lived in it. In the end, you’ll see that the history of beer is intimately intertwined with the history of us.
The Golden Age of Beer: A 52-Week Guide to the Perfect Beer for Every Week of the Year
by Tom Acitelli
All hail the golden age of beer! Today there are nearly nine thousand breweries in the US alone, brewing an enormous range of styles from imperial stouts to double India pale ales, golden pilsners, briny melon goses, and much more. But while this breadth can delight the taste buds all year, how does one choose what to drink without feeling overwhelmed or defaulting to the same brews again and again?
In this unique volume, acclaimed beer expert Tom Acitelli presents a fifty-two week guide to choosing the perfect beer to complement every week of the year. With tasting notes, brand recommendations, a guide to how to best serve, sip, and savor, plus fascinating backstories and trivia, Acitelli unearths what beer lovers actually care about and reveals how to appreciate the best that the golden age of beer has to offer.
The Golden Age of Beer embraces Acitelli’s inviting, accessible voice and dives into homebrewing, beer icons, today’s industry game-changers, and more. It cuts through the noise and the hype to leave you with a lush, inspiring, and reliable guide for sampling and entertaining all year long.
The Meaning of Beer: How Our Pursuit of the Perfect Pint Built the World
By Jonny Garrett
What’s the oldest and most consumed alcoholic beverage on earth? Beer, of course. And it might just be one of our more important inventions. Since its creation thirteen thousand years ago, our love of beer has shaped everything from religious ceremonies to advertising, and architecture to bioengineering. The people who built the pyramids were paid in ale; the first fridge was built for beer, not food; bacteria was discovered while investigating sour beer; Germany’s beer halls hosted Hitler’s rise to power; and brewer’s yeast may yet be the answer to climate change.
In The Meaning of Beer, award-winning beer writer Jonny Garrett tells the stories of these incredible human moments and inventions, taking readers to some of the best-known beer destinations in the world—Munich and Oktoberfest, Carlsberg Brewery’s historic laboratory, St. Louis and the home of Budweiser—as well as those lesser known, from a five-thousand-year-old brewery in the Egyptian desert to Arctic Svalbard, home to the world’s most northerly pub. Ultimately, this is not a book about how we made beer, but how beer made us.
Hidden Beers of Belgium
By Breandán Kearney
In the book Hidden Beers of Belgium, you’ll embark on a journey of discovery of the most exciting and interesting beers you never knew existed. Its one part guide book to Belgian beer culture, one part beautiful photographic coffee table book, and one part reported narrative on Belgium’s lesser-known but most fascinating beers.
Writer Breandán Kearney and photographer Ashley Joanna have profiled 24 of them for you Learn how each beer was made and why it tastes the way it does. Get to know the diverse places these beers are from and the fascinating people who make them.
Read their inspiring stories and navigate this landscape of beers with tips for where you can try them. These hidden beers showcase all the reasons that Belgium is the greatest beer nation in the world. Discover them in this book. And then, go out there and find them.
Pairing Beer with Everything: An Illustrated Guide
By Em Sauter
Pairing Beer With Everything is the definitive guide to pairing beer styles with, well, everything, this book is a collection of Pints & Panels infographics throughout the years.
A Pub For All Seasons
By Adrian Tierney-Jones
Ever since he was old enough to enjoy them, award-winning journalist and beer-expert Adrian Tierney-Jones has been visiting and drinking in pubs all over the country. As the world opened up post-Covid and we were all finally able to return to our locals, Adrian’s love for this British institution burned even brighter and he promised himself he would travel around the UK in search of the best pub he could find.
The story of one man through the year and his travels to all corners of the country, A Pub For All Seasons follows Adrian as he visits far-flung corners of the country. From mellow, gentle pubs in autumn and dim, cozy spots in winter to bright, lively bars in spring and wondrous, buzzing gardens in summer, Adrian speaks to locals and landlords, hears unique sounds and stories, and samples food, drink and atmosphere. He watches the wild and beautiful similarities, differences between pubs, and notices how they all shift, tonally, throughout the year. And what started as a simple quest to find a nice place to sit and drink, ends up revealing to Adrian so much more: the secret to what truly makes the perfect British local across the four seasons.