Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing [Hardcover]

Charles Bamforth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2003

Charles Bamforth, who has been described as "one of the two or three brewing scientists of his generation," here gives us a revised and updated version of his definitive guide to brewing.
Bamforth traces the history of beer from ancient Babylon some 8,000 years ago to today's brewing science, recounting important brewing milestones along the way. This new edition contains expansive coverage of global beer styles throughout the world, the sensory character of beer flavor, and the development of the global brewing industry. Each of the staples of brewing (barley, hops, water, and yeast), the fundamental processes of brewing (mashing, boiling, fermentation, maturation, and packaging), and the quality determinants (flavor, foam, color, and clarity) is covered in comprehensive detail. Never losing sight of the central role of science in beer's design and manufacture, Bamforth closes with some predictions about the future of the industry.
Ideal for the beer lover, amateur brewer, hobbyist, and undergraduate alike, The Art and Science of Brewing Beer is the ideal one-volume handbook on brewing beer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brilliant! There has been an unfilled market for this type of book. . . . Happily, this book . . .is by a wide margin the best reference now available . . . The book is very well written. It has a light, almost breezy style that is mixed with a subtle yet attractively understated British wit. It is above all a great read that is hard to put down. T he strongest part of this book is the discussion of the brewing process. . . . In summary, Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing is a brilliant achievement that nontechnical people will find accessible and quite valuable. It is also highly recommended for technical people because it does show how the art and science of brewing can be communicated effectively to a wider audience." -- American Brewer

"The authoritative, clear and easily understood description of a complex, technical, and sometimes mysterious subject is the book's greatest value."--Choice

About the Author

Charles Bamforth is the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (March 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195154797
• ISBN-13: 978-0195154795
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fairly Small Audience intended., February 22, 2006

By 

J. List "Disenchanted" (US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beer (Hardcover)

I read this book, cover to cover in a couple afternoons. Even then it took me that long only because I had to do some other things. I thought this was a very well-written book, and fairly informative. It was nice to have all of this information in one handy little volume, although this is by no means a reference work.

My Likes: This book reads like a museum exhibit at a brewery. I like museums and I like brewerys. The author lets you see some of the more in-depth processes that are not done directly at the brewery, tells you about how the brewery does things and gives you a general feel for how the industry works.

My dislikes: The Author glosses over a lot of stuff. Some things are dealt with in great detail (like the malting process) while some other things are generally passed over (like brewing and sparging). Granted, this may have been because the author did not want the reader to become bored and inundated with things that you can find in just about any home brewing book on the market.

Buy this book IF:
- You are very interested in the business of brewing.
- You are a beer expert and need to own every book about beer.
- You are a homebrewer intellectual who likes to know everything about what you are doing.

Do not buy this book if:
- You are looking for a detailed description of the chemical reactions and biological workings of beer.
- You already own a brewery (or microbrewery)
- You are looking for a book that will help you make better beer.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of information, but a little dated, August 24, 2008

By 

R. Shelden (Davis, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing (Hardcover)

Professor Bamforth teaches an awesome beer and brewing class at UCD. Sadly his book is not as great and entertaining as his lecture. If you are an aspiring brewmaster, find a more in-depth book on beer. If you want to learn how to brew your own beer, find something on the internet. If you want to familiarize yourself with how beer is made and classified, along with impressing your friends at the bars, try this book out - its not that expensive and full of introductory material. The book is a little dated, most of the information about international brewing companies is quite outdated. Still, the general process of making beer hasn't drastically changed much over the past few centuries.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brewing Science/Industry Overviews for Brewing Enthusiasts, October 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beer (Hardcover)

This Brewing Science/History work is full-bodied, of wonderful color, of high clarity, and More Filling. A charming and insightful mix of lay and technical terms describing the entire breadth of Beer processing and historical lore. The book has a distinctive English flavor to it which results in an added benefit of perspective for any American Brewers library. A very affordable reference work. Thank You Dr. Bamforth!