Customer Reviews

Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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 The book is a little dated, most of the information about international brewing companies is quite outdated.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.

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!

The author first introduces the history and evolution of brewing, explaining some of the hows and whys of beer-making. The scientific content of the book is very accurate and complete and is presented in a non-intimidating fashion. Finally, the sections on how the finished product is prepared, packaged and marketed gives a good understanding of what goes into it all before it arrives at the bar.

Easy to follow. Straightforward. Can hear the Professor's voice in my head while reading it. Very interesting and not a 'normal, boring old textbook'.

A very detailed primer with a wealth of information. IF this is a text book for a course I want to go back to college, especially if I can sample the course material as I study. I found it very informative and an easy read. My interest is in developing an on farm brewery and the information in Beer has been really helpful in getting me off dead center on a number of aspects of brewing. I'm sure that simply reading this book has prevented me from several potentially costly missteps. Having the advantage of Mr Bamforths' knowledge to draw on from this book makes it already a reference that I have returned to several times. I'm sure that as I move forward with my brewing hobby I'll continue to revisit BEER.

This book is definitely biased toward more "traditional" methods of brewing as the author is older and from England where the noble hops seem to reign and everything he says does not fully fit into the context of American micro or craft brewers. So if you don't know about the many wonderful beers made in America that push the boundaries of flavor and balance, this book isn't for you unless you really really like specific data on brewing. This is a great reference resource on the hard data of brewing up until this book was published and can help more knowledgeable brewers expand their knowledge base, but this is not for the home-brewer necessarily.

Who could imagine a witty book on beer? The author has done an impressive job on the history of beer as a business, a culture, and a hobby for millions of men and women around the world. Cheers to Bamforth!

What can I say I like good beer and I like good books about beer and this is one of them.

From chit chat over anecdotes to some indepth info about beer, its history, the ingredients and the way it is made. You will never look at a pint of beer, whether bought in a bar or brewed it yourself, in the same way.

It covers the basics ok and that is it, very low brow. If you are a beginner brewer than use this book!