13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
this will probably become the world beer guide of record, April 13, 2010
This review is from: The Beer Trials (Paperback)
I'm surprised it's taken so long for somebody to do a book like "The Beer Trials". It's the mainstream beer ratings guide that absolutely every beer drinker should own -- shockingly, the only book of its kind on the market.
Basically, the book rates and reviews the vast majority of beers (micro & macro) that you'd see at a pub or in the grocery/liquor store. The reviews are clever and engaging, and the ratings are rigorous. The authors aren't afraid to bring overrated mass market beers (e.g. Guinness, Heineken, Corona) down to size, but they also give high ratings to some surprisingly cheap beers (Kirin and even the lowly Steel Reserve). Mexican beers generally get slammed, as do many of the English ales. I think this is justified. I also agree with the authors' complaint that a lot of European samples are skunked/lightstruck on the hop across the pond, which is an important and underdiscussed point in the beer world.
The authors' tastes veer toward (1) classic styles of German pilsner (plus great US examples of the style, e.g. Victory Prima Pils); (2) Bavarian wheat beer (Ayinger, Aventinus); (3) complex Belgian ales (Rochefort, Chimay, Fin du Monde); and (4) balanced but bitter/hoppy American west coast craft brews (Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, Racer 5 IPA). Basically, they value balance (meaning plenty of bitterness to go along with malt character) and complexity (often meaning plenty of alcohol). The lead author is from Portland, and given the fact that the US west coast is the most exciting beer region in the world right now, the pro-Cali/Oregon slant is justifiable. But they also give props to Sam Adams, Dogfish Head, Goose Island, and other midwest and east coast beers.
My only real complaint is that Southern European beer (Spain, Italy, France) is pretty much ignored. These aren't the most noble beer regions, but there's some worthwhile stuff in the clean pale lager style coming from southern Europe. I'd also like to see more from Scandinavia (BT just covers Carlsberg), I hope to see more from Seamus Campbell, he seems like an undiscovered talent in the beer writing world (beer's next Michael Jackson?), and the collaboration with Robin Goldstein (Wine Trials author/Wine Spectator Award of Excellence hoaxster) seems to have worked well.
If you read and liked The Wine Trials (as I did), you'll love the consumer-advocate slant here, too. There's a beer experiment in the Wine Trials mold, where the authors show that people can't tell apart common brands of European mass market lager, showing that brand loyalty in that segment is largely due to marketing, not taste.
Tthe opening sections on beer styles, flavors, and regions are very helpful, especially for beer amateurs.
In short, what The Wine Trials did for cheap wine, The Beer Trials does for the entire range of beer: it's a great read and a necessary beer guide.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
New brews, old favorites & skunky classics, April 12, 2010
This review is from: The Beer Trials (Paperback)
So many beers, so little time. I'm reading this side by side with
1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die, but that book, a thirst-provoking, full color specimen of beer porn, is so bulky a reader could injure his wrist just picking it up; by contrast, THE BEER TRIALS is a straight-up consumer guide, covering 250 craft beers and industrial light lagers in alphabetical order, and rating them on a scale of 1 to 10. It's small enough to pop into your reusable shopping bag on the way to the liquor store (or supermarket, if you don't live in a state that still enforces blue laws).
Part one of the book covers beer terminology, appreciation, and styles (eleven broad styles, from amber lagers to wheat beers); part two briefly explains the methodology of the fifteen-member blind taste test panel, price categories, and rating system before getting to the good stuff: the reviews. These often made me laugh, especially when the editors tear into deserving targets, like Budweiser ("all the alcohol of beer with none of those pesky beer flavors") and Corona Light ("'Overcarbonated water,' opined one taster, and another was moved to imagine beer-flavored ChapStick"). The reviews are short and snappy and will hip you to many beer styles and brands you may have hesitated to try until reading about them. The simple black-and-white photos do their job and the editors even offer brief critiques of each label's design: the beer bottle (or can) as aesthetic object.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT START - Needs a Revised Edition, September 23, 2010
This review is from: The Beer Trials (Paperback)
This is a gret book and I have loved reading it. It's a valuable reference and it will challenge your perceptions on certain beers - which is good. For instance, I agree that the Guinness Draught with the widget does taste a bit watery and I understand the rating of a 5. I still love to drink it and it's better in a pub.
I have two major criticisms that I hope will be addressed in a revised edition
1 - leave the mass market beers alone except for those that are mainstream drinking. Miller High Life, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Bud and Bud Light and even PBR are mainstream beers that deserve taste comparison. Miller Chill and all the wierd step children of mass produced beer do not need a mention. No one drinks them.
2 - How about giving the Southern breweries a little love? The book totally ignores some great Southern breweries that are making a name. To wit.... Terrapin Brewing (Athens, GA), Highland Brewing (Asheville, NC), Yazoo Brewing (Nashville, TN), Sweetwater Brewing (Atlanta, GA) and quite a few more. If Asheville is the craft beer capital of the South - why no Asheville breweries? I understand that Seamus is from Oregon and the Pacific West - so the bias for those beers is there. But please..if your goal is to expose beer drinkers to the good stuff out there include some of the Southern breweries.
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