Customer Reviews

Grape vs. Grain: A Historical, Technological, and Social Comparison of Wine and Beer

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Please, take this book for what it is worth. It's written by a brewer, so obviously it is going to be skewed to brewing. The author never denies this. Look at the first paragraph. This books is great at showing why wine has gained the social status that it has and why beer has not, but should have. Wine has always been considered a rich mans drink, and beer is considered to be a poor mans drink. This book goes to show why this is not true. Beer is just as social and respectable as wine and should be considered so.

I think some of you may be missing the point a bit. The author, I believe, is trying to make the arguement throughout the book that the wine industry has, undeservedly, stolen the moral high ground when it comes to comparing beer and wine. The arguements Bamforth puts forward are really asking why has the wine industry been able to do this, while the beer industry has not (either intentionally or not)? He points out that there really is no proof that wine is any healthier than any other type of alcohol, that the retail mark up of wine is disproportionate to what is costs to produce and he questions the hole notion of "vintage" as an excuse for lack of consistencty. Bamforth just dares to say the beer deserves its place at the table just like wine. A great read.

Why is wine considered the more sophisticated drink than beer, and why is it considered healthier when beer has more nutritive value? Wine and beer receive an unusual contrast in GRAPE VERSUS GRAIN, a comparative survey of the history of wine and beer over thousands of years. From technology and health issues to social value and business distribution, GRAPE VS. GRAIN discusses all aspects of beer and wine making and is a recommended pick for college-level holdings strong in food and wine education.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

Caveat: I'm a homebrewer, a big beer fan, and I know my way around wine well enough. Dr. Bamforth's work history speaks for itself: he's done fantastic things for the field of brewing science. This resume is just ridiculous: [...] The guy sounds like fun, too. Probably really great to have a drink with.

But this book was _really_ frustrating. It feels like it didn't have an editor at all: it gets really rambly at times, he repeats the same inane simplifications/jokes in several places, and it's generally written in a style of prose that I just didn't enjoy. There are almost no citations, he uses things like "perhaps" and "one might expect" when making assertions, and it all just feels like somebody was writing down what he was saying at the pub one night. Lots of good information, but if you're already familiar with the material, it's not a satisfying read.

He (perhaps understandably) also has a huge preemptively defensive stance about the macro brewers in the US. He goes out of his way, time after time, to defend the brewers at these enormous factories. Yes, they make a consistent product. Yes, they have to do very challenging scientific analysis to make sure they maintain the consistency. But it's crap beer, plain and simple, and it's not very convincing when the author is an "Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor". The technology is impressive, yes, but things made with technology and science don't have the mystique that a more agriculturally-driven product like wine has. Get over it.

That said, if you don't already know anything about brewing science, and you don't mind the lilting, rambling prose, there's lots of good information here. He just needed a more incisive editor and to get out of "preching the Bamforth gospel" mode.

Just got this book as a Valentine's Day present from my wife. Great book. I never totally understood the differences in the production processes for beer and wine before and this book took me through them in a very easy to understand manner. I especially enjoyed the chapters on the quality. I learned that the compound responsible for my beer reeking of butterscotch at times (diacetyl) is the same flavour I love in California Chardonnay wine and these wines are often known as "butter bombs". The differences between the various types of beers was also interesting and learning which foods go with which beers was the chapter that was the most helpful to me. This was an area where I was never quite sure and now I can pair beers with food with much more confidence.

There are many books on both wine and beer, but this "Grape vs Grain" captures a unique position that is not covered in other books on the topic. Why in North America does wine have such a romantic upscale mystique about it, while beer tends to have a more pedestrian, everyday, common man image? This book explores the history and production of both products in a warm and entertaining manner. I especially enjoyed the chapter on health benefits and learned that I would need to consume between 750 and 1500 bottles of red wine a day to get the amount of resveratrol needed to counteract atherosclerosis! There are many more such fascinating facts in this book and it makes for a very enjoyable read.

I received this book as a Christmas present from my husband (suspect he bought it so he could read it as well) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We always love to argue about whether we should order beer or wine when we dine out . Which is the better beverage to order and why. This book goes into great detail on the merits of both beverages. The book is written in a charming and at times humorous manner. It taught me about the history and production of both products and has given me extra ammunition for our still ongoing debate, especially in terms of health benefits. Thanks to this book I am now much more adventuresome in terms of the types of beer that I order when we go out to dinner. I am matching the styles with foods and have found that being called a beer snob by my spouse, when I ask for the beer list in a restaurant, is just as much fun as being called a wine snob. Thank you Professor Bamforth for a great book.

I am always amazed that people often go for the throat of another human being, rather that stating the positive aspects of what we see and leave the criticism to the individual reader. I have seen Charles Bamforth speak on a few occasions and he is delightfully playful. He jokes about nearly everything, both the beer and the wine industry. In regards to the book, I just get that he wants people to understand that it takes skill to brew beer as well.

I actually prefer the taste of wine over beer, and not being an expert about either, had no idea how each is made in great detail. From all the advertisements I have ever been exposed to however, beer certainly has always been made to look like the lesser form of the two beverages. Now that I have been exposed to more information from Dr. Bamforth, I know that's not true. They both take a lot of skill and expertise to produce a good product.

I mean, when it all boils down to it, just like anything, no one is better or worse than the other and I think Dr. Bamforth would heartily agree it is all about individual preference. I think beer has just gotten a bad rap and the book was intended to give readers a little clearer perspective as to what it is really all about.

Relax, K Manning! I think that when the author said he had no idea what a winemaker does "the rest of the year" he was being facetious. I would suggest that you try not to take yourself and your love of wine so seriously and brew up a sense of humor. And by the way, your comment that "it is propaganda like this that has helped lead to so many cases of genocide in the past" is completely ridiculous, offensive and does nothing other than to discredit the rest of your review, because you come across as a bitter, and dare I say pompous, wine snob. This is an extremely well written book, full of humor and while there is no small amount of bias towards beer I would suggest that this be taken with a "grain" of salt. Factual, interesting, informative, funny and it kept my attention throughout. Highly recommended.

This is a nice book covering the differences and similarities between wine and beer, both from a cultural perspective as well as from a scientific perspective. I enjoyed reading it and it made me feel justified in my general preference of beer over wine.