Customer Reviews

Ultimate Beer

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Ultimate Beer" by Michael Jackson, is a great book to acquaint the curious beer drinker with the unique characteristics and styles that are available. Beer is no longer the boring, "they all taste the same" beverage that it was in the United States for so long. Thanks to the microbrewing revolution, beer is now the equivalent of wine in respect to its diversity and its adaptability to many occasions.

The best part of this book is the illustrations. Each beer is presented in a section with similar beer styles, complete with a picture of the bottle and a picture of a glass filled with that particular brand of beer. There is also a food/occasion section with more pictures of beer along with the food that it best accomodates.

This book provides a good reference to the many styles of beer, the brewing process, and the compatibility of beer to any taste or occasion. Take notice: after you read this book and look at those full glasses of beer, you will have an uncontrollable urge to head to the nearest beverage store!

This probably shouldn't be any beer lover's primary reference - the main emphasis seems to be on the pictures. Not, however, that there is anything wrong with that. The illustrations are mouth watering and worth the cost of the book. The text seems to aimed toward novices.

This is a large, coffee-table sized book on nice, glossy paper with beautiful photos and graphics. Those of you who know Jackson as a beer and scotch writer need no introduction to him, but for those of you who won't, Jackson has authored numerous books on single-malt whisky and beer and starred in and wrote the "The Beer Hunter" TV series, where he travelled the world in search of great beers.

Jackson puts his vast knowledge of beer to work in this very attractive work. There is a tremendous amount of enjoyable detail, history, tasting notes, and other information in this book. In contrast to some of his other books, this one is more topically organized--that is, there are sections on many of the different types and styles of beers, "Winter Warmers" (i.e., the bock beers), "Strong Ales," and "Belgian Wheats"-- and so on. Also interestingly, the later sections are on picking beers to go well with foods, and there are separate sections on seafood, beef, poultry, etc. These sections take up perhaps one-third of the book.

The layout and writing is well organized and fits well with the graphics on each page. Each section has an introductory paragraph or two to introduce the style of beer, giving the basic facts and some history. Then the rest of the area on each page shows photos of prominent examples of each beer with descriptions, including historical info on the brewery and tasting notes. Over 450 important beers are pictured and discussed, making this a veritable treasure trove of fun information on all types of beer. Overall another great beer book from Jackson, and if I had to pick one beer book from him to have, this would probably be it.

I own almost 10 books on beer, and this book has by far the best photographs in it. Hundreds of beers are shown in the bottle and in a full glass from the respective brewery. The beginning of the book has a nice intro to beer if you are not familiar with the process of brewing. The featured beers are chosen by the occasion which suits the style of beer. I have tried about half of the beers featured and most of them have been excellent. Michael Jackson includes helpful information such as serving temp and alcohol content for each beer. I hope you enjoy this book as much I do.

Wow! I can't imagine a better book than this is you love beer. The photographs are incredible and the text doesn't put you to sleep with a lot of unecessary detail.

The book is arranged by specific catagories so finding what your'e looking for is superbly easy. And the index is incredibly extensive.

Included with the decriptions are recipes, and tasting techniques which are quite informative. This book will definately get you to try something new.

Highly recommended.

This is a very handsome coffee table book that is great for casual reading while enjoying a fine beer. It is not a volume to raise your beer IQ by any appreciable degree. The "True Established Expert" should probably search for ale wisdom elsewhere.

I LOVE "Ultimate Beer." My friends at work have been passing it around and I doubt I'll ever get the book back. The recipes are unique and challenging and I plan to try some out when I can get the book away from my boss.

This book is definitely aimed towards the person who's just starting to dabble in expanding his taste in beers. It's got lots of beautiful photographs and descriptions of beer from around the world. It organizes the beer by type, which is really helpful in focusing your likes and dislikes. It also lists beers by their season of release and by the type of food they go with. The book is extremely user friendly, and as I've already said is generally beautiful. It's a perfect coffee table book. While it should not be your primary reference for all things brewed, it is great for beginners.

When I received this book I was overwhelmed at how well written it was. This book is filled with a lot of great details and images of all different beers. If you are a beer connoisseur then this is a must for your library. Michael Jackson is by far the world's best beer critic.

Michael Jackson's latest effort is yet another in a fine line in his series on beer and beer styles throughout the world. I had the opportunity to review an advance copy and it looks outstanding. "Ultimate Beer" acts as a visual almanac for each beer within each beer style which is something you don't get from his previous books.

I really must take exception to the review casting Jackson as a "joke" within the community. His literature and standing within the home brewing community indicates quite the opposite. Of course what makes a good beer is subjective. Based on all of his books and from meeting and hearing him speak in person, he knows his subject quite well.