The holidays are just around the corner. While beer is the obvious gift for that beer lover in your life — something to impress, like a winter seasonal or other specialty brew — you might consider giving them one of the many stellar beer books that debuted in 2017. Here are a few favorites:
One of this year’s best was “Beer is for Everyone! Of Drinking Age” (One Peace, $19), written by my friend Em Sauter. Em works for a brewery in Connecticut but also uses her cartooning skills to do comic strip-style beer reviews on her blog, Pints and Panels. In the book, she did all new beer reviews and peppered it with lots of clever offhand wisdom, history and basics on brewing.
A fun overview of international beers is “Best Beers” (Mitchell Beazley, $17) by Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb, who also wrote “The World Atlas of Beer.” Their pocket guide is a slim volume that includes short reviews of over 2,000 beers written by them and over 30 colleagues, including me. They also share picks for can’t-miss breweries and new breweries to watch.
For the history buff on your list, give them Pete Brown’s “Miracle Brew” (Chelsea Green, $20), which takes a fresh look at beer history through its primary ingredients — barley, hops, water and yeast. Brown details the history of those primary ingredients and how they’re grown, harvested and processed to be used in making beer.
If your history buff wants to go even farther back, there’s “Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created,” by Patrick E. McGovern. McGovern is an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia.
In his latest book, he tells the stories of how he and Dogfish Head brewer Sam Calagione created their many ancient brews together, such as Midas Touch, Chateau Jiahu and Chicha.
If you need a gift for the homebrewer in your life, “The Secrets of Master Brewers” (Storey, $25), by Jeff Alworth, might be the perfect present. Jeff dissects 26 classic styles of beer through each one’s history, unique ingredients and brewing process. He also interviewed numerous brewers on how to brew each style. If you want to learn to make beer like the brewmasters, this will certainly help.
If the person on your secret Santa list is more DIY, then perhaps a tasting journal will help them along. Started in Portland, Oregon, by Dave Selden, 33 Books (33books.com) began modestly with the launch of “33 Bottles of Beer,” a small journal to do beer reviews on the fly.
Each of the 33 pages of the small field notebook has all the information you’ll want to record for each beer you evaluate. And what started as a simple way to do beer reviews has blossomed into an empire of tasting notes. They also offer journals to review everything from cider and whiskey to tea, cheese and chocolate. Even hot sauce.
Each journal is made of recycled paper and even has a little beer in the ink. Plus, they’re modestly priced — about $5 — so that makes them perfect for stocking stuffers. Include a bottle of beer in the stocking and they’ll have their first review waiting to go on Christmas Day.
Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com
