Book Review: Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual
From the oversized-yet-slim hardcover format to the big “Haynes” logo on the cover to, well, just about everything else, right down to the font selection, Tim Hampson’s Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual seems like one of those books you’d pick up at the hardware store when you needed a quick primer on plumbing or wiring. Even the title’s presentation on the spine — BEER MANUAL in all caps – doesn’t feel like something that will wind up on the coffee table. (Haynes is best known for its line of automotive manuals and less for its been connoisseurship.)
Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual (subtitle: “7,000 BC onwards (all flavours)”) is part history lesson, part the manual it promises to be – specifically a manual for homebrewers. Very little in this book will come across as surprising to anyone who’s even dabbled in homebrew, but Hampson’s book does have at least one huge thing in its favor: Pictures, and lots of them. If you’re the kind of cook who likes to see step by step photos that tell you what every stage of a dish should look like, you’ll love what Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual has to teach. Really, if you can’t follow the photographic steps here to master at least a basic pint of ale, well, you should probably stick to the bottled stuff.
B / $28 / [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]
Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual
$28
