'An informative, interesting insight into the world of beer. This is a fascinating book, a connoisseurs bible, full of ales from around the world.
The World Of Beer gives a unique insight into each beers origins, detailing each beers history. The researchers have left no stone unturned in their journey to inform the reader of the individual wonders of some of the worlds most famous and obscure beers.
The World Of Ber gives the reader a chance to track down some of the worlds finese bottled beer and will no doubt leave the reader with a very long shopping list of most wanteds….
I especially like the way that well known brands are pitched right beside the most obscure brands and the index of breweries by name is most useful, although I feel that an index of the beers by name only would also have been a very useful inclusion as not all of the beers included in this book are shown in the index.
I also feel that maybe an alcohol by volume chart or table would have been most useful to the reader as some of us would like to experience the more stronger ales.
On the plus side the section for making your own notes after you have sampled the beers, I feel is an excellent addition and the glossary is also very informative.
In short this book will definately not disappoint the ale drinkers and apart from the lack of a more substantial index showing the beers by name, I would give this read a definate thumbs up.
'
Customer Review:
Review by: Craig Oldfield, 18 December 2008
'Let’s get this clear, this is not a book for reading from cover to cover! This book is the start of an adventure, a road-map around the world of brewing or a treasure map where there are many X’s to mark lots of hidden treasures. You’re visiting a different country, dip in to the country of choice and prepare your selections for when you get there. You’ve tried a beer from a particular brewery, look it up and see what else they have to offer. You like a certain style or type of beer, The Beer Book will help you find something similar. It works on so many levels, for a beginner learning their way around the world of beer, to the seasoned expert who wants to find something out of the ordinary.
Now this is a weighty book yet still can only scratch the surface of the vast numbers of beers out there, even within the breweries listed so maybe the inclusion of brewery web-sites where available would allow the reader to research even further to see what other beers are available or even if a brewery does tours and tastings.
I like the tasting notes and the section at the back for adding your own tasting notes but as others have pointed out, it would be a shame to write in a quality hard back like The Beer Book so maybe these pages would be better as loose-leaf versions or would it be possible to include a web link to downloadable versions of the taste note pages?
The only other thing missing would be a pocket guide to some of the major breweries and beers listed, after all, to have the tasting notes to hand while sat in a bar with beer in front of you would be ideal.
In finishing, the book does what it says on the cover, is excellently presented and looks classy enough to leave around on the coffee table. If money were no object, scratch and sniff pages would be interesting but scratch and taste… we live in hope.'
Customer Review:
Review by: Lynette Allen, 18 December 2008
'Well, when The Beer Book arrived I knew it was going to be something special, for one thing it was an item of post the dog wasn’t able to bring to me due to the sheer weight!
I was keen to have a look through the book and did what probably everyone else does; I opened at a random page and began reading. The first thing that caught my eye was a description of a beer I know pretty well as it is brewed in the county that I live in. It was refreshing that the review did not just contain the rudiments of the beer but also created the atmosphere inside the brewery, and then went on to describe two of their most famous ales in such a way that I had to stop saliva from hitting the page.
I then decided to take a more mature approach to the book and start at the beginning. The contents are clear and concise and that’s when my ecclectic mind took over again and I decided to see if some of my favourite ales were in the book. I rushed to the index keenly looking for ‘Hobgoblin’ to see that it was not listed, it then took me a good five minutes to recall which brewery it was from, (well, you can’t begin trying to review a book about beer without a sample sat next to you - so this may have caused the delay!). I found the page and read keenly, I was impressed with the detail, but however felt myself developing the patter of a stalwart CAMRA member. I wanted to shout out loud to myself ‘beer is like cake, there are so many types out there that you just have to try them all otherwise you’ll never find the best ones’.
I was pleased that the beers were separated by their country of origin. It was amusing to look through at a particular country that I had visited and then to remember exactly what I was doing the first time I tried a particular beer, some bought back fond memories of lazy picnics others of wild nights out - however, no hangovers could be recalled!
I could tell that I had been transfixed on the book for an extensive period of time as the bottle of Titanic next to me had gone down in style similar to it’s namesake. It was nice that the book does not just read as an encyclopedia, it is nice to turn a page and to find information about different types of glasses that are used as well as hops and to learn about things I never even knew existed such as ‘Porter’, such things will now be on my Christmas list.
I would like to say overall that I found the book to be both informative and enjoyable. I am indeed looking forward to sampling some more ales with these notes in mind, and then filling in the handy section at the back of the book with my views, after all, I’m sure not everyone can remember every beer that they have drank, especially not after a few of them!
However, a pocket version of this would be ideal for when I am snooping around various shops. Overall, I am so glad to have a copy of this as a great reference tool, and something that I am sure I will be flicking through for many years to come.'
Customer Review:
Review by: Phil Dobson, 18 December 2008
'The book is professionally produced,good quality, coffee table book.
Perhaps in honour of the quality of this Beer Book, we should coin the phrase “Beer table” book.
But then that conjures up visions of beer stained tables with puddles of spilt beer, soaking into the book covers, and that would be a sacrilege to such a well crafted reference work.
'
Customer Review:
Review by: John Ellery, 18 December 2008
'As an avid blogger I was very pleased to receive a copy of the The Beer Book.
Perhaps I hadn’t done my research into what I was receiving particularly well but my initial response was one of disappointment to the large number of pages dedicated to Beers from all over the world, expecting to see the pages with more in-depth reviews of British Ales.
As these really are my area of interest I quickly turned to the British Ale pages to find excellent clear and concise descriptions of the many breweries and their beers that I have come to know and somewhat love, whilst I was also intrigued by some of the lesser known beers that I have already noted to look out for.
Despite my initial disappointment on the contents of the book I soon found myself flicking through the pages of the international beers and reminiscing about many of the beers that my wife and I have encountered on our travels and even found myself beginning to plan future holidays around what countries seem to have the most fascinating beers.
The concise nature of the reviews and the sheer quantity of breweries covered make the book more of an encyclopaedia than a regular reading book but the inclusion of a number of interesting beer-related features give the book potential to be read for a longer period of time.
The book is now a permanent fixture on my coffee table with most visitors commenting on it and picking it up to look up their own favourites. An excellent addition to my house and one I’d recommend to any beer lover.'
Customer Review:
Review by: Pranav Kumar, 09 December 2008
'A very useful guide. Contains details of popular beers and breweries from all over the world.
Has a lot of details of beers from Europe and covers popular breweries from Asia, Australia, the Americas and other parts of the world.
Immediately catches the eye of anyone visiting my house - Invariably starts a discussion on what beers one has tried and liked.
All in all a useful guide to those who like beer and are keen to try something new and different from time to time.
'
Customer Review:
Review by: sallyanne rowe, 03 October 2008
'My husband claims to be a beer expert but I think he will love this book.'
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