A good read

Over the years I’ve received any number of beer-related gifts, and I’ve enjoyed most of them. I’ve always had a weakness for books, however, and beer books are always a great gift.

A search for the word “beer” in Amazon.com’s books section returns 189,962 listings, so that may not be the most efficient way to shop for gifts. That said, I was sufficiently intrigued by the books listed first to think to myself “that might be a good present for me.” But then, we’re not talking about me.

The one book I return to again and again when I’m looking for information on a particular style of beer is Michael Jackson’s The New World Guide to Beer. I know, it’s not a particularly inspired choice, but if your favorite beer lover doesn’t have it you should definitely add it to the list. If you really want to know more about beer, you can always check out The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. Talk about some serious reading (although not as serious as his book on the Zymurgy of brewing) – I found it to be interesting reading even though I’ve never brewed a beer in my life. More on that later.

In any event, there are a lot of books out there on every aspect of beer and brewing. Check out Amazon, or the similarly named beerbook.com and beerbooks.com. If you’re a Michael Jackson fan, you can also check out The Beerhunter for all of the prolific beer writer’s current publications.

Image from The Beerhunter