In Praise Of Beer

"There is a supposed Chinese curse that says "May you live in interesting times'. There is no doubt whatsoever that, when it comes to beer, these most certainly are extremely interesting times. In China, itself, the brewing of beer accelerated at an astonishing rate in the past couple of decades. Elsewhere, in a huge range of countries but perhaps best typified by the likes of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, there is a burgeoning so-called craft sector, with a vast growth in the number of brewing companies. Here in California, as elsewhere, there is no end to the ingenuity of these brewers, who are forever pushing the boundaries in terms of styles, ingredients and presentation of products that can either delight, disturb or distress the drinker, depending on perceptions, preferences and pre-conceived biases. No matter, the reality is that the beer world is emerging and exciting. There is an ongoing need for new brewers who are well-informed and capable - for which folks like me, whose day job has been to make a living out of teaching, are inordinately grateful. Equally, there seems to be a growing thirst from customers, not only for the beers themselves but also for an understanding of what they are drinking. Most of the books I have written over a quarter of a century have primarily been targeted at the producers of beer. This one, however, has been penned largely with the customer in mind, although I hope that won't stop those employed by brewing companies from reading it, because they sure need to know what I am preaching to the customer. Customers are becoming more knowledgeable and, therefore, more choosy and, yes, demanding. It's a good thing, provided they speak from a position of genuine understanding. I hope that this volume will help"--

Winner of a 2020 Gourmand World Cookbook Award The story behind Alberta's craft beer boom. An insider’s look that brings together tasting notes, social history, politics, and science. When Alberta eliminated its laws around mandatory minimum brewing capacity in 2013, the industry suddenly opened to the possibility of small-batch craft breweries. From roughly a dozen in operation before deregulation, there are now more than a hundred today, with new ones bubbling up each month. It’s an inspiring story, one that writer Scott Messenger tells in impressive scope. At a time when Alberta was still recovering from the plunge in oil prices in 2008, deregulation represented a path to economic diversification. Messenger takes readers on the road with him to investigate artifacts left behind by Alberta brewers dating to the late-1800s, to farms responsible for the province’s unrivalled malt, and into the brewhouses and backstories of some of Canada’s best new beer makers. It’s an insider’s look at history in the making. With humour, straight-talking tasting notes, and a willingness to challenge stereotypes, Messenger introduces us to key players in the industry. We meet Graham Sherman of Tool Shed Brewing, who helped spearhead the change in legislation; Greg Zeschuk, whose Belgian-inspired brewery is poised to put Alberta beer on the global map; the sisters behind Northern Girls Hopyard, Alberta’s first hop farm; and many more. Messenger winds up his narrative with a good, old-fashioned pub crawl, a fitting finale for the story of an industry that is, at its heart, about having fun with friends. Bringing together social history, politics, and science, Tapping the West is engaging and balanced—not unlike the perfect you-know-what.

This unique book is an exciting global journey into the origins, technologies, and recipes of ancient beer as well as into beer's continued importance today in diet, ritual, and economics.

A “fascinating and well-documented social history” of American beer, from the immigrants who invented it to the upstart microbrewers who revived it (Chicago Tribune). Grab a pint and settle in with AmbitiousBrew, the fascinating, first-ever history of American beer. Included here are the stories of ingenious German immigrant entrepreneurs like Frederick Pabst and Adolphus Busch, titans of nineteenth-century industrial brewing who introduced the pleasures of beer gardens to a nation that mostly drank rum and whiskey; the temperance movement (one activist declared that “the worst of all our German enemies are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller”); Prohibition; and the twentieth-century passion for microbrews. Historian Maureen Ogle tells a wonderful tale of the American dream—and the great American brew. “As much a painstakingly researched microcosm of American entrepreneurialism as it is a love letter to the country’s favorite buzz-producing beverage . . . ‘Ambitious Brew’ goes down as brisk and refreshingly as, well, you know.” —New York Post