Drink Better Beer
By Joshua M. Bernstein
Sterling Epicure sterlingpublishing.com
Bernstein digs into a range of topics here, from Old World brewing to recent trends. The refreshing thing is that he doesn’t expound from on high (though he’s an expert in his own right). Instead he goes to people with strong perspectives on each topic, and he lets them talk. There’s Melissa Cole on food pairings, here’s Jeff Alworth on the Pacific Northwest, and there’s Greg Engert on glassware (disclosure: I’m there too, talking Franconian lager). It’s easy to read, but this is not another “Beer 101” book. It’s an advanced course with lots of guest speakers and field trips.
A Brief History of Lager
By Mark Dredge
Kyle Books kylebooks.co.uk
They don’t make many beer books like this anymore. This is not a breezy, coffee-table book, meant for picking up occasionally for browsing or photo-gazing. In fact, there are no photos. Instead there are more than 200 pages of well-researched, detail-rich, thoughtful prose telling the story of lager—its history and also its place in our history. It’s a book meant for reading, written by someone who loves lager, for people who love lager.