The Beer Bible

The Beer Bible
by Jeff Alworth
Workman Publishing Company, August 2015, $19.95

One consequence of the proliferation of good beer is that many take it for granted, closing out tabs without pausing to wonder why, as Jeff Alworth says, a Witbier is brewed with coriander, or what went down in Pilsen that inspired the creation of Pilsners. That means informative books like The Beer Bible will always be relevant. Alworth tackles the technicalities of the styles, while conceding that “style” as a concept “spreads yearly like a fungus.” But grain bills only get a reader so far. Alworth knows that beers’ origin stories are really about the brewers’ biographies, and he packs in the details, filling gaps with humor (unless the first ancient gruel beer really was fermented in “the cluttered cave of a teenager”). Pick up this book as a refresher or a gift, lest we forget that spreading beer education is just as important as advocating for good beer itself. ■