Hooch: Simple Brewing, Winemaking & Infusing at Home

Hooch: Simple Brewing, Winemaking & Infusing at Home
By Scott Meyer
Running Press, May 2013, $22

It’s not every homebrewing guidebook that teaches you not just how to brew your own beer, but how to forage for the ingredients in your own backyard. Author Scott Meyer has reported on organic gardening and urban homesteading for 20 years, and his passion comes through—for example, when he includes a half-page discourse on how we should all plant crabapple trees, only briefly mentioning that they also happen to be great additions to ciders. With sections on how to grow your own root crops, barley and hops, plus brewery spotlights and easy-to-follow but detailed instructions on just about anything that ferments, Hooch’s “garden-to-glass” philosophy will inspire the homebrew-curious to give the DIY thing a try, and current homebrewers to step it up a notch. ■