Why Beer Matters

Why Beer Matters
By Evan Rail
Sharp Teeth Press, $100

Originally released as an e-book in 2012, this essay by the widely published beer writer Evan Rail (author of the Good Beer Guide Prague) is now being released in print—or, more specifically, in books that have been handmade by Sharp Teeth Press in San Francisco. (The book covers are made from burlap sacks that Anchor Brewing stores their hop cones in; the text was set by hand at a rate of about two words per minute, or three hours per page, on handmade paper, and the whole package sewn and bound by hand—if you’re a fan of well-crafted beer, it’s easy to appreciate the effort behind this project.) The essay itself is a meditation on what makes beer so meaningful to so many people around the world. In 6,500 words, Rail sifts through centuries of brewing history, pausing to consider how time, seasonality and location imbue beer with the power to impact us the way it has for centuries. A high-end collectible that would work nicely as a gallery-type piece in a brewery taproom. ■