Synopses & Reviews
is a beer-filled journey into the past: the story of brewers gone by and one brave writer's quest to bring them--and their ancient, forgotten beers--back to life, one taste at a time. This is the story of the world according to beer, a toast to flavors born of necessity and place--in Belgian monasteries, rundown farmhouses, and the basement nanobrewery next door. So pull up a barstool and raise a glass to 5,000 years of fermented magic.
Review
"Bostwick brings the requisite levels of geeky erudition and enthusiasm to that once most mundane of beverages, beer." Lisa Abend
Review
"An amiable writer and the very best sort of literary drinking buddy. Bostwick will explain why you like Cascade hops (it's the "spritzy grapefruit blossom nose") and why you should never pass up an opportunity to sample a beer made with Maris Otter barley. We can't all go drinking with the beer critic for the , but reading is the next best thing." New York Times Book Review
Review
" is a well-written and well-researched papyrus-based time-travel machine that takes readers through the history of mankind's most impressive creation: BEER!" Amy Stewart Washington Post
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" will teach you more about beer than you ever thought possible, but it is much more than that. Erudite, curious, and witty, Bostwick ranges effortlessly back and forth across the centuries, spinning an epic that stretches from the temples of Mesopotamia to the beer halls of St. Louis, from cattle cults to Dogfish cults, with countless fascinating detours, digressions, and illuminations in between. By the end, he'll have you convinced that raising a bottle, can, or pint may be the most deeply human thing you have ever done." Sam Calagione, founder and president, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Review
"A cultural history that reads like the collaborative work of a garrulous raconteur, pith-helmeted anthropologist, experimental chef, white-coated scientist, and your favorite drunk uncle. Witty, carefully observed, and deeply reported, is as much about social rituals and the ordering of our worlds as it is about the pint or six we all like to down on occasion." Brett Martin, author of Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution
Review
"A do-it-yourself journey across the storied life of beer." Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A Sense of Direction
Synopsis
Winner of 2014 U.S. Gourmand Drinks Award • Taste 5,000 years of brewing history as a time-traveling homebrewer rediscovers and re-creates the great beers of the past.
About the Author
William Bostwick is the author of Beer Craft and the beer critic for the Wall Street Journal. He has written about beer for GQ, Bon Appétit, Garden & Gun, and other publications. He is an avid homebrewer, former distiller's apprentice, beekeeper, baker, and vagabond bartender. He lives in San Francisco.