Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew

by John J. Palmer, Jamil Zainasheff

Award-winning brewer Jamil Zainasheff teams up with homebrewing expert John J. Palmer to share award-winning recipes for each of the 80-plus competition styles. Using extract-based recipes for most categories, the duo gives sure-footed guidance to brewers interested in reproducing classic beer styles for their own enjoyment or to enter into competitions.

Genres: Brewing, Beer, Nonfiction, Reference, Cookbooks, Food and Drink, Cooking

317 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2007

Reviews

[Dirk Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than just a recipe book. This is the BJCP style guide in recipe form. If you want to become a better home brewer, use these recipes as your starting point. If your brewing process is solid (sanitation and fermentation), then you should be able to brew these style examples with great success.

[Kaveh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used the recipes in this book in conjunction together with many other sources, and it’s a great resource for both
1. Getting a somewhat good overview of the different styles out there. Of course it’s hard to draw lines between styles, and this book has a very American predisposition, but still it’s been very useful in this regard
2. Ingredients are clear. Make bases works well, even though I would have preferred the all-grain option listed first. I view the hops suggestions as a mere hint, as they were somewhat dull. The suggested yeast were good, even though there book listed US-05 as a desperate last option when it clearly didn’t suit the style. But this is probably for the lowest beginner level, but those should have been directed to easier recipes instead (which they were in the comprehensive list in the beginning of the book).

So all in all, I’ve used this to a great extent. Great for inspiration.

[Colin Whiteside · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive set of recipes that make for the perfect starting point for almost any style you can name, with where the authors deviate from “traditional” versions of a beer clearly indicated. Written with plenty of anecdotes and historical information to keep it from being too dry.

Written with the extract brewer in mind, but with conversions to make them work for all-grain. Uses US imperial measurements, but always has the metric conversion.

Inspirational, and essential reading if you’re starting to think about making your own recipes.

[Paul Klammer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I bought when I began brewing. I've brewed almost every recipe in it while learning what makes each style distinct and how ingredients and process relate to beer styles. It has easily understood and complete directions for the beginning extract, partial mash and all grain brewer. All of the essential technical aspects of brewing are clearly and succinctly presenting in about 35 pages. Compare with the accepted standard reference for homebrewing, John Palmer's comprehensive reference, 'How to Brew' at 600+ pages. And, the resulting beers are wonderful according to me and the many beer judges who have awarded medals to me for beers based on this book. If you want a single reference for your brewing, you really can't do any better.

[Jason Wardell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheating a little for my year-end book count. I have read this at least twice over the past year, though not necessarily in order. Good recipes and the introductory chapter's wheel on hop varieties is a thing I reference more than most other things while developing recipes. Leans a bit too heavily on certain kinds of hops for my tastes, but it would have taken me ages to figure out the subtleties of ESBs on my own. Great for effing around with recipe development.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for the beginning extract brewer. It assisted me with my understanding of the process of making beer, and is a great resource on understanding recipes and the similarities and differences between styles.

It is also handy for all-grain brewers, as he does a conversion for each recipe.

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring overview of the beer styles with lots of tips and intriguing recipes. I have gathered a huge bunch of notes that I am going to add to my personal knowledge bank, but I've also written down quite some recipes that I'd like to try myself someday.

Even though it's for all levels of experience, I'd recommend to first read a book about brewing and making a couple of batches before diving into this. That will make you appreciate it more, I think.

[Eric Drucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good, informative read. Dry, but gets to the information quickly. If you care about the topic, it'll be a quick read! A great list of recipes for beginning and veteran brewers. I've been brewing for years, but only learned first hand, so didn't know the theories or reasons why I did what I did, so this was a nice background/discovery/scientific reasoning into what I have learned through my first hand experience brewing.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

So good information and easy read. Checked out from the local library, used to some but not for me. Better recipe books out there that still adhere to official style guidelines.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource on styles with plenty of example recipes.

[Mike Humphries · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book if you want to learn the different brewing styles.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Läsutmaning 2019 och framåt: Nummer 26. En fackbok
En bra bryggarbok med många tips och spännande recept.

[Uroš · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few interesting recipes, I will probably try a few, but the book seems a bit outdated.

[Ross R · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent book to get started brewing. Defines each style of beer and gives example recipes - including extract equivalents for those not brewing all grain.

[Geoff Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow, engaging voice. First four chapters and appendixes are written by John Palmer and give basic brewing information (choosing ingredients, technique tips, etc.). Remainder is written by Jamil Zainasheff, who provides not only award-winning recipes but also fun stories behind them and notes on brewing a particular style (e.g., how to crush the coriander seeds in a Belgian witbier).

My only complaint is that recipes are for 7-gallon batches using liquid malt extract, whereas I make 5-gallon batches using dry malt extract. Still, if the worst I can say is that I have to do a little math before brewing beer, that's not too bad. I look forward to trying these recipes and expect to refer to this tome often in the future.

[Gary Mesick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will give a home brewer solid recipes for every recognized brewing style in one volume. In the end (unless you are Jamil Z), you will probably focus on only a fraction of these styles, and for those, you may want additional detail. But if you want to survey the scope of what is possible, this book is a great start.

Caveats:

--These recipes are award-winners, which means that the judges chose them over others. That means they got the judge's attention, which means they tend to push the boundaries of the style to get that attention. You will want to look to the BJCP style guidelines if you are trying to hit somewhere more in the middle of the style.

--The recipes focus on extract, with substitutions for all-grain brewers. I brew with grain, not extract, and so it is extra thinking to substitute grain for extract. But I know that 80% of those who brew use extract, so I don't blame the authors for focusing on that.

--As with almost every brewing book, the reader may not pay attention when the authors say "Ferment at 50 degrees" or something like that. But the secret is to do exactly what it says: control your fermentation and hold it precisely where it tells you to. One sentence can't convey the importance of that.

All that doesn't take away from the value of this book. It will make a great addition to any home brewer's library.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parfaitement dosé. Un rapide tour de techniques de brassage de base, servant de rappel pour ceux qui ont préalablement lu l'excellent How to Brew de John J. Palmer, co-auteur de ce livre. Sont ensuite touchés quelques nouveaux points, principalement au niveau de la subsitution des ingrédients.

La deuxième section présente les recettes en elles-mêmes, mais offre beaucoup plus. Chaque style du BJCP est décrit et dissequé. On y indique les points cruciaux, les pièges possibles, les variantes connues. Le tout est agrémenté d'agréables anecdotes de Jamil Zainasheff, expliquant ici le nom de la recette, là le choix des ingrédients.

De pratiques annexes sont disponibles en fin de lecture, pour approfondir quelques détails. Au final, un excellent livre, qui offre beaucoup plus qu'une simple liste de recettes.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful as a standalone source for beer recipes in every BJCP style for beginning to advanced brewers. Recipes emphasize extract brewing, but each contains the information required to convert to all-grain. For advanced brewers, once you've learned all you can from Ray Daniels "Designing Great Beers," this is an excellent resources for creating recipes for styles that Daniels doesn't directly address.

[Shari Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for understanding basic brewing chemistry, recipe formulations and substitutions. I think I'll be referring back to this one many, many times. Also really helpful for understanding style distinctions, how to keep within styles if you choose to and when breaking those limitations can work.

[Muzza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great way to grab recipes in many different styles. Is American publication so in imperial but has metric in brackets. Has a couple if recipes of each main style and a few anecdotes to boot. A bit of brewing info thrown in to introduce each style. Most recipes however in extract but gave an all grain conversion included as well which is good.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably should have bought and read this along time ago! Brewing Classic Styles is a classic brewing resource. It is exactly what it says. Walks though the major beer styles and tells you what it should be and gives you a tested recipe to demonstrate. A good starting point or comparison point for recipes you have developed.

[Jeremy Kozdon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must have for any brewer who is interested in really crafting recipes. Gives a good base for all BJCP styles, though I tend to deviate (due to available ingredients and methods), I heartily recommend it.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for extract or all-grain brewers.

The book is organised according to the BJCP guidelines and a recipe (sometimes more) is given for each style.

Of the recipes that I have made, all have been great beers.

Highly recommended.

[Steven Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another brewing book I checked out from my local library. I wanted to get it from the library to see if it included any new recipes that I might want to add to my brewing repertoire. A good book with some good recipes, but not something that I will add to my brewing book collection.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for teaching me recipes that always work.

Yes, a book about beer can change your life. Hands down the best set of recipes I ever came across. If you have the process of home brewing down, these recipes will turn out beers you will be proud of.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've made a few beers from this book and they've turned out great. Recipes from and awarding winning homebrewer... what more could you want?

[Joshua Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consistently great recipes. Although you can eventually identify Mr. Zainasheff's particular style.

[Rich]

Currently reading to learn to brew better beer

[Bill]

Useful advice and lots of interesting recipes. I'll be trying the first one next weekend.

[Jan Halvor · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go-to recipe book.