The Brewer's Apprentice: An Insider's Guide to the Art and Craft of Beer Brewing, Taught by the Masters

by Greg Koch, Matt Allyn

A behind-the-scenes guide to the craft brewing world—with advice from the best in the business at Summit, Dogfish Head, Three Floyds, and more!Learn the finer points of craft brewing beer, ciders, and meads with eighteen world-class brewers, including Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River), Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), and Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada)—as well as top brewers from Belgium, England, Scotland, France, Canada, and Germany—as they share their expertise in vivid, engaging interviews. In The Brewer’s Apprentice, you get incomparable behind-the-scenes access to the craft brewing world, along with tutorials on everything from mastering the perfect pour to designing a world-class IPA. This illustrated handbook escorts you through the steps of the brewing process and offers a unique curriculum that supports and enhances your knowledge of brewing basics. Inside, you’ll on sourcing the best hops, barley, wheat, and moreInformation on farm-to-table and seasonal brewingStrategies for setting up your homebrewing workshop to master brewing chemistry 101Methods for tinkering with nontraditional ingredients and extreme brewsTechniques for brewing mead, sour ales, and cider“Maestros from Summit, Russian River, Schneider & Sohn, Dogfish Head, BrewDog, Fuller, Captain Lawrence, and Tugwell spill on mash and lautering, bittering hops, ales, Belgian style, lambic, brewing with fruit, barrel aging, ciders, meads, and evaluating beer . . . In the best possible sense, you will need a drink to get through this.” —Library Journal

Genres: Brewing, Beer, Nonfiction, Education, Food and Drink

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice guide to the world of craft beer for budding brewers. It's not an encompassing explanation of the overall process, but it does try to cover a lot of ground.

I would have liked it to go a little deeper into most topics, but it was still a very interesting read. Every chapter ends with an interview with an expert in that field, adding a nice touch.

It also made me move "Make our first mead" higher on the task list, as if I needed another hobby ;)

[Andrew Mossberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent guide to some of the unique craft beers with details from the brewers themselves about what makes them special. Also has an excellent list of references.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

All in all, not bad but it has some issues. Poor editing in a few too many instances; usually understandable but perhaps/probably not to people with less knowledge.

Also, why choose BrewDog to talk about high gravity brewing. All of their "world records" come from freeze distillation which is highly illegal for homebrewers, who are the target audience.

There were also at least 2 instances of "WTF?!, that is completely wrong." ::sigh::

Anyway, not bad but I don't like having to be smarter/more knowledgable than the source I am trying to learn from. Is a waste of time and clutters the mind with bullshit.

I also love the caption for a picture of Mitch Steele, then of Stone [one of the authors is a cofounder of Stone] that states, "Before finding his true home at Stone Brewing, ...." Ha ha. Joke's on you, Greg.

http://marklindner.info/bbl/2017/04/k...

[Eric Magruder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great read for anybody interested in craft beer, mead, and cider. This isn't a step by step tutorial. The book does a wonderful job of breaking down and simplifying the ingredients and some of the processes of brewing, and yet balances that simplistic style with lots of useful information. It reads more fluidly than a text book, but it's well organized chapters and information make it a great reference.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intriguing and informative read. Later third was not as useful to me personally but still interesting! A few ideas I will be incorporating into my current and future batches. Loved to read about the various components of brewing and the hearing perspectives of experts in the field!

[Willem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great "coffee table book". Also has good tips for newby brewers and sketches an all-round picture of the craft brewing culture.

[Sam Baltes]

Nothing too in depth, but the interview with Vinnie Cilurzo is nice and the idea of poking holes in a milk jug for sparging is something I hadn't heard before.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice intermediate resource. I like the water and hop chapters the most.

[Joe Koennecke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference to have if you already know the basics of the hobby.