Pale Ale

Classic Beer Style Series #16

by Terry Foster

Foster writes an entertaining, in-depth examination of the world's most popular beer style. He traces its remarkable history, reviews leading commercial examples, and provides recipes in English and metric units.

Genres: Beer, Brewing

140 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about the history and composition of one the great classic beer styles. That being said, it's definitely written from a British perspective, so American readers may be a bit taken aback by some of the assertions and/or ingredient discussions. It's still well-worth the read, regardless of which side of the pond you call home; there is plenty of story here about how pale ales came to be what they are today.

That being said, the book is also showing its age, and many things discussed may have been more relevant or more modern 26 years ago, less so today.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first volume in the Classic Beer Styles series has a fair bit of useful information, but it's a little dated and haphazard. Modern homebrew shops are far better stocked than at the time of writing! For instance, I found the water chemistry section very interesting, but light on practicalities (such as what chemicals to use). Since this is a style-specific book, however, maybe such is better left to a general techniques book?