Friday 1 November 2013

How to test a beer book

Beer books. We all love them. I always take a couple to bed with me every night. And show them what good loving is.

But you want to know if you can trust your beer book. These are the tell-tale signs that your beer book is cheating on you. When it says:

- IPA was brewed stronger to survive the journey to India.
- Porter was originally a blend of three beers.
- Russian Imperial Stout was strong to survive the journey to Russia.
- "mild" means lightly hopped.
- Stout always contains roasted barley.
- Scottish beer is lightly hopped because hops don't grow in Scotland.
- there's a Czech beer style called "Bohemian Pilsener".
- Robust Porter wasn't just made up.
- Hefeweizen is a German Ale.
- there's a difference between Pale Ale and Bitter

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So... what are some vetted beer books?

Bill said...

You left out the 40 years experience and personal friends with Michael Jackson.

Anonymous said...

Another infallible test is does it contain material by R.Protz, C.Papazian or H.Dornbusch ?

Phil said...

I was convinced for years that pale ale = light ale = light mild. I didn't get this idea from a book, though; I think it was the combination of seeing pale ale down South (but not up here) & seeing light mild in Manchester (but not down there).

Rod said...

Actually, my favourite myth about Imperial Russian Stout is that it was made strong so that it didn't freeze in the Russian winter.

Zymurczar (Rich Ireland) said...

So is when is your beer book coming out to set the record straight?

Ron Pattinson said...

Zymurczar,

in January.

Rod said...

January? Really? I thought there was huge amounts of stuff still for you to do?

Jaxbeerlover said...

I wish you research some Belgian stuff. We are getting close to knowing all there is to know about Uk beer? j/k I learn something everyday.

Ron Pattinson said...

Jaxbeerlover,

that's the fun thing - there's loads more to learn.