Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That Improve over Time

A real treasure of a book!

The title of this book is a bit of a misnomer and may mislead potential readers. The word vintage to me referred to a drink (normally wine) of a given year (e.g. a 2008 vintage) or perhaps to mean an especially good year. So I thought this book would be just full of reviews of good or exotic beers I could buy in the stores. As a home-brewer, why would I want that? However, this little book is far more than that and I think it's a must-read for anyone who takes beer seriously. It's really all about how some beers greatly improve with extended aging and why some don't. Anybody who has tasted a good 5-year old English barley wine and a 5-year old can of American lager will know exactly what I'm talking about here. Mr. Dawson considers beer aging from many angles from the ingredients used to make the beer, how the beer is made, how it's stored, cellar design and even what sort of bottles to best use. He goes into a lot of chemistry to explain the aging process without confounding the reader. As a home-brewer, this is wonderful stuff. Although the book is not specifically targeted at home-brewers there is so much information here that it can influence how they would make their beer. For instance, what are the best hops to use in an American barley wine? I didn't even know that this was an important question until I read this book. Apparently some hops improve the taste and some ruin it on aging. It's not just for home-brewers. Collectors that like to buy commercial beer in bulk and put it on storage (a bit like wine connoisseurs) will find this book invaluable. I've read a lot of books on beer making and much of the material here I haven't seen elsewhere. Finally, it's very nicely laid out, well structured and has some beautiful pictures in it. It's also highly readable - Mr. Dawson knows his stuff and conveys it very well. For the price, it's an absolute bargain! Of course if you really prefer pale insipid American lagers, then this is not the book for you (spoken li...