Two New Beer Books in My Collection

I have recently acquired two new beer books and am very happy with both.

The first, The Brewers Apprentice, by Greg Koch & Matt Allyn, is an excellent resource for brewing general styles and specific aspects of brewing. Each chapter incorporates an interview with a highly respected brewer who's at the top of their game regarding the aspect the chapter is about, whether it be hops, aroma hops, malt, IPA's, Belgians, etc... There are questions  about how someone came to be a brewer and what drew them to a particular style as well. If I was to try a new style, there are great tips in each chapter from water to yeast to fermentation techniques.

The second, Boutique Beer: 500 Quality Craft Beers, by Ben McFarland, is perhaps the best collection of awesome beers in one place that I've yet seen. There are books like 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die! (Adrian Tierney-Jones, ed.), The Beer Book (Tim Hampson), World Beer (Tim Hampson), 300 Beers to Try Before You Die! (Roger Protz) and 300 More Beers to Try Before You Die! (Roger Protz) that list a ton of different beers, but none talk about the beer in such a way I think. I say I think because I've only skimmed the two Tim Hampson books, both of which are great in their own way, but they do not offer as many unique beers and tend to cover the mainstream craft scene. There are also great highlights about specific breweries all over the world. I'm still reading through this and it is super enjoyable and gives wonderful brews to chase after, even if some of them probably never make it over to the States.

My next book conquest is between two different books: The Beer Book, by Tim Hampson, or Home Brew Beyond the Basics, by Mike Karnowski. The former is more of a novelty item with over 1700 beers to ogle from all over the world. The latter is probably the best manual type guide to homebrewing with tons of pictures and helpful information.