Thursday 2 June 2016

New Beer Books!

Hello Beer Fans!

Excuse the crudeness of this post, I am currently trying out a new blog  host and haven't it properly set up yet. Recently I have had the pleasure of being sent some beer related books to review and have been  pleasantly surprised by the quality of said books.

I will go in to these all in more detail but as a quick intro, I have a cooking with beer cookbook imaginatively called 'Cooking with Beer' by Mark Dredge, a beer recipe book (more on this later) called 'Craft Brew' by Euan Ferguson and finally a guide to homebrewing  book called simply 'Brew' by James Morton.



Starting with the cookbook - this is a beautifully pictured and simply to use cookbook. BUT with beer as an ingredient in every recipe which makes it totally manly and awesome! Broken into sections such as Breakfast, Snacks, Mains, this recipe book is ideal for any beer lover who wants to dabble in the kitchen. I've yet to try any recipes out myself but they all seem very simple to follow and I cant wait to russell myself (and the wife) some breakfast stout pancakes or ultimate beer pizza!





Again apologies for the crude images, snapped from my phone. I may find a good blog host eventually and load up better images etc.
There are also a couple of nice sections on pairing beer with food and a guide to different beer styles but one of the things I'm most excited about is the little mini recipes within recipes for stuff like Beer Ketchup and Hop Salt. I cant wait to have jars of these in the press to impress! 

I'll keep this brief enough so on to book number two. Euan Ferguson's 'Craft Brew' is a collection of recipes from established craft breweries scaled down for homebrewing. This comes hot on the heels of BrewDog's DIY DOG release off all their recipes earlier this year. I love the idea of this but from flicking through this book I'm not sure there is enough information for a novice brewer. Sure for a seasoned home brewer, this is probably a fantastic recipe book that they will get lots of use from but I would find it hard to follow myself as I'm sure many would... or I'm just a bit thick!
What I do love most about this book is the inclusion of a couple of recipes from Irish Breweries. Euan Ferguson being an English author living in England has gone for a couple which I was surprised to see included. From what I know about Irish beer being exported and from what I have seen in the UK its rare enough to get any Irish craft beer. You might find some O Hara's or Rye River here and there but Euan has gone for Trouble Brewing's Hidden Agenda and BrĂș Brewery's Rua. I will look forward to trying to emulate them at some stage in the future. There's some nice sections on equipment, ingredients and a step-by-step guide to home brewing too which is quite useful. As with the cookbook, this is largely a flick-through coffee table book. I don't mean this in a negative sense at all, but you would be unlikely to sit down and study this in any detail.



On to our final book, 'Brew' by James Morton. Now this one I can see the beer-nerd that I am reading this cover-to-cover. Saving the best to last in traditional style, Mr.Morton has written a very simple, easy to follow guide to home brewing. As the preface to this book states, James is more of a baker, having released two books already on the subject. However just from flicking through the first few pages you can tell our author is a passionate beer lover and really does know what he's talking about. I don't know what his qualifications are but he is knowledgeable and informative on beer and home brewing. Respect!
What I love is the attention to detail that has gone in to this. As with the previous books there is a beer style guide, ingredients guide, equipment guide but there are also hops guides, beer colour charts, off-flavour guides etc.

Malt Colour Guide
 However it is the simplicity with which James explains everything about home brewing from extract brewing to all-grain that I think is the best thing about this book. I know that this book will help me and many others become much better home brewers. AND when we do have the skills to brew to decent beer, he has included plenty of recipes for all styles of beer for us budding home brewers to give a lash. There is a bit more attention to detail in these recipes than in the previous book and I feel most would be able to follow these once they have got the knack of basic home brewing.

I'd quickly like to thank Mullett Fitzpatrick and especially Siobhan Mullett for contacting me and providing me with three amazing books to review. It has taken me a while to get around to it, sorry! Been a busy few weeks. I urge everyone with an interest in brewing or home cooking to get their hands on any of the three above. All the main book stores (Easons, Waterstones, Hodges Figgis etc) will have these.

Enjoy the brewing and the beer cooking! I will :) - The Beer Hopster