Beer is one of life’s ultimate joys and many books celebrate and promote the greatness of malted beverages, often in an educational and informative way. Beer stimulates all of the senses and one of the most effective ways to promote beer in written form is through the use of well- photographed illustrations. This is exactly what you get with Ultimate Beer. Written by the late Micheal Jackson, Ultimate Beer is both an educational guide and a celebration of beer via pictures.
Ulitmate Beer is divided into four sections. The first part of the book covers the ingredients used to make beer: grains, hops, water, yeast, and special ingredients. Once the book has educated the reader fully on the inpute for beer, it then discusses the brewing process and the proper way to taste beer, to ensure you get the most out of the experience.
Part two of Ultimate Beer is the best and lengthiest part of the book. Titled “Beers for the Moment”, it is the part of the book that beer lovers will remember most, thanks to its beautiful illustrations. On every page, there are pictures of specific brands of beer within the spotlighted category, showing a bottle of the specific brand of beer to the left, and a full glass of the beer directly to the right. A brief description is provided for each beer, along with the beer’s region of origin, style, alcohol level by weight and by volume, and the ideal serving temperature. The illustrations are perfect and they will quickly whet your appetite for a tall glass of your favorite malt beverage.
Section three talks about beer and food, and it gives suggestions for matching the right beer with a specific food. I like the way Jackson suggests actual brands, not just styles. Once again, there are plenty of eye- catching photographs to keep your attention and make you wish you had multipel refrigerators in your home to store more bottle of your favorite brew. The last section discusses cooking with beer and it offers advice on ways to liven up ordinary food dishes by adding a bottle or two of beer to your beef stew, your soup, or any other food item that is compatible with beer.
Ultimate Beer is an enjoyable book mostly because of its illustrations but it is also a very good education book with plenty of explanations of styles and origins, how beer is brewed, etc. The book is a coffee table size volume, measuring approx. 12 inches by 9 inches. I wish the book was a little longer, only because I really like the full- color pictures of the beer, poured into the glass. If you love beer, trust me when I say that you will like Ultimate Beer very much, too. Once you start looking at all those mouth- watering pictures of beer, don’t be surprised if you drop everything you’re doing and run to the nearest beverage store.
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