The Brewer's Tale

Description

The Brewer's Tale is for anyone who, drinking a beer, has wondered how the past tasted. Part travelogue, part history, part culinary adventure, beer critic William Bostwick uncovers the stories behind the brewers who have practised their craft since the dawn of civilisation. Beer by beer Bostwick tells a history of the world through the brewer's eyes, unearthing recipes from poems and potsherds to re-create these beers and their long-lost flavours. Jumping through time as he weaves ancient lore with today's craft scene, Bostwick meets adventurous brewers who share his path, trading insight, recipes and ingredients like home-grown hops and wild, Nile Delta yeast. The Brewer's Tale is history told in the glass, from tongue-numbing mead to sour pediococcus-laced lambic.

Reviews

A cultural history that reads like the collaborative work of a garrulous raconteur, pith-helmeted anthropologist, experimental chef, white-coated scientist, and your favorite drunk uncle. Witty, carefully observed, and deeply reported, The Brewer s Tale is as much about social rituals and the ordering of our worlds as it is about the pint or six we all like to down on occasion. --Gideon Lewis-Krauss, author of A Sense of Direction"

Author description

William Bostwick is the author of Beer Craft and writes about beer for The Wall Street Journal, GQ and other publications. He is an avid home-brewer, former distiller's apprentice, beekeeper, baker and occasional bartender.