[dean]

I've got How To Brew, Brewing Classic Styles and Designing Great Beers.  I like each of them but each one for different reasons.   I just ordered Radical Brewing and Brew Like a Monk... I hope I'm ready for them.  I've got the basic mechanics down so I'm looking for something else to tweek my brewing.  One question, are they life altering?  

[Hokerer]

Don't have Brew Like a Monk but do have Radical Brewing and while, quite interesting, I don't know that I'd call it life altering.

[mikeypedersen]

I would agree that Radical Brewing was quite interesting but not exactly life altering.  I did get lots of great tips about using different ingredients and adjuncts from it.  It also had quite a bit of interesting historical perspective which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

Brew Like a Monk is an awesome book.  I would say it is a must-have for anyone who enjoys or is interested in brewing belgian style beers.  Gives a ton of history and the author really did a ton of leg-work interviewing and talking to all kinds of Belgian brewers as well as American Brewers reviving the style.

Wild Brews is another book in that series that really is one of the books that I have referenced the most as it is some of the only literature on making and fermenting wild/sour ales.

[dbeechum]

I guess it depends on your pov. I thought BLAM was a really good book for understanding the whole Trappist mystique.

Radical though I thought was awesome for breaking the sort of procrustean mindset we can get into as homebrewers with all this style stuff flying around us.

[dean]

Interesting comments.  I was looking at Wild Brews too but thought I'd wait on it for now. 

Drew, I went looking for your book and was going to get that but it sounded like another nuts and bolts book along with recipes, just not what I think I'm looking for now.  Not saying it isn't good mind you, just not the type I want.

What about Farmhouse Ales?

[dbeechum]

Yeah, it is a nuts and bolts book, but only as nuts and bolts as I could do things.

And yeah, crazy number of recipes in there: ~100.

[dean]

Well if you kept it really simple (not saying you're simple either..  ) it might be a damn good book for beginners then especially having over a hundred recipes!      

[Hokerer]

Don't have Brew Like a Monk but do have Radical Brewing and while, quite interesting, I don't know that I'd call it life altering.

Radical though I thought was awesome for breaking the sort of procrustean mindset we can get into as homebrewers with all this style stuff flying around us.

My bad!  Turns out the one I have isn't Radical Brewing but rather Extreme Brewing - the one by the Dogfish dude.

[richardt]

The Everything Homebrewing Book is a GREAT book, IMO. It is just chock full of pearls of wisdom on nearly every page.  It's not just for beginners (although it is perfectly written for them in language that is easy to follow and understand).  I'd encourage those who have read it before (or those who think they know a lot about homebrewing) to just pick it up again and re-read it.  I just looked through it again--it is just well thought out and contains so many great recipes from accomplished homebrewers.  It would take me 10 years of my life to ever distill and compile all this resourceful info in such an approachable manner.  Thanks, Drew!  A+ for a job well done. 

[dean]

Thanks richardt, I like reading reviews on books and you just gave me reason to buy a copy.  Hey Drew, do you have any copies on-hand?  I'd be interested in buying one if you put your autograph on it.     Seriously, pm me if you have copies.    

[hopfenundmalz]

"New Brewing Lager Beer" by Greg Noonan is one the more advanced homebrewer should have.

[denny]

Ya know, there's a lot of interesting info in that book, but I've never felt it was real relevant to a homebrewer..at least not THIS homebrewer!

[hopfenundmalz]

I picked it back up off the shelf about a year ago and found some very good stuff there.

More recently I picked up Designing Great Beers and had new found appreciation for it.

YMMV!

[richardt]

"New Brewing Lager Beer" by Greg Noonan is one the more advanced homebrewer should have.

Ya know, there's a lot of interesting info in that book, but I've never felt it was real relevant to a homebrewer..at least not THIS homebrewer!

I just got done reading "New Brewing Lager Beer" by Greg Noonan.  Obviously, he was a very smart man who knew what he was doing.  IMO, the writing style is just too information rich and the pearls are buried within.  For example, the tip he gives to add highly roasted malts like Carafa at the end of mashing or during the sparge (to reduce the extraction of bitterness/astringency) is just one small sentence buried within a paragraph at the bottom of a page.  I dont' have the book here at the office, but it is like page 152 or page 183 or something like that.  The whole book is like that.  I had to be amped up on 3 cups of coffee just to keep the focus up with that book.  It's graduate level material, IMO.  Other than the water treatement and a bunch of info on decoction (which I'm too lazy to do), I didn't find it much use for my homebrewing.  I'll look at it again in a year--maybe I'll get something more out of it then when I have a bit more experience under my belt.

Not the case with Drew's book.  B&N, Books-a-Million, Amazon online, etc. all carry it (as should you LHBS).  IMO, you should have it, just like you should have JP's "How to Brew."

[dbeechum]

IMO, you should have it, just like you should have JP's "How to Brew."

I love you, man! (and you can have all my Bud Light)