Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- Foolish Assumptions -- Icons Used in This Book -- Beyond the Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Part 1 Getting a Taste of Beer -- Chapter 1 Drink Up! Beginning with Beer Basics -- Introducing Beer's Building Blocks -- Surveying Different Styles of Beer -- Ales versus lagers -- Hybrid and specialty beers -- Shopping for and Savoring Beer -- Buying beer -- Serving and tasting beer -- Dining with beer -- Cooking with beer -- Taking a Tour of Beers around the Globe -- North and South America -- Europe, Africa, Asia, and beyond -- Brewing Your Own Beer -- Chapter 2 From the Sublime to the Ridiculous: Beer Ingredients -- Barley: Cereal for Beer, Not for Breakfast -- Hops: Flowers for Flavor and Aroma -- Getting to know top hops -- Hopping for bitterness, aroma, and more -- Yeast: A Fungus Is Among Us -- Water: A Big Influence on Beer -- Wing of Bat, Eye of Newt: Adjuncts You May Love or Hate -- Chapter 3 A Little Brew Magic: Understanding How Beer Is Made -- Kettles, Tuns, and Tanks: Brewing Equipment -- Ale Alchemy: The Brewing Process -- Malting -- Milling -- Mashing -- Boiling -- Fermenting -- Aging -- Packaging -- Cleaning -- Part 2 Taking a Look at Beer Styles - Old, New, and Revived, Too -- Chapter 4 Getting to Know the Mother Beer Categories: Ales, Lagers, and More -- Two Big Branches on the Beer Family Tree: Distinguishing Ales and Lagers -- Yeast determines the classification -- You can taste the difference, sometimes -- Old-School Beer: Understanding Ales -- The "New" Beer on the Block: Getting Familiar with Lagers -- All Mixed Up: Taking Note of Hybrid Beers -- Warm fermentations with lager yeast -- Cold fermentations with ale yeast -- Everything but the Kitchen Sink: Looking at Specialty Beers.

The Anatomy of Beer Styles: Examining the Traits of Different Beers -- Defining beer styles with three simple parameters -- Using a few tasting terms -- Crafting great beers -- Style Is Everything: Listing Common Beer Styles -- Ales -- Lagers -- Hybrid beers -- Specialty beers -- New(er) World Beer Styles -- Chapter 5 Investigating "Real" Ale -- Understanding What Makes Ale "Real" -- Starting the Real Ale Journey in Casks -- A barrel of fun: Checking out the parts of a cask -- Sizing up the situation: Pins, firkins, kilderkins, and beyond -- Refining and Conditioning Real Ale -- Let's make this perfectly clear: Clarifying with finings -- From the spile file: Letting real ale breathe -- Dispensing Real Ale -- Pulling real ale through a beer engine -- The workings of a beer engine -- The "proper" pour from a beer engine -- Using a tap for gravity dispense -- CAMRA: Campaign for Real Ale -- Chapter 6 Exploring Barrel-Aged and Wood-Aged Beer -- Differentiating Between "Barrel-Aged" and "Wood-Aged" -- Figuring Out Which Wood Is Best -- Choosing new or used barrels -- Opting for oak -- Creating new beer flavors with old barrel flavors -- Picking your poison: Bourbon barrels and beyond -- Choosing an old barrel flavor in the type of beer wanted -- Marking Some Milestones in the Aging Process -- Checking the beer's oxidation -- Deciding whether to let the beer sour -- Blending beers from two or more barrels -- Time is of the (oaky) essence -- Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers -- Chapter 7 Acid Trips: In Search of Sour Beer -- Acidic Doesn't Always Mean Sour -- Simple Sours vs. Complex Sours -- The "Bugs" in Sour Beer -- Beer Souring Processes -- Pre-fermentation -- Simple sour mashing -- Simple kettle souring -- Fermentation -- Post-fermentation -- The risks required -- Chapter 8 Checking Out Organic, Gluten-Free, and Kosher Beer.

Natural Selection: Organic Beer -- In the beginning: The rise of organic beer -- Sorting through organic beer certifications -- Why go organic? Help the environment - drink a beer! -- Organic movement: A list of organic beers -- Some Hope for People with Celiac Disease: Gluten-Free Beer -- The gluten-free gang: Grains and starches used in gluten-free beer -- Free of gluten but full of flavor: A list of gluten-free beers -- Following the Law: Kosher Beer -- Following the Calendar -- Figuring out what qualifies as kosher -- Everything's kosher: A list of kosher beers -- Chapter 9 Is Beer Going to Pot? Hemp Beer, CBD Beer, and THC Beer -- Hemp Beers -- Is hemp legal? -- Can hemp beers get you high? -- Hemp beer brands -- CBD Beers -- Can CBD beers get you high? -- Is CBD legal? -- CBD beer brands -- THC Beers -- Is THC legal? -- THC beer brands -- Part 3 Buying and Enjoying Beer -- Chapter 10 The Better Way to Buy Beer -- Cans, Bottles, Growlers, and Kegs: Deciding on Your Container of Choice -- Doing the cancan -- Opting for bottles -- Going for growlers -- Kicking it with kegs -- Keg sizes -- The parts of a keg -- Guidelines for using a keg -- Purchase or Perish: Looking for the Freshest Beer -- Knowing that time isn't on your side -- Aging beer like fine wine - but only in a few special cases -- Staying away from beer left out of the cold -- Avoiding the light -- Checking out the store scene before buying -- Did You Get Burnt? Checking Your Beer at Home -- Popping your top -- Battling the oxidation blues -- Not So Smoothie -- Chapter 11 Looking at Label Lunacy and Marketing Mayhem -- Understanding Labeling Laws -- Label must-haves -- The weak, the strong, and the unintelligible: Alcohol content -- Know-nothing labels: Additives and preservatives -- The Reinheitsgebot: The German beer purity law -- Beer Advertising and Marketing.

Touting nonessential details -- Invading craft brew territory with stealth micros from megabrewers -- "Guinness Is Good for You": Nutritional Content -- Cholesterol and fat free -- Drink beer, live longer -- Chapter 12 Serving Beer -- Choosing a Glass with Class -- The glass lineup: Basic types of glassware -- Matching glass style to beer style -- Surveying specific types of glasses -- To the next level: Sport drinking tools -- Let's get practical: Determining the glasses you really need -- Pouring It On -- Knowing the right serving temperature before you pour -- Deciding whether to tilt or not to tilt -- Neatness Counts: Cleaning and Storing Glassware -- Understanding "beer clean" -- Checking for beer clean -- Getting your glasses beer clean -- Putting everything away -- Chapter 13 Making Your Buds Wiser: Tasting and Evaluating Beer -- Evaluating Beer 1-2-3 (Actually, 1-2-3-4-5) -- Smell: The Nose Knows -- Look: You Can't Judge a Bock by Its Color -- Every color in the rainbrew -- On a clear day -- A head in the hand -- Taste: Nuts and Bolts, Malt and Hops -- Marvelous malt taste -- Heavenly hops taste -- Fabulous fermentation -- Aftertaste: Let it linger -- Touch: Mouthfeel and Body -- Reflect: Is the Whole Beer Greater than the Sum of Its Parts? -- Put Your Tongue to the Test: Recording Your Beer Ratings -- Chapter 14 Dining with Beer -- What a Pair! Making a Match with Beer and Food -- Guessing at general guidelines -- Substituting beer for wine -- Choosing beers for different cuisines -- Cutting, contrasting, and complementing different flavors -- Paring down your pairing list -- Timing Is Everything: Serving Beer for Different Occasions -- Selecting beers for before and after dinner -- Aperitifs -- After-dinner drinks -- Nightcaps -- Serving beer according to the season -- Chapter 15 Cooking with Beer -- Using Beer as an Ingredient in Any Dish.

Knowing when you can (and can't) use beer in a recipe -- Choosing the right beer for a recipe -- Checking Out Great Recipes Featuring Beer as an Ingredient -- Part 4 Exploring Beer Around the World and at Home -- Chapter 16 Who Really Owns Which Brands? -- The A-B Seize -- You Bet Your Heinie -- Holding On -- Legacy, Schmegacy -- Samdog Adamsfish Head -- Beer as a Religious Experience -- Chapter 17 Sampling Beer in North America -- Looking to Beer's Past in the United States -- Respecting the elders: Tracing back great U.S. brewing traditions -- Moving on up: The boom in U.S. brewing during the 20th century -- Teaching an old dog new tricks: The rise of small craft brewers -- Renaissance or revolution? U.S. brewing today and tomorrow -- Howdy, Neighbors! Checking Out the Beer Scene in Canada and Mexico -- Oh, Canada -- Down Mexico way -- Major beer brands in Mexico -- Craft beers in Mexico -- Going Where the Beer Is -- Brewery taprooms -- Beer bars -- Serve yourself taprooms -- Bottle shops -- Brewpubs -- Celebrating at North American Beer Festivals -- Discovering beer festival do's and don'ts -- The do's -- The don'ts -- Looking at notable beer festivals in the United States, Canada, and Mexico -- Exploring North American Beer Museums -- Chapter 18 Trying Beer Around the World -- Building Your Own Beer Adventure -- Exploring Beer in Germany -- Discovering regional tastes: The north, west, and east -- Heading south to Bavaria -- Tapping German shrines, festivals, and museums -- Shrines -- Festivals -- Museums -- Looking at Beer in the United Kingdom -- Biting the bitters in England and Wales -- Holding strong with Scotland -- Exploring shrines, festivals, and museums in the United Kingdom -- Getting a Taste of Ireland -- Brewing Guinness for the nation -- Going beyond traditional Dry Stout -- Checking in to Irish breweries and pubs.

Sipping Beer in Belgium.