1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die (1001 (Universe)) [ハードカバー]

Neatly organized into amber, blond, white, dark, and specialty; crossed referenced by country and brewery, this book offers 1001 (trusting their count, I got too thirsty checking) beers that represent excellence, innovation, and the history of beer. The introduction provides an excellent lesson on the types of beer and how they are brewed (I finally understand the real difference between ale and lager), and then goes right into my new 'to-do' list. Each beer has a page with a country of origin, the first year of production, alcohol content, a recommended serving temperature, the brewery, the URL, a bit of history or relevance of the particular beer, and a paragraph on the tasting experience of the beer.

The 'tasting notes' are well written, clear and using objective language, but raise questions. Who provided peer review? How reliable are the descriptions? Have they been independently confirmed? This is my self-appointed mission. 936 beers to go. In the current sample, I have to report that the tasting notes have stood up to careful scrutiny and extensive field testing, and I have found nothing to disagree with yet.

I enjoyed the book, and must now return to "Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter"; "A deep ruby beer with chocolate, caramel, and sweet tobacco in the aroma. The taste is tangy and gently bitter..."

Yup, that one checks good.

E.M. Van Court

I got 1001 Beers as a Christmas gift as it was on my Amazon Wish List. I have several other beer tasting suggestion books and allthough they were nice they were somewhat cheaply made. I figured this was going to be another cheap book that would be 2 or 3 beers per page with one or two lines about each beer. This could not have been further from the truth. This book is like a bible to beer fans the tasting notes are in depth and informative. The beers are oragnized and easily understood, allthough I tend to use the index to see find the ratings for my favorite beers (Stone, Laginitas and Dogfish). The pictures are excellent and there is some history about the beers that made the book an interesting read.

This is hands down the best book on beer I have ever read and I have read alot. I love beer and my travels always include stops to local stores to find beers on my bucket list. I collect pint glasses and have over 250 in my collection. I have an entire fridge dedicated to craft beers. I subscribe to both Draft Magazine and All About Beer. The reason I am saying this is that I feel I am more than qualified to judge a book about beer. With that being said 1001 is the best thing i have ever read about the subject! It is a book that I keep my nightstand and glance thru daily when I dream about finding elusive beers.

My only complaint is that 1001 beers is just too many and in my opinion some real dogs are included in this otherwise remarkable listing of beers.

It is often that when we think of beers we think of the best things we love about them and how they are so great(or sometimes not so great), it is also that we try to sometimes compare beers familiarily by either taste, style or region. "1001 Beers" does a spectacular job of leaving the tasting to us and instead giving us the history and story behind the beers we love so much.

This book which is organized by style has something every beer connosieur and even an everyday beer drinker would love, and does a significant amount of work to touch on the subleties past simple taste that make beer such a special thing so close to our hearts. The entry for the beers in this book are quick, concise and tell the story of the brewery in a straight-forward style which allows us to as readers the chance to read entry after entry without feeling like were beeing sold a product. Amongst the greats talked about in this book are entrys from the greats Sierra Nevada,Dogfish Head, Guineness, Fullers, Sheaperd's Neame, Lieffman's, Hoegaarden, Schneider, Paulaner, Weihenstephaner, and Chimay; But its not just these that make the book so good(they make it great none-the-less), its all of the other breweries, the small ones and their beers and stories that make the whole journey seem like a pilgrimage to the beer holy land.

Certainly there are some disapointments talked about in the book like Pabst Blue Ribbon and Budweisser, but the stories of these beers are yet integral to the whole beer culture and to its very existence as such an important commodity, culturally and economically. Although the layout of the book is lacking order, where some beers are seperated by brewery(such as Guiness is found under St. James Brewery, which is an easy example, still known to many people) on their single page and in the rear index, it dosn't do much to help those who might not know the actual brewery name for some of the odder beers,and that the beers are widely categorized without much effort to categorize and consider each beers merits to a particular style(rather than Blonde being such a large category try breaking them down more into Pale Ales, IPAs,Pilsners etc..); the country breakdown still offers a light of hope,if you happen to know where your particular beer of interest is brewed. I will also mention however that there is a particular issue with some beers being labeled as their sigle Beer name such as the fact that Aventinus isn't grouped with the Schnider beers(since its labeled poorly as Aventinus and not Schneider Aventinus), which does create another problem completly.

Overall the book makes a great refference for any lover of beer , whevether you be a crusader of Breweries or a simple loyalist to your favorite brew, this book is a great resource to discover something great. As a beer lover myself I can't say that I'm not pleased to look through this book just as I look through "Michael Jacksons's Great Beer Guide", and must say that this is just as relative a guide for todays brews of the world as the Beer Hunters guide was years ago. So sit down enjiy your brew and maybe learn something new, Cheers!!