Author: McGovern, Patrick E.Edition: ReprintBinding: Kindle EditionFormat: Kindle eBookNumber Of Pages: 323Release Date: 13-06-2017Details: One of Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best...
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Arrived promptly in excellent condition. Very interesting account of historic practices as well as recipes pared with specific brews.
A****
I bought this for my sister in another state but she said it was a cool book. That's all I know. She didn't have anything bad to say about it and it looks like a nice book for the price.
S******** M*****
When it is about something that everybody uses, but nobody cares about further. Maybe the best example is cars. Almost everybody drives, but very few people care about how they are made or car repair. But wait, maybe people do care about car repair? Wasn’t Car Talk, a show about car repair, a nationwide fixture on public radio for twenty years? Indeed. And it was no mystery why - Tom & Ray were just good fun to hang out with. And knowledgeable enough to have insight on cars that you didn’t know… you wanted to have. And smart enough to be fascinating on a number of other topics. Mostly how to have the good life. (Secret: have a family that’s fun to be with and be with them.) And so it is with Ancient Brews. How could any but a devoted beer brewer be interested in a book about brewing beer? Especially, since the beers being brewed, let’s be honest, nobody but an extreme beer brewer would even think about drinking, much less brewing. But as with Car Talk, the joy is in the presentation. Patrick McGovern is immense fun to hang with. And hang we do. From his home at the Penn Museum where he gets paid to research this very topic, we join him on journeys throughout the world. Worlds actually – modern and ancient. Through eight chapters we traverse not just eight brews, but eight civilizations. And not just eight civilizations, but eight personal stories. And each story brings in a new set of characters. And some chemistry where the brew is reverse engineered. And finally the brew they decide to make and the outcome. (Everybody has a great time and gets wasted.) And the meal pairing. (He thinks of everything.) So you don’t have to be into brewing beer to enjoy the book. It certainly helps if you enjoy trying new kinds of beer. And drinking beer and hanging out with interesting people talking shop. Also if you enjoy history, especially the ancient variety where documents are sparse but people fascinating and we are forever trying to figure out better what they were really like. Like us? Sure – they love to sit around drinking beer with a family that’s fun to be with and interesting people talking shop.
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When Dogfish Head came out with their ancient ales years ago I was a big fan of most of them. I have seen the video episodes that have been done on these beers as well. The book was well researched with the author imputing personal touches into each of the different recipes. At times the specifics of chemical analysis can be a little dry but overall the book was very entertaining.Once I finished the book I was encouraged to try one of the many recipes included in the book. I took my shot at The…obroma clone. I figure the recipient from the guy who researched it should probably make the best clone.I am looking forward to reading the other books by Patrick McGovern.
E******** Z
My husband loves the book and has ordered it for other people as well. He's a highly critical and knowledgeable reader and buyer, so his praise is high praise indeed.
p**** i*******
a great read. lots of info on both alcoholic beverages and archaeology. :)
P****
nice.
W*******
I've only read about a 1/4 so far but it's well written and extremely incisive.