Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That Improve over Time

by Patrick Dawson

Overview

2014 Gold Medal Winner from the North American Guild of Beer Writers for Best Beer Book
 
Like good wine, certain beers can be aged under the right conditions to enhance and change their flavors in interesting and delicious ways. Good candidates for cellaring are either strong, sour, or smoked beers, such as barleywines, rauchbiers, and lambics. Patrick Dawson gives a list of easy-to-follow rules that lay the groundwork for identifying these cellar-worthy beers and then delves into the mysteries behind how and why they age as they do. Beer styles known for aging well are discussed and detailed profiles of commonly available beers that fall into these categories are included. There is also a short travel guide for bars and restaurants that specialize in vintage beer gives readers a way to taste what this new craft beer frontier is all about.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612121567
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Patrick Dawson is an award-winning beer writer, an avid homebrewer, a BJCP beer judge, and a general lover of all things beer. He is the author of The Beer Geek Handbook and Vintage Beer, and has written for DRAFT Magazine, Zymurgy, All About Beer Magazine, Craft Beer & Brewing, and multiple other publications.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction: The World of Vintage Beer

Chapter 1: The Aging Beer

Vintage Beer Rules

Chapter 2: Determining Vintage Potential

Malt - Hops - Yeast Esters and Phenols - Alcohol - Wood - Oxidation - Microbiota

Chapter 3: The Best Beer Styles for Your Cellar

English Barley Wines - American Barley Wines - Imperial Stouts - Belgian Quads - Flanders Red and Brown Ales - Gueuzes

Chapter 4: Tasting Classic Cellar Beers

Chapter 5: Dark and Cool: Selecting Your Cellar

Temperature - Light Exposure - Humidity - Cellar Configurations

Chapter 6: How to Manage Your Cellar

Paper Journal - Spreadsheet - Cellar Apps

Appendix: Outstanding Vintage-Beer Bars

Toronado - Bull & Bush Brewery - Falling Rock Taphouse - Ebenzer's Restaurant & Pub - Cafe Kulminator - Brick Store Pub - Brouwer's Cafe - Akkurat Restaurant & Bar - Monk's Cafe - Delilah's

References

Glossary

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Vintage Beer teaches you everything you need to know about aged beers." —Cool Material.com

"Vintage Beer teaches you everything you need to know about aged beers." —Cool Material.com

"This is the manual for serious beer lovers who want to take their beer to the next level."—All About Beer Magazine

"Dawson's guide to vintage brews will have you making room in your crawlspace."—BeerAdvocate Magazine

"Dawson makes aging beer easy, using a variety of brews like ales, barleywines, and stouts as examples."—Brew Your Own magazine

From the Publisher

"Dawson makes aging beer easy, using a variety of brews like ales, barleywines, and stouts as examples."

Brew Your Own magazine

"Dawson's guide to vintage brews will have you making room in your crawlspace."

BeerAdvocate Magazine

"This is the manual for serious beer lovers who want to take their beer to the next level."

All About Beer Magazine

"Vintage Beer teaches you everything you need to know about aged beers." —Cool Material.com

Cool Material

02/15/2014
Many wines improve with age. As beer expert and author Dawson explains in this clearly written volume, some beers also change favorably or improve over time. He opens with his first experience, a magnum of vintage Duvel, and closes with a select guide to bars offering such tipples. In between, he highlights particular types and brands of beers, comparing in rich detail aged ones to young, fresh examples. Readers will find descriptions of the resulting flavors of fig, toffee, or port alluring enough to follow his steps for cellaring beer themselves. What distinguishes Dawson's writing is the seamless way in which he blends the science of aging beer with language that most readers can grasp. This work will be both useful and enjoyable for beer drinkers, but those who are more familiar with vintage wine will also relate to much of the content here. VERDICT An appealing read for more than just a niche audience of vintage beer enthusiasts. Highly recommended for collections with a focus on alcoholic beverages.—Peter Hepburn, Coll. of the Canyons Lib., Santa Clarita, CA

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