The Naked Pint (60 page)

Some say that the printed word is dead, but we have to say that there’s nothing like opening your mailbox and finding the latest edition of your favorite beer magazine, ripe with new beer reviews, information about beer from around the country, and the hippest beer trends and styles. There are some great ones out there, and here are our favorite beeriodicals:

In writing this book, we realized that we could write an entire book on almost every subject that we hit upon. Thankfully there are many books out there that cover a wide range of beer topics. Some are written specifically for the avid homebrewing technician, the beer traveler, the Belgian beer enthusiast, and yes, the “dummies.” Whatever the focus, you can probably find it. We wrote
The Naked Pint
to be accessible to all beer fans and to provide a base of knowledge to get your feet wet and from which to jump into the big adult pool of beer. You could just read our book, start tasting different beer styles, keep updated on our website, and live a fantastic life with beer. Here are some books that we recommend. This is not a comprehensive library by any means, but if you want to delve a little deeper, these books helped us cultivate our beer love:

 

 

Calagione, Sam, and Marnie Old.
He Said Beer
;
She Said Wine
. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2008. Have a friend who is a wine snob and refuses to listen to you about beer? This book is a fun look at the similarities and differences between the two drinks. Marnie Old, a knowledgeable and sophisticated wine sommelier, and Sam Calagione, the rock star of beer and owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, square off and go head to head on pairings for a variety of foods, flavors, and recipes for pairing dinners. A great read if you need to go toe-to-toe with a “non-beer drinker” and defend the best beverage in the world!

Deweer, Hilde.
All Belgian Beers.
Oostkamp, Belgium: Stichting Kunstboek, 2008. Fellow beer chick Deweer has painstakingly put together this 1,568-page volume with great care and precision, highlighting each beer on two pages with a picture, a flavor description, beer style, fermentation style, brewery, ingredients, ABV, color, appearance, serving tips, serving temperature, and other pertinent information.

Jackson, Michael.
Ultimate Beer.
New York: DK Publishing, 1998. Written by the late Jackson (moment of silence), the greatest beer writer of all time. The
New York Times
said, “
Ultimate Beer
is chock full of almost life size color photographs of beers from around the world, and text that is equally cosmopolitan.... His descriptions are so vivid... he seems to enjoy cooking as much as he does drinking. Instead of joining him at the pub, maybe you’d rather follow him home around supper time.”

Ogle, Maureen.
Ambitious Brew.
Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. This is a fun romp and a very interesting read about the history of beer in America starting from the mid-1800s to the present. She talks about Prohibition, the industrialization of beer, the big breweries, and the craft beer revolution. This book was an eye-opener for us and helped us see where the misconceptions about beer started and how to move past them.

Oliver, Garret.
The Brewmasters Table.
New York: HarperCollins, 2003. This book is a must-read for any beer enthusiast. Not only does it cover every style in amazing detail but it talks about food pairing and the theories and history behind those pairings. It will open your eyes to the possibility of mixing fine dining with beer, which, as you know, is our mission.

Saunders, Lucy.
The Best of American Beer and Food.
Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2007. Written by an English literature major, this book talks about food and beer pairing as well as specializing in cooking with craft and artisanal beers. The explanation of how beer can enhance your enjoyment of food, often much better than wine can, makes this book great. And can you really go wrong with recipes like shallot and stout-glazed steak with cumin-pepper onions? And we haven’t even mentioned the Barley wine banana split. Forget about it.

Skilnik, Bob.
Does My Butt Look Big in This Beer?
Plainfield, IL: Gam brinus Media, 2008. We must admit, as women beer experts, we get asked about the nutritional and caloric content of beer on a daily basis. You can’t find it on a beer label, but you can find it in this book, which lists the alcohol content, carbohydrates, calories, and Weight Watchers’ points for more than 2,000 beers. This self-published book is a much-needed treasure. Thanks for keeping our butts in check, Bob.

BEER-TASTING NOTES

BEER-TASTING NOTES