I received my first Christmas present a little early: The Oxford Companion to Beer.
The most concentrated reliable source of information on brewing EVER?
Excluding the index, it is 895 pages and is designed to be to beer what the Oxford Companion to Wine has been for wine: a go-to, authoritative, and expert-reviewed resource material that covers beer from as many angles as possible.
It is effectively the first beer encyclopedia and is laid out by topic in alphabetical order, like an encyclopedia. (It's likely not a book you'll read in order cover-to-cover unless you're a freak.)
The book was YEARS in the authoring and editorial process.
The Editor-in-Chief is Garret Oliver with Horst Durnbusch as the Associate Editor. The Advisory board included Dr. Charles W. Bamforth from UC Davis, Dr. Patrick Hayes, Dept of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State, Corvalis, George Philliskirk from the Beer Academy in London, Wolfgang Stempfl, CEO of the Doemen's Academy in Germany, Keith Villa, Master Brewer, MillerCoors, Colorado, and Val Peacock, President of Hop Solutions and general hop know-it-all.
The list of Editors and Advisors is fairly misleading, though because this is really laid out a huge series of articles, which are provided by 166 international contributors; the list is absolutely astounding. The authors of most serious brewing books and texts are almost all included as contributors.
Peter Bouckaert, Vinny Cilurzo (who signed his articles "Vincent" in this book), Pete Brown, Matthew Brynildson (Firestone Walker's Brew Master), Martyn Cornell, Ray Daniel's, Hans-Peter Drexler (Schneider Weiss), Ken Grossman, Ian Hornsey, Oliver Hughes (name should be familiar), Randy Moser, John Palmer, Ron Pattinson, Fergus G. Priest (the Heriot-Watt expert on all things yeast himself), Roger Protz, Mitch Steele, Tim Webb, Chris White, and on and on...
The contributors are Professors, Authors, Journalists, Maltsters, Hop Breeders, Brewing Scientists, Brewing Industry CEOs, Agronomists, Home Brewers, Historians and on and on...
The US, England, and Germany are VERY well represented as is Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, Sweden, Poland, Japan, Spain, Norway, Mexico, Denmark, Puerto Rico, Belgium (although my critique is that the Belgian representation is pretty minimal), Finland, Austria, Scotland, and the Netherlands.
The list of topics includes: Breweries and brewing companies, Abbey and Trappist, Beers and Beer Styles (in a unique and globally sensitive manner - IMAGINE THAT!), Other Types of Beer, Other Beverages, Regions, Beer Industry, Beer History, Culture and Customs, Festivals and Competitions, Organizations, Education and Institutions, Biographies, Food and Ingredients, Beer Containers, vessels, and equipment, characteristics, Mash and Mashing, Fermentation, Brewing, Post-Fermentation, Chemistry, Measurement, Yeast, Wheat, Hops General, Hops, Hop Regions, Barley General, Barleys, Malts and Malting, Bacteria, Viruses and Diseases, Brewing Chemistry.
If the Science of Brewing is something you're interested in and you want to cut through internet myth and lore to get to the truth on a number of important brewing topics this is a must have brewing REFERENCE MATERIAL.
The spine isn't super strong so be careful with it. I've got some great reading ahead of me and am through half of the material on hops and hop regions and have read almost all of the items beginning with the letter "A". -It's going to be a LOONG read over the holidays.
An amazing and long overdue publication that I truly believe will stand the test of time; I'm already looking forward to expanded content in the next edition, although if past major brewing texts are an indicator, we probably won't see a second edition for up to 10 years.
Adam
P.S. It's available at Hodges and Figges right now on a Christmas clearance for way cheaper than you'll find it online. (And they're almost always more expensive on everything than everyone else.)
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