I found this to be a nice book as a step up from basic homebrewing texts. Definitely not for the total beginner but well worth picking up after one has a handful of batches under their belt and is looking more into grain brewing or creating their own recipes.

This book is not for the novice home brewer this is something that Jeff mentions at the start of the book and also something that is true. I loved how he divided the book into the different beer brewing countries and their styles. He gave first hand knowledge of each style by talking with the brew masters themselves. I loved the writing style as well as the description of the beer styles as you can nearly taste the beer as he describes it.
Very well written and a book that I will certainly revisit again and again as I get more confidence in brewing my own beer.

Thank you to Storey Publishing and Netgalley for the copy.

A fantastic and accessible book on brewing. Neatly laid out covering all major areas of brewing. What impressed me most was how the author manages to create a book for the novice that still contains information and hints from brewers that supplements some of the best brewing books already out there.

In the Introduction, the author tells you that the book is intended for homebrewers, helping them learn about an make beers of many types.

I'm not a homebrewer, so I just ignored the recipes, but I found this book absolutely fascinating. The book divides beers up by countries, Alwick citing that the beers in a particular country have common characteristics.

For each of the countries (England, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium, France and Italy, and America) there is a short introduction, talking about the countries tradition and the commonalities in the beer. Following that are chapters on each major type of beer. In them you'll learn about the history of the beer, get a sidelight from brewers of this kind, and learn about how to make the beer. Following this is the recipe for homebrewers, often from the breweries cited, plus variations and ways to go further.

I can't speak for the recipes, but I loved this book.