Great American Craft Beer by Andy Crouch
On the first page of his new beer guide Great American Craft Beer, Andy Crouch writes “with the bounty of amazing beers available in every corner of America, never before has there been a better time or place to be a beer drinker.” Thus begins one of the best cases for American exceptionalism that I’ve read in years – not in the traditional political or social sense, but in the realm of brewing and beer. Great American Craft Beer isn’t just a new book to add to the increasingly crowded family of “beer guides.” The compendium is a love letter to craft beer in the US of A, and that there’s enough to fill a 300+ page book is a testament to a brewing movement that’s barely thirty years old.
The bulk of Great American Craft Beer - about 2/3rds of it’s considerable girth - is devoted to profiling nearly 350 American beers across dozens of styles. This guide to great beers is bookended by chapters titled “Exploring Beer” (an overview of the history of beer and brewing in the US and abroad) and “Enjoying Beer” (which covers proper glassware, beer tasting, pairing beer with food and great American bars). Taken together, the book becomes a comprehensive guidebook like The Naked Pint or Tasting Beer instead of another endless list of beers. It’s worth mentioning that the foreword to Great American Craft Beer was written by Sam Calagione, which is always a treat.
So, the book itself. Crouch begins the book with “Exploring Beer”, and covers brewing history around the world in concise, 2 to 4-page pieces. I first came to Andy’s work through his short freelance articles and writing for Ale Street News, Beer Advocate Magazine, BeerScribe.com and other beer-iodicals. Crouch has a real gift for writing short and punchy pieces, and this introductory section is well-suited for his style. If you’ve read any books about beer, there probably aren’t any surprises to be found in the bits on brewing processes, styles and beer history. However, some of the writing – particularly “The One Beer” , “A Beer For All Seasons” and “The Session Beer” – are unique to this book and fantastic reads. The whole chapter, even if it has some retreads, is written with Crouch’s regular verve and wit.
The massive middle section of the book, “The Style and Flavor of Beer”, is the traditional beer guide part of Great American Craft Beer. Across 57 styles (and 45 states), Crouch picks six great examples each of IPAs, honey beers, bocks and the rest. Each style gets a quick introduction with some history and characteristics to look for, then each beer gets a few sentences of description. Some other less popular or very unique styles like Berliner Weiss and gluten-free beers don’t get 6-beer sections, but instead receive informative sidebars.
If you’ve never read any of Crouch’s beer reviews, you’re in for a treat with this book. Beer reviewers are occasionally (and rightfully) accused of having a limited vocabulary when writing about beer, and the author is doing his best to expand our vernacular. Cotton candy hops, notes of graham cracker, “armpit stinky” – Crouch isn’t necessarily Gary Vaynerchuk, but he’s got the same panache for describing what he smells, sees and tastes.
Let’s get this out of the way – your favorite beer might not be in this book. As the author notes at the start of the guide (and again on his blog), a lot of thought went into balance among the selections. The balance isn’t just in flavor, but also geography, availability and production. I’d just suggest that you remember the book is called “great American” craft beer, not “the best” craft beer or “your favorite” craft beer. The book provides a snapshot of some of the beer being produced in the states in 2010, and personally I found a perfect mix (probably about 33-66) of beer I’ve tried and loved and new names to seek out.
The final part of Great American Craft Beer, “Enjoying Beer”, is the practical advice section. If you’ve had any questions about freshness, aging, glassware, tasting methodology, or cooking and pairing with beer, all those and more get their due. The book ends with “25 Great American Beer Bars”, a listing of beer meccas to visit to try some of the 350+ profiled brews and many more.
Though it isn’t something I’d usually mention in a review, I want to make special note of the index(es) in Great American Craft Beer. In the final pages of the book, there are alphabetical indexes by beer, beer style, and brewery, as well as an index of breweries by state. Frankly, the book has the best index I’ve ever seen in a beer book. Too often, it’s a pain to track down a certain beer or brewery in a single alphabetical index. It’s so easy here, any problems would have to be attributed wholly to user error. We all know many beer geeks will pick up the book solely to see what Crouch has to say about their favorite beer or local brewery, and Great American Craft Beer makes this a total breeze.
Like The Naked Pint, Great American Craft Beer is a book that has some sex appeal for beer lovers from novices to experts. For beginners, Crouch attacks tasting technique, history and all kinds of beer minutia in a super-accessible way. If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool beer geek, then yes, some bits on history and glassware are probably retreads. If you’re on a budget and own a bunch of beer guides already, you’ll want to leaf through Great American Craft Beer to make sure it has enough “new” material to excite you. Still, the wit in the writing, the wonderfully descriptive beer reviews and some of the pieces that are uniquely Andy merit a purchase in this reviewer’s opinion (and I know from beer guides).
4 Comments to “Great American Craft Beer by Andy Crouch”
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It’s great that books like this are out there. People need to be educated about beer if they’re really going to enjoy it to the fullest.