Book Review : Brewing Britain, The quest for the perfect pint by Andy Hamilton

 

 

Brewing Britain, The quest for the perfect Pint by Andy Hamilton

I received this book for Christmas 2013, I have Andy's other book "Booze for Free" and have used it many times for wines and beer recipes. This book is quite different than his other book on booze however.

The introduction outlines Andy's agenda for this new tome of beer brewing and drinking discovery, describing it as kinda like a brewery tour on paper, in fact it's far more detailed than any brewery tour that I have been on.

The next section is all about beer terminology which I have been able to skip over as I have been brewing now for quite a few years, however for a new brewer or someone that would like to expand their knowledge of all things brewing it is an invaluable reference. Even if you are a old hand at brewing you should still give this section a  peruse as there a some amusing additions to the standard terminology which I found put a wry smile on my face and even a couple of chuckles.

I won't describe every section/chapter in Andy's book as that will turn into quite a large post in itself. But to sum up in as little words as possible Brewing Britain, The quest for the perfect pint is a very welcome addition to my brewing library, in fact it's one of the best if not the best book I have on the subject of brewing, it's informative yet witty and covers everything a new brewer or old hand could wish for in a book, with examples of commercial beers to try, beers to brew Kit and All Grain for each style covered within it's pages.The book goes into plenty of detail about almost everything about beer and it's manufacture without getting overly technical.

I can highly recommend it for the new brewer, old hand or even the beer drinker with no wish to even brew their own pint but has a interest in the beer they chugg in the pub on the weekend and wish to find out what they are actually drinking.

 

GIFTS: Beer Tasting Notes [Paperback]

Got a nice little present the other day in the shape of a Beer Tasting Log book, it's called Beer Tasting Notes and is published by cicobooks.

The RRP on the back of the book is 9.99 UKP but this one was found in HomeSence in Somerset for 2.99 UKP

Book Description

Fans of craft beer will love this unique journal to record the characteristics of their favorite brews. The recent explosion of outstanding beers made by exceptionally talented brewers has been a dream come true for anyone who appreciates a well-balanced beverage. But with thousands of new beers coming out every year, it's hard to keep track of what you've been drinking and what you thought about it - especially if you've drunk quite a few! That's where this journal containing the following comes in: Specially designed pages to record the key characteristics of over 100 beers A section for home brewers to plan their recipes A craft-paper envelope to store the labels, bottle caps or beer mats of any particularly good ales

 

The book or log, is split up into Four sections,   

Understanding Beer which gives a short four page description  of different types of beer styles. 

Tasting Notes, which is where you can log beers that you have tried, there are 114 pages in this section and make up the bulk of the book/log and includes a few pages where you can write a few notes (8 pages)

The Brewing Your Own section is where you can record your own recipes and contains enough room to record the details, but only to a limited level of detail, but has all the sections you might require to recreate the brew at a later date. Unfortunately for myself and other home-brewers it only contains room for recording 25 of your own brew recipes.

The last part of the book/log is Keeping Organized, this section allows us to log Favorite Bars & Pubs (6 pages), Favorite Brewers (4 pages), Favorite Beer Stores, with areas on each page for names and addresses of each. Right at the end of this section is a 3 month per page beer diary called A Year in Beer, where you can record when and what you drank over the whole year.

 

Overall quite a handy little log, the only down side for myself is the recipe section being a little small to record my own home-brews, 25 is a little limited, but my plan is that I just use that section to record my own personal recipes that I have made up myself and to use the note section to record page numbers and the book of any that I make from the growing collection of beer brewing related literature on my bookshelf.

It's certainly going to be used quite a bit and very handy to have on my bookshelf

Xmas Presents (Brewing/Drinking Related)

Hey Hey, brewing and beer related Xmas Presents. A Big Thank you to every ones generous gifts this year.

Books

Got Andy Hamilton's new book "Brewing Britain" which is currently sitting next to his other book "Booze For Free" on my bookshelf, haven't had a chance to read it yet, but will do a full review once I have had a chance to put my feet up.

I also received another old book by Mary Aylett (1957) Encyclopaedia of Home-Made wines. Again not really had a chance to look through it as yet, but will Blog it once I have.

Beer!!

Got a nifty little beer mat/bottle opener personalised to me, Really handy and it got used alot on Xmas day, I  really like this little gadget as it also has a magnet on the back. It has a nice weight to it and the bottle opener is lovely to use as well a giving me a landing pad for my beer glass.

And to boost the now flagging beer stocks I now have a Coopers Stout kit to make up. Kits like this I find really  handy to have around and make because they are quick to make up and restock my Cellar with a good few pints in quite a short space of time.

Xmas Cheer with Xmas Beer!!!

Christmas Day's drinking.. 13 bottles of beer all drunk on the day.

Had quite a few nice commercial beers during the day. Some of the highlights of the days drinking where a bottle of Extreme Chilli Beer from Debenhams, very hard black pepper kick with a little chilli afterburn, a very pleasant pint if you like a bit of chilli heat. The other mentionable beer was a Chocolate Porter from Hotel Chocolat, lovely smooth porter, and a mild smell and taste of chocolate.

All in all a good few pints consumed over the whole day. I had a very Merry Xmas...

Drinking the brew

Well freed up six more bottles last night, couple of pints of Coopers IPA from a kit, and a few of my Pumpkin beers, getting low on BIAB brews now, in fact getting low on beer full stop. 

Got 10 left in the store room and 9 inside the house. Plus a few store bought Xmas brews. Should see me through to the new year at least. Still have 12 litres in my no-chill cube ready to ferment of Pumpkin Beer, can't wait to get mashing again once these festivities are all done.

Andy Hamilton's African Ginger beer

Nice post on Andy Hamilton's blog if your a ginger beer fan as I am. It's a nonalcoholic ginger beer but as Andy suggested once run through a soda stream will be ace as a mixer.

http://www.theotherandyhamilton.com/2013/12/18/quick-and-easy-african-ginger-beer-part-five-in-the-12-drinks-for-christmas/

Made this ginger beer up today and it's come out very good. Very very gingery and has a great kick to it. I made it up a little different to Andy but the ingredients are the same.

Peeled and beat the ginger to death with a rolling pin in a freezer bag, brought 500ml water to the boil in a pan.

Added the beaten ginger root to the pan. Left to steep for 30mins.

Put 125g of honey in a jug, added 140ml (125g) of lemon juice, two cloves and 1\2 a cinnamon stick, topped up to 600ml of boiling water, stirred until the honey is dissolved and added to the pan with the steeped ginger.

Left the whole lot to cool and strained through muslin into one of our Sodastream 1 litre bottles and is now chilling in the fridge.

When it's nice and cold I'll blast it with some bubbles.

Got the Ginger root from Aldi for £0.31 and the lemon juice from Co-op for £0.61. We had some honey in the house so all in all the ginger beer worked out quite inexpensive to make. At a guess it works out at about £0.60 per litre bottle and that includes the honey and spices.

Christmas Veg!

Down to the plot today to pick some veg to go with Christmas dinner.  Christmas sprouts STILL arent ready yet however there were enough of the earlier ones left for us to pick.  Got two heads of kale, picked the whole plant so it stays fresh through to Christmas day.  Some leeks, only small ones but you pay a fortune for baby leeks in the shop so they look a bit posh!  Little carrots.  And of course, a load of chard for the chickens.  Cold down there today, particularly in the wind but at least the sun was shining.  Couldn't see anyone else down there today, all a bit deserted.

 



 

Hope everyone has a happy Christmas and a successful new year in all their allotment endeavours, best wishes from Jane & Simon xx