'The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer' Review

I first mentioned Ashley Routson, self-proclaimed (I'm not being sexist) Beer Wench, and her 'guide' 7 months ago (blog) because of her invention of IPA Day, that was first celebrated back in 2011. I said I would order a copy of her book The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer, which, as you can see above, I have in my possession.

I did mean to write a review of this book a while ago, but, well, I do get mixed up with other stuff too, including my other blog (Steve on Hastings), a wee bit of work here and there, visiting friends and family, not to forget following football and failing at playing in minigolf competitions, anyway, I didn't write the review before. So I've re-read The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer and can confirm that it certainly is An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer. The book was first published back in 2015, but I've not seen anything written by her for a few years. She was originally from the wine trade, I do believe, but her experience in tasting follows through to her beer journey very well.

Although it's subtitle is An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer, it is a well-written guide indeed, a slim (256 pages) but very informative softback publication. Ms Routson explains how she became interested in beers and its different styles and where they come from, her Eureka! moment when she discovered IPAs and Centennial hops, and Belgian beers. Early on I discovered why beers should be in green or brown bottles, and I own up that I didn't know beforehand how UV light effects beer in the bottle, and she goes on to explain and discuss the different styles of beer, the difference between lagers and ales, providing examples of each style to try. Because this is a book from across the Atlantic, many of those beers aren't available in Britain, but for obvious European styles, European beers are mentioned, as you would expect.

So, among many others including beers brewed in the USA, for English ales she includes beers from Meantime Brewery, Fuller's and Wychwood; for lagers she includes Pilsner Urquell, Spaten Premium Lager and Radeberger Pilsner; for Belgian beers she picks Westmalle Tripel (readers and friends will be aware this is my favourite Belgian beer) and the uniquely (for Trappist beers) dry-hopped Orval, her favourite, "arguably the best beer on the planet" she enthuses!

In my early days visiting Belgium, in the 1990s, I used to always panic when entering a bar and looked at their beer menus with numerous beers included, and immediately plumped for Orval as first beer of choice. But my favourite, as I state above, is Westmalle Tripel, although I'm happy to drink all others, purely for research purposes, of course; even drinking Stella in Belgium, it is certainly better than what you get over here, actually, a bit like drinking Guinness in Ireland! 

The Guide goes into the brewing process and the 4 essential ingredients of beer, that are malted barley, hops (above image of Hukins hopfield), water and yeast (yes, other ingredients are sometimes used too, but they're what's needed). She explains mashing, the wort, boiling, cooling and fermenting, and even mentions how some brewers Burtonize the water used, that is certain minerals are added to help try and replicate the water found in Burton upon Trent; something we used to do when I worked at Kelham Island Brewery 20 years ago.

She also adds a chapter about respecting beer and how to serve beer, the best glasses to use for each style, and tasting and evaluating beers. The later chapters include how to pair different beer styles with different foods, using beer in cooking, and suggests recipes and beer cocktails (!). In conclusion, Ms Routson certainly provides a more than unpretentious guide, this book is an easily read 'guide' and packed with easily digestible information. It would be good to be in touch with her sometime to swap information and discuss how brewing, craft beers and cask ales have developed in more recent years, oh well, likely not to be, cheers!

Postscript:

I always seem to be apologising for not writing many blogs, but, as my brother would say, I am a wee bit of a bampot... My last 2 notebooks have both been in the back pocket of trousers that were placed in the washing machine and I have lost notes going back months 😒

I must try and do better, stay safe folks!