Books
In an effort to lend some organization to the madness, here are my thoughts on what various books about have to offer, and which ones are the ones to go for.
Books About Brewing
  The Complete Joy of HomebrewingThe Bible. Perhaps a little outdated, but without a doubt the very best place to start a homebrewing library. There is no better way to get a basic understanding of the homebrewing process than this fun, easy-to-read book. Don’t be fooled, though. There’s a fair amount of good technical information presented, and good reference charts. Mine is always somewhere near my brewing stuff, as it’s an excellent reference. |
  The Homebrewer’s CompanionThe Companion Bible. It takes The Complete Joy of Homebrewing to a new level, illustrating more advanced techniques, but more importantly giving you more recipes, and handy reference tables. This was actually the first homebrewing book I ever owned (given to me by a dear, dear friend after “The Mead Incident.”) and it has stood the test of time. Also fairly out of date, in terms of what’s available on the market, but the basic science behind brewing doesn’t age. Worth having around as a reference. |
 Designing Great BeersThis is, hands-down, one of the best books I’ve ever read about actually crafting specific types of beer. It takes an in-depth look at each style, and the ingredients used in years worth of winners at the National Homebrew Competition. There are most definitely holes in the knowledge - it covers a handful of styles very well, and doesn’t even touch a great deal of the rarer ones, but it’s okay. The formulas provided in the hops, grain, and water section (that I’ll be integrating as web tools onto this site eventually) are worth the price of the book alone. |
 Radical Brewing : Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a GlassAn excellent read and great resource for intermediate-to-advanced brewing. This is the book that explained all-grain brewing to such a simple extent that I was comfortable making the plunge into doing so solo. On top of that, it speaks well to breaking style guidelines to make something that, while not necessarily historically correct, is ultimately drinkable. Good sections on spices, fruits, different grains, and other rare ingredients. It even has a recipe for chantrelle beer. Awesome.
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Farmhouse Ales : Culture and Craftsmanship in the European Tradition
Picks up on Belgian styles where Designing Great Beers, above, leaves off. This books deals solely with the styles of Saison and Biere de Garde. It’s an excellent historical perspective on the styles and gives a phenomenal amount of detail as well as recipes and style guides. If you’re even remotely interested in these two styles - even if you’re not considering brewing one - it’s worth the read. |
  The Homebrewer’s Garden : How to Easily Grow, Prepare, and Use Your Own Hops, Malts, Brewing HerbsIf you have a garden, then you must buy this book. If you don’t, it might be worth it just for the incredible resource of what different herbs and spices can be and have been used to brew beer and, best of all, what kind of flavors you can expect from them. It also contains a handful of recipes using various herbs. This is a phenomenal resource if you grow your own hops - it details what kind of diseases and pests you can expect, and the best organic way you can deal with them. |
 A History of Beer and BrewingThis is one short step away from being a text book. For all I know, it is a text book. Regardless, it is a HUGE wealth of knowledge written from a fairly technical perspective that is, while a bit dry reading, incredibly interesting. This might be a high level and time-intensive read, but totally worth it. |
Related Topics/Other Interesting Reading
 Brew Ware: How to Find, Adapt & Build Homebrewing EquipmentThe title really says it all. Unfortunatley, much of this is impractical unless you have a WHOLE lot of space, are single, or have a very tolerant spouse. My overall feeling, as well, is that it’s easier to buy what you need pre-made than it is to go through the hassle to make some of this stuff. That said - it’s a great resource, and if you’re a big-time DIY’er you may enjoy making this stuff more than you actually enjoy using it. I still go to back to it on a regular basis when I’m trying to figure out how to do things like build a Kegerator. |
 Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft BreweryNot a book about brewing. It’s a book about business. In fact, it’s about small businesses and business strategy far more than it’s about beer. However - it is an interesting look inside of the Dogfish Head Brewery, and for that it’s a lot of fun to read.
Side note of disapointment: There’s a story in here about their first batch of Festina Lente and about how they released it under-carbonated. It says that when customers came to them saying, “Hey - what was wrong with that beer?” they actually, in some cases, replaced bottles with a newer, carboanted, batch. Turns out, I had a bottle from the first batch, so I dropped them an e-mail saying, “Hey.. mine wasn’t carbonated.” (It wasn’t. REAL flat.) and I just got an e-mail back saying, “Yeah. The first batch was like that. Sorry! Hope you get a bottle to enjoy!” Yeah. Me too. Still love them, though. |
Alcoholica Esoterica : A Collection of Useful and Useless Information As It Relates to the History and Consumption of All Manner of BoozeI’m not sure I can do any better justice for this book than the title does for it. It’s a hilarious collection of incredibly interesting trivia about all manner of booze. Definitely worth picking up. It will make you laugh and make you the hit of the next cocktail party you go to.