Books and Brews


 

This weekend, Birmingham’s hosting Magic City Brewfest, a fantastic event that puts hundreds of fantastic craft beers together for the tasting against the backdrop of Sloss Furnaces’ famous smokestacks.

 

Most college seniors will tell you beer is the enemy of books. But once you’re past the frat parties and the drinking games, once you’re actually interested in the way beer tastes, you’ll see that beer and books go together like a plate of oysters and a good stout.

 

Click here to grab your own tickets to the event (and say hi to our barista, Zack, who’ll be serving on Friday). Then get ready for a great weekend of beer by stopping by Church Street and picking up one of our favorite books on brewing — we promise, this will be the most fun homework you’ve ever done.

 

Tasting Beer is a fantastic manual that takes you through everything from how to clean a glass to how to pour to how to taste the unique flavors in each glass of beer. The formatting and graphics are pretty great, too.

 

The Search for God and Guinness tells the story of the Guinness company, run by a family determined to do something good with the wealth they built through their beer business. It’s a great story and very readable.

 

The Beer Book is by far our flashiest pick. It’s got tasting notes and beer history, but it’s also filled with thousands of color photos of bottles from around the world, complete with notes on each different brew.

 

Brewed Awakening takes the reader through the popularity explosion that microbreweries have enjoyed in the past few years. Our favorite part of this book just might be its dust jacket — it’s removable and folds out to reveal a detailed beer map.

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