JJL
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2010
- Messages
- 1,278
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- 31
I've read through most of this book. Actually, I've read through as much of it as I have interest in, which is about the first 3/4ths of the book. A lot of the competition and tasting stuff isn't really of great interest to me at this point. I will say that buried in Kev's rant, there is a nugget of truth. Reading the book you definitely get the feel that Strong is stroking his own ego. He makes comments like "Sometime's judges in competition will mistake flavor X for flaw Y in my beer." Basically, implying that he is the pre-eminent beer judge and all others are inferior. And I agree with some others that it reads a bit dry and disorganized. Although, he says that the book isn't meant to be a straight through read in the intro.
That said, there is a good bit of useful info in the book. He does present options and gives explanations why he does what he does. Does that mean you have to do it that way? Absolutely not. I'm definitely not going to start skimming hot break out of my boil kettle. And I'm not going to start decocting all of my mashes. And yes, you can find all of the info elsewhere. Most of the info that isn't directly from his experience comes from the writings of people like Noonan, Fix, Palmer, AJ deLange, etc. He freely admits this in the book. However, the book conveniently places a lot of scattered info into one place. All in all, I would say it's worth the nominal price to have it as a reference. Just don't go into it assuming you are going to have a brewing epiphany. And don't expect this to be a how-to book on brewing.
That said, there is a good bit of useful info in the book. He does present options and gives explanations why he does what he does. Does that mean you have to do it that way? Absolutely not. I'm definitely not going to start skimming hot break out of my boil kettle. And I'm not going to start decocting all of my mashes. And yes, you can find all of the info elsewhere. Most of the info that isn't directly from his experience comes from the writings of people like Noonan, Fix, Palmer, AJ deLange, etc. He freely admits this in the book. However, the book conveniently places a lot of scattered info into one place. All in all, I would say it's worth the nominal price to have it as a reference. Just don't go into it assuming you are going to have a brewing epiphany. And don't expect this to be a how-to book on brewing.