American Sour Beer – Book!

[Oldsock]

Edit: e-book will be out a couple/few months after the hard copy.

No plans for an audio book. I'd have to work on my voices for the various brewers quoted.

will you sell directly to retail stores at wholesale pricing or do i need to go through my distributors? i would like to have some copies on my shelf asap!!!

It's being published by Brewer's Publications, so it'll be the same route all of their other books go out (i.e., I've got nothing to do with it unless I'm doing an event or something).

 

[masonsjax]

Are you doing an event or something?

 

[Oldsock]

Are you doing an event or something?

I'll be speaking at NHC, signing books at GABF, and I'm sure events in at least DC and San Diego. Not sure what else I'll end up doing though.

 

[dantheman13]

No plans for an audio book. I'd have to work on my voices for the various brewers quoted.

That could be fun. Which one would you do in a Yoda voice?

 

[Thorpe429]

I'll be speaking at NHC, signing books at GABF, and I'm sure events in at least DC and San Diego. Not sure what else I'll end up doing though.

Come do an event in Chicago, Amy and I would be glad to put you up and take you around!


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[cinderbike]

Well, post got eaten - thanks Safari.

Anyway... I'm excited, have been since you first said you were writing a book. I've had to figure out everything through interviews, emails to brewers (you included!), and guesswork in the 3+ years I've been brewing sours.

Pre-ordered, obviously... I may need to get a second copy for when the first one inevitably wears out.

BTW, how much of the book is dedicated to blending? It's one of the most important aspects of sour production (I will be bottling my first gueuze later this year) but there are no real resources on the homebrewing level.

 

[sweetcell]

BTW, how much of the book is dedicated to blending? It's one of the most important aspects of sour production (I will be bottling my first gueuze later this year) but there are no real resources on the homebrewing level.

i certainly hope blending is covered in the book, but i wonder how much it can be written about. while there might well be some basic rules, it really comes down to palette and experience. writing that a blend "should be balanced" is hard to put into action.

i look forward to mike proving me wrong

 

[Oldsock]

i certainly hope blending is covered in the book, but i wonder how much it can be written about. while there might well be some basic rules, it really comes down to palette and experience. writing that a blend "should be balanced" is hard to put into action.

i look forward to mike proving me wrong

Spot on. It’s one of the most important aspects, but it’s also one of the trickiest things to express through words alone. There is a chapter dedicated to blending, looking not only at it from a flavor standpoint but also the actual process of combining beers for tasting/packaging. There is also the technical aspect of predicting carbonation from dissimilar components.

Like most aspects of sour beer production, there are a few distinct techniques. Several brewers simply taste the lot, toss out the “off” barrels, and blend the rest. Others do that, then blend in acid or dry beer to adjust the acidity if needed. Other breweries really craft a blend pulling a few components from many options, using beers brewed to different recipes/ages/flavors. Solera is another method gaining popularity, combining beers during aging. In the end though it comes down to tasting, practice, vision etc. a book can’t give you those, but hopefully I can send people in the right direction.

 

[TriggerFingers]

Pre-ordered mine a few weeks ago! Looking forward to it!

 

[FredTheNuke]

Is this now a July, 7, 2014 release (this is what Amazon is listing)?

 

[Oldsock]

Is this now a July, 7, 2014 release (this is what Amazon is listing)?

It may be a bit before that. The goal is to have it available at the AHA Conference in mid-June, but not sure how long it takes to get to Amazon and then to you. We've known for a while that the release would have to be pushed back a bit, but we wanted to avoid multiple times as has happened with some previous releases.

The manuscript is completely out of my hands at this point, I won't get to see it again until it is printed and ready to sell!

 

[jrfehon]

Can't wait to read it!!!

 

[FredTheNuke]

Post a draft copy on here!


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[kaz4121]

Post a draft copy on here!


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if only..i'm sure bp wouldn't like that too much. it sucks the release got delayed, but still cant wait to get my hands on it!

 

[joshrosborne]

Looks like it will be Christmas in July for me! (inlaws pre-ordered the book for me on Christmas)

 

[Oldsock]

Post a draft copy on here!

My blog will be getting some of the trimmings over the next month or so. My descriptions of commercial microbes were deemed to be not "permanent" enough for publication, as was the updated list of breweries with harvest-able dregs. For space considerations chapters/sections on funky saisons, kvass, herbed/spiced beers (including gruit), sour beer food pairings, ice concentration etc. were all removed. Still nearly 400 pages, but after the work I put in it needs to go somewhere.

 

[sweetcell]

My blog will be getting some of the trimmings over the next month or so.

yes please! the trimmings you describe sound pretty damn tasty. i understand that in a few years some of that info might not be fresh, but i'd be happy to digest it right now.

how many more food/nutrition references can i throw in there? i'll chew that one over and let you know...

 

[Oldsock]

yes please! the trimmings you describe sound pretty damn tasty. i understand that in a few years some of that info might not be fresh, but i'd be happy to digest it right now.

how many more food/nutrition references can i throw in there? i'll chew that one over and let you know...

Nice thing about keeping it digital is that I can keep it updated as I use new releases and as breweries change their processes.

 

[sweetcell]

just get it all up there. even if it's in bulk, un-commented/un-annotated format... we'll sort through it

thanks mike! really getting excited for this book.

(got some homebrewed sours for you to try, if/when we next meet up)

 

[joshrosborne]

My blog will be getting some of the trimmings over the next month or so. My descriptions of commercial microbes were deemed to be not "permanent" enough for publication, as was the updated list of breweries with harvest-able dregs. For space considerations chapters/sections on funky saisons, kvass, herbed/spiced beers (including gruit), sour beer food pairings, ice concentration etc. were all removed. Still nearly 400 pages, but after the work I put in it needs to go somewhere.

Is the page with the commercial dregs public? I came across in on a random google search about a month ago, but can't recreate the search or find it on your site now.

 

[sweetcell]

Is the page with the commercial dregs public? I came across in on a random google search about a month ago, but can't recreate the search or find it on your site now.

if you mean this one:
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/06/harvesting-sour-beer-bottle-dregs.html

then no, that's an old page on his blog.

the new list from the book should essentially be an update to that page

 

[joshrosborne]

if you mean this one:
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/06/harvesting-sour-beer-bottle-dregs.html

then no, that's an old page on his blog.

the new list from the book should essentially be an update to that page

Nope, not that. It had all of the Wyeast, White Labs, ECY, etc. strains with their characteristics. I swear I saw it; I'm not crazy!

Edit: realized I worded that last post incorrectly. Said "dregs" where I meant "strains".

 

[Coff]

Nope, not that. It had all of the Wyeast, White Labs, ECY, etc. strains with their characteristics. I swear I saw it; I'm not crazy!

Edit: realized I worded that last post incorrectly. Said "dregs" where I meant "strains".

Are you talking about all yeasts? Like this list?

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

Or are you talking about just Brett strains like this list?

http://www.funkfactorygeuzeria.com/2013/06/brett-strain-guide.html

 

[joshrosborne]

Are you talking about all yeasts? Like this list?

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

Or are you talking about just Brett strains like this list?

http://www.funkfactorygeuzeria.com/2013/06/brett-strain-guide.html

It was like the Brett strain guide, but with longer descriptions and an HTML, not embedded, table.

 

[joshrosborne]

Found it!

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/p/commercial-cultures.html

 

[gandelf]

Pre-ordered mine from the get go. I would like to thank you Mike for your time
and info on your blog and podcasts. May Modern Times be all you hoped for!

 

[Bithead]

Put my order in last weekend. I'm not a major sour head but Mike makes it read so delicious. Been reading themadfermentationist for some time and it's where I learned about sour beer. Thanks Mike!

 

[Oldsock]

Found it!

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/p/commercial-cultures.html

Yep, not linked yet, but it's been there to be found for awhile. Probably still needs a final proofread before it gets advertised. There's a new page for the dregs too...

 

[FredTheNuke]

Did anyone find the link to a 400 page draft lying around

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[Oldsock]

Did anyone find the link to a 400 page draft lying around

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Home Brew mobile app

Here you go: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/p/draft.html

 

[masonsjax]

Boo! Where's the dislike button?

 

[runs4beer]

Ha!
Well played!

 

[Holter]

Pre-ordered. Looking forward to this.

 

[dantheman13]

Here you go: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/p/draft.html

Don't play with my emotions like that, Mike!

 

[Oldsock]

At least everyone could have played along!

I promise the book will be well worth the wait. Rather than just my usual un-verified minimally-edited ramblings you'll get something that has gone through loads of review from a talented group of people.

 

[FredTheNuke]

LOL. Touché ***** Cat-O.

Mike - you should post the count on how many times that link is opened...

 

[Oldsock]

LOL. Touché ***** Cat-O.

Mike - you should post the count on how many times that link is opened...

Made it to 100 before I deleted it. All IP addresses were logged and your orders have been cancelled, no refunds.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

"All IP addresses were logged and your orders have been cancelled, no refunds."

Now that's how you promote a book.

 

[FredTheNuke]

Cable Modem rebooted... new dynamic IP address received.... Check!

 

[sweetcell]

good thing i checked from the office, but ordered the book at home