Book Review & Interview: Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer
I’m a beer girl. Now and then, I’ll sip wine alongside food but our fridge is filled with suds. It’s a great time to be a beer lover, with an exploding craft beer movement that continues to serve up one delectable offering after another.
My husband is a much more knowledgeable connoisseur than I am. Often at bars and restaurants — I ask him to choose something I’ll like. The truth is, I didn’t really know what made an IPA an IPA and I didn’t have the words to characterize the flavors that I did and didn’t like in the beers I’d tried. Then, I found the Beer Wench….
Ashley told me that she wrote her book for people just like me. Those of us who need a knowledge boost to sink deeper into Beer-topia. The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer is a complete reference guide written with easily digestible language and concepts. Ashley’s book serves up a history of beer, color and taste classifications, tasting notes of a litany of beers, and meal ideas to perfectly pair with your favorite brew. From ingredients and brewing processes to pairings and recipes, beer has never been more accessible, more delicious, and more exciting than ever before.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this book was the instructions on how to taste and evaluate beer. With clear and easy instructions, the book dissects the components of judging a beer; for instance what to look, smell, and taste for. Slinging back brewskies without tasting their unique composition on the tongue is a thing of the past now that I have a guide to walk me through informed tastings. If the chapter on “Respecting Beer” is any indication, the evolution of sipping suds has grown into a delightful experience to savor and treasure, no matter if you’re exploring the depths of flavor or just enjoying a cool beer on a hot summer day.
Whether you’re a beer connoisseur or just someone who wants to learn more about the differences between lagers and ales, I highly recommend that you get your clutches on The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer. It will demystify the complexities of a beverage thousands of years old and teach you how to truly enjoy the craft that goes into very aspect of your tasting experience.
BOOK GIVEAWAY (Update: Giveaway closed! Keep your eyes out for the next one!)
To get things started for one Whipped fan, I am giving away a copy of The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer to a one person who leaves a comment answering which type of beer is his or her favorite. On Monday, August 10th, I’ll randomly choose a winner. Cheers!
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
I was fortunate enough to share an email exchange with the Beer Wench herself. My adoration grew tenfold when I got a taste of her unedited, direct sassy wit.
You know your beers, but do you cook? If so, what’s your specialty?
I love cooking! It’s quite possibly my favorite thing to do — well, outside of eating and drinking! I like to think of myself as a carnivore — so I would say my “specialty” is meat of all types. I love to cook game, when I can get it. Everything has to be free-range, grass-fed and organic if possible. Steak, ahi tuna, salmon. Simple seasonings, cooked as rare as possible. Mmmmmm.
You can take one case of one kind of beer to a dessert island. What would you choose?
Easiest question ever. Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing Company. It is the beer to end all beers. Some people claim its over-rated — and those people need to be punched in the face. :)
If you had to give up cheese or chocolate for the rest of your life, which would it be?
My gut says it should be cheese, quite literally because I’m lactose intolerant, but I would definitely give up chocolate. But it’s never stopped me from stuffing my face full of pizza and cheese. I would give up most foods before I would give up cheese!
If you could drink a beer with anyone in the world, who would it be?
This is an extremely hard question to answer. Alive? Anthony Bourdain is pretty high up on my list. Dead? It would be pretty cool to meet both my grandfathers. Both passed the year I was born and I’d love to have a beer with them!
I am a huge fan of stouts of all kinds. Definitely into variety.
IPA
Hoppy IPAs and right now really enjoying a good Shandy!
IPAs
With this crazy-hot weather right now, I’m loving a good Gose!
IPA and hot wings!!!
Imperial Stout
I started on porters and stouts but am loving sours and black IPAs as of late.
I love a great Hoppy IPA!!!
Nothing better can hit my pint glass that a lovely American brown ale!
Nothing better could hit my pint glass than a lovely American brown ale! Yum :)
still IPA’s
My favorite beer is always the one in hand. It’s difficult to say that there is one style that is a favorite. IPA is fantastic, unless I have a killer sour. Imperial Stouts are great, especially barrel aged, unless it’s 95 outside, then a tasty Pale Ale OR IPA might be in order.
Right now? A one week old Jackie O’s “Mystic Mama” is tasting pretty sweet!
I generally enjoy darker beers like porters and stouts. I’m a Guinness fan, but I also like Summit Oatmeal Stout (St. Paul, MN). I also highly recommend Founder’s Rubaeus (Grand Rapids, MI)! I also try to be adventurous by drinking whatever beers are locally made.
My favorite beer in the next one.
barrel-aged barley wine
Any Beer I can Drink with You The Beer Wench. ðŸ»ðŸ˜˜
🺠Favorite Beer – Irish Red Ale. ðŸ»
Love You Ashley, Œ•ï¸Œ•ï¸
Ron
Brett Brett Brett
If I win, will you sign it?
I love most styles, but I always come back to the IPA.
For summer, I like an old-fashioned shandy
I love Kolsch but I am doing this for my cousin, Kim, who is a major IPA wench, the more citrus the better! She seems to be on a mission for help each family member find their favorite beer, even my husband who did not think he liked beer is now a Chocolate Stout lover!
It’s out of season, but a great coffee stout or porter is a thing of beauty.
I’m really into saisons at the moment. Who knows what I’ll be into next. :)
Depends on the season
Summer- Gose/Lambics/IPA’s and Pale Ales
Fall- Adjunct Stouts that are big and heavy
Winter- Smoked/rauchbier and BIG Stouts
It’s gotta be IPA.
Right now it is definitely Anderson Valley’s The Kimmie, The Yink & The Holy Gose!
For me, it really depends on my mood. I can’t say season has too much of an effect on my taste (besides availability), because I’ll drink a nice big stout in the dead of summer.
There isn’t a beer I don’t like, but I usually love a good Black IPA. That why I get the roastiness and the hoppiness I want in one sip.
I’m a big fan of IPA’s — the hoppier the better.
I am a brown ale kinda guy – they even brew those dark beers in New Mexico.
My favorite is Sour Monkey by Victory Brewing! Generally, I love stouts. Most recently, I have acquired a taste for sours and this is one of my favorites. If I had to choose a close second, St. Louis Framboise. Definitely a tart beer that you could sip on all day during summer.
Barrel aged stouts.
I’m a big fan of saisons and farmhouse ales – grapefruit notes especially appreciated. Stone’s Vertical Epic 07 was a favorite http://www.stonebrewing.com/verticalepic/#6 Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale is more readily on hand and a current favorite of mine in the style.
My newest favorite is Gueuzerie Tilquin
Im all time favorite beer is a northern German pils called Flensburger Pilsner. It is almost impossible to get in the states. So I guess German pilsners are my favorites.