Product Description

The ultimate guide to more than 450 classic brews, presented by the Beer Hunter(r) himself, Michael Jackson.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88241 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Amazon.com
Possibly the world's most famous beer writer, British author Michael Jackson has made an enviable living surveying the lure and the lore of this most democratic of beverages. His classic coffee-table textbooks, The New World Guide to Beer and Michael Jackson's Beer Companion, offer highly regarded overviews of the world's styles, traditions, and techniques. Along with a television documentary series, numerous articles in trade publications, and extensive touring, Jackson's guides have established the other Michael Jackson as one of the great promoters of great beer.

With Ultimate Beer, Jackson homes in on the particulars: which beer, when, and why. After a concise overview of brewing ingredients and processes, Jackson explores a myriad of beers from every corner of the brewing world. His suggestions are organized by the situation in which they might best be enjoyed: from summer sippers to winter warmers, aperitifs to nightcaps. Enticing photography of each beer and its packaging accompanies Jackson's tasting notes, brief technical info, and product-specific tidbits. Then, Jackson indulges further with chapters on matching particular beers to particular dishes, and follows that up with a brief guide to cooking with beer.

The guiding principle of Jackson's writing--that which he shares with any beer enthusiast--is that beer, like wine, is best enjoyed when served at the right time, in the right conditions, and with the right dish. This book is Michael Jackson's very personal attempt to point the way to enjoying that Ultimate Beer. --Todd Gehman

New York Times
"Mr. Jackson, an engaging British writer, has already established himself as a - perhaps the - hops authority... Another in the large-format, visually stunning Dorling Kindersley series of food and beverage books, Ultimate Beer is chock full of almost life size color photographs of beers from around the world, and text that is equally cosmopolitan... His descriptions are so vivid...he seems to enjoy cooking as much as he does drinking. Instead of joining him at the pub, maybe you'd rather follow him home around supper time."

Washington Post
"Renowned beer guru Michael Jackson captures the glory of more than 500 of the world's best beers in his latest book, Ultimate Beer, with stunning photography as well as accurate and interesting descriptions of the beers."

Customer Reviews

My path to beerdom
6 years ago I took this from a friends dad because he never even looked at it. This was the first book I ever owned on beer.

I am now an award winning homebrewer, a BJCP beer judge, an avid contributor to ratebeer.com and a member of the AHA. I am going to be attending the American Brewers Guild in 2007 and will be opening my own Brewpub soon after.

This is where it all started. This book is that good!

Very enjoyable and informative
This is a large, coffee-table sized book on nice, glossy paper with beautiful photos and graphics. Those of you who know Jackson as a beer and scotch writer need no introduction to him, but for those of you who won't, Jackson has authored numerous books on single-malt whisky and beer and starred in and wrote the "The Beer Hunter" TV series, where he travelled the world in search of great beers.

Jackson puts his vast knowledge of beer to work in this very attractive work. There is a tremendous amount of enjoyable detail, history, tasting notes, and other information in this book. In contrast to some of his other books, this one is more topically organized--that is, there are sections on many of the different types and styles of beers, "Winter Warmers" (i.e., the bock beers), "Strong Ales," and "Belgian Wheats"-- and so on. Also interestingly, the later sections are on picking beers to go well with foods, and there are separate sections on seafood, beef, poultry, etc. These sections take up perhaps one-third of the book.

The layout and writing is well organized and fits well with the graphics on each page. Each section has an introductory paragraph or two to introduce the style of beer, giving the basic facts and some history. Then the rest of the area on each page shows photos of prominent examples of each beer with descriptions, including historical info on the brewery and tasting notes. Over 450 important beers are pictured and discussed, making this a veritable treasure trove of fun information on all types of beer. Overall another great beer book from Jackson, and if I had to pick one beer book from him to have, this would probably be it.

Great starter book.
This book is definitely aimed towards the person who's just starting to dabble in expanding his taste in beers. It's got lots of beautiful photographs and descriptions of beer from around the world. It organizes the beer by type, which is really helpful in focusing your likes and dislikes. It also lists beers by their season of release and by the type of food they go with. The book is extremely user friendly, and as I've already said is generally beautiful. It's a perfect coffee table book. While it should not be your primary reference for all things brewed, it is great for beginners.