If you make out beer but are intimidate by the gadgetry and science or turned off by unaired dogma of the available brewing lit , fret not . I have found your book : generator Jereme Zimmerman ’s previous work , Brew Beer Like a Yeti : Traditional Techniques and Recipes for Unconventional Ales , Gruits and Other Ferments Using Minimal Hops . The book go far to help unpack and demystify ( though notably not un - mystify ) the beer brewing process for you .
In his first book , Make Mead Like a Viking(Chelsea Green , 2015 ) , Zimmerman did the same thing for Mead and various other ancient ferments ; with his newfangled book he returns to his original love of beer - fashioning in a triumphant fashion .
Zimmerman is a bright and enthusiastic narrator as he takes you through the often mystical , sometimes chaotic but always entrancing account of beer — through its folklore and custom , its drinking songs and major players . He does so with infectious charm . You ascertain yourself in the deepest corner and chap of the beer - making world yet utterly center by the details of , for instance , the life of yeast in our creation , or the function and boost of brettonomyces on the beer froth . In fact , it is when Zimmerman stride into the science that the record book really takes you on a extra and educational journey that is so easy and fun to read that it feels like you ’re absorbing the information through a sort of literary osmosis .
translate the dense scientific discipline behind beer brewing into something interesting for the average someone is not easily done , but Zimmerman seems almost innately outfit with this skill .
Another acquirement Zimmerman demonstrates is put the mental process in position — that throughout history the great unwashed have made a salmagundi of dissimilar beer with a shocking want of equipment or even understanding of how zymolysis cultivate , and so can you . There is something just relieving to memorise just how small it takes to brew a beer , and Zimmerman does not neglect to emphasize this .
Yes , you could get extremely technical with beer - brewing , making chef-d’oeuvre brewage with all the svelte edges to impress your friends . This Holy Writ can avail get you there . But this book will also just as well teach you to just brew some beer in a pot on your stove ( or even a bag ! ) and it will smack familiar and be as as fun to drink .
If I have a criticism of this Holy Writ , it ’s the use of the term Yeti in the title . Unlike the Vikings in his first book , which were an obvious representative for mead - making , the Yeti is a mythological creature with , to my cognition , no specific attachment to beer account . Instead , it seems “ Yeti ” is apply because it ’s a longtime nickname for Zimmerman himself , although start little mention throughout the record . However , I will say that by the close , the Yeti becomes the perfect mascot for this book — a spirits animal , of sort . It seems to fit utterly Zimmerman ’s own views on beer - brewing , eschew the dogma of most brewing lit and or else embrace a little wildness .
Overall , this book is , to be sure , an splendid billet to begin or go forward your beer - make journey . It ’s also a fun place to learn more about the account of one of the worldly concern ’s preferred and arguably most important drink . Either way , if beer is your thing , or you ’d like it to be , this ledger should be among your next purchases .
