- An unusual source of information;
- A manual for the home brewing enthusiast;
- A good read for a lover of beer culture.
This book contains a wealth of detailed historical information on European beers, complemented with beer recipes from the 15th to 19th centuries, from Britain, the Low Countries, Germany and Austria. It destroys some myth s and asks many questions about our modern concept of what beer is and how it should be made.
To achieve this diversity, step by step instructions are given on how to make malts which one can no longer buy in order to brew beers which haven't been commercially available for at least the last 100 years,  The reader is exactly informed of the scientific principles involved and gains an understanding of some of the quirkier, eben bizarre procedures of early brewing.  Thus even the novice can overcome the practical problems of adapting old techniques and brewing methods to the modern kitchen.
As well as instructions on keeping a hop garden and drying the cones, numerous examples are provided on how to make herb beers and use hop surrogates.
The richly and lovingly illistrated text makes informative reading.
This book will delight the hobby brewer, the scientist and the historian.