Beer for Pete's Sake: The Wicked Adventures of a Brewing Maverick

I just finished this book and thought it deserved plugging for a couple of reasons. First, even though this book was clearly not intended as a "how-to" treatise, it has THE BEST introductory overview of the brewing process and, more importantly, the various factors involved in brewing and how they affect the final product that I have yet read, surpassing every homebrew how-to book in this important regard. These other books tend to either be too general or too detailed in addressing these issues, so that the most basic general principles the reader needs to appreciate to understand brewing can often get lost, but Pete nails most of them dead-on in his brief coverage of the matter. For this portion of the book he deserves at least a FOUR-star rating. The rest of the book is fun and informative without going into too much detail for the sake of detail, a common failing of many beer books, making for a quick and lighthearted read. His interest in beer lore has enabled him to bring together many anecdotes concerning beer in a single volume which one would probably have to look all over the place to find. The book concludes with a comprehensive bibliography which was interesting to read in and of itself. In fact, I was so impressed with the book and so dissapointed that is ended as soon as it did that I am going to write Pete and ask him to recommend some particular titles for further reading enjoyment.I would rate this book overall at FOUR Stars and intend to seek an autographed copy to add to my collection.

This is a great book for everyone to read. Even a nonbeer drinker will find the stories and information interesting. It was also a fun book and an easy way to learn about beer.