what we have here is a failure to communicate

The only book that I am really enjoying reading right now is Andy Crouch’s The Good Beer Guide to New England which a friend of mine gave me last year for my birthday. I hadn’t touched it until last week, when I decided to flip through it and see how many of the breweries/brewpubs he mentioned I had been to. I got sucked into the book itself pretty quickly, although my perusal is still pretty non-linear.

Andy Crouch is a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, and his obvious love for his subject as well as his ability to tell a good story both make for entertaining as well as informative reading. Split into sections by state, each chapter contains detailed profiles of the breweries, as well as some of the history of brewing in that state. I’m getting a big kick out of reading his descriptions of his visits to many of the same brewpubs I have visited over the past two years, as well as picking up many tips as to where to track down some of the more obscure New England brews made by some of the smallest breweries in the country. From backyard operations to the Anheuser-Busch plant in MA, Crouch covers it all.

Of course since it was published in 2006 it is already slightly out of date. The rate at which brewing operations open and close has stabilized a bit in this area, but there are enough differences already that I hope Crouch puts out a second edition sometime soon!

As for me, following the example set by Josh at Brews and Books I intend to more fully embrace a passion that has continued to grow in my life – craft beer. Which means that my readers are going to have to tolerate not only awkwardly constructed book and film reviews, as well as my obsession with bridges, but occasionally listen to me rave about Longtrail’s Blackberry Wheat (I have NEVER met a wheat I liked until this one) or squeal about the new Penobscot Bay Brewery, which is already bottling a Scottish Ale that I intend to sample very soon!!

Here’s a list Josh has compiled that links books to beer in a fabulous way – check it out!