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The only thing he said he'd would have like is if the book talked more about how a homebrewer could make this work in their home. Had a great history about the monks themselves and their practices. Otherwise, great book. I bought this for my husband's birthday and it took him no time to read through it. He's a homebrewer and recently wanted to research trappist and abbey ales.
If you've made a few batches of beer and know the terminology (or some of it at least) but want to gain a little more insight and a new perspective. It revolves more around theory and techniques that can be applied to your brewing practices rather than telling you what to do.Beyond that, it is well written and easy to read. Not a recipe book; Although it does have a few recipes, this book is not a recipe book.
This goes into a great amount of depth in the Belgian style of brewing. Not for beginners; If this is your first foray into homebrewing, this book will probably not be what you're looking for. What a great book.
It's not really a step by step into how to brew Belgian beers.2. This is the book for you. I made a dubbel after reading this (with things I learned from it) that is fantastic.
A few things to remember about this book if you're considering purchasing it;1.
So for the Belgian beer lover who wants to know more about the history and origin of their favorite beers, it's amazing. This book is filled with history and information on trappist beers and is a delightful look into brewing.
To be honest, if all your wanting to do is clone your favorite Abby, be it Trappest or not, doing a Google search or checking out some of the better forums will do you far better. You would really have to know how to design a beer and use this book as a starting point, a concession the book makes in the first chapter. It is really designed, to use a cooking analogy that they did in the book, to give you an idea for a dish and it's up to you to come up with a recipe. I'll admit this book is long on history, but it's very short on what most home brewers want-recipes. This is more for the advanced brewer, and a novelty at that; however, it was a decent read. There was some recipes in the book, but not really clones of the major Trappest's ales, but a few of the more well know Abby Ales. The book is more about techniques used at these breweries, a sprinkling of their history, and a description of what each tastes like. Original gravity and attenuation was given for each, however.
While it's certainly not the first book an aspiring brewer should buy, I would highly recommend it for any admirers of Trappist beer. Brew like a Monk is an excellent book that tells a great story about the history and state of Abbey-type beers in Belgium. It's an excellent source of information for beer enthusiasts or intermediate to advanced brewers.
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