Yankee Brew News Archive

Book Review: The Brewmaster's Bible: The Gold Standard for Homebrewers

Originally Published: 08/97

By: Brett Peruzzi

The Brewmaster's Bible: The Gold Standard for Homebrewers

By Stephen Snyder, Harper-Collins, New York, New York, 1997, 374 pages, $20

Reviewed by Brett Peruzzi, Yankee Brew News Staff

Another huge homebrewing book! In what appears to be an unending trend, at least among publishers if not readers, major New York publisher Harper-Collins has now brought out its own penultimate homebrewing guide, complete with an undoubtedly marketing department-inspired hyperbolic title. While not too many years ago the homebrewing category was limited to a few classics, this reviewer's bookshelf is now groaning under the weight of all the volumes that have been published recently.

Well-known beer writer Stephen Snyder brings solid credentials to this work. With the size and heft of a textbook, The Brewmaster's Bible is a serious tome. It includes the requisite methods and materials chapters, and an exhaustive compilation of beer styles, complete with detailed beer style design tables. There are a ton of recipes as well, many from commercial brewers and homebrew shops around the country (with quite a few from New England I noted proudly).

The Brewmaster's Bible is a well-done and comprehensive homebrewing guide. For both current and prospective homebrewers who do not yet own one of the older classic homebrewing volumes, Snyder's book is a sound investment.