Please take note that I did not include the Complete Joy of Homebrewing in this list but that is only because I singled that book out as an earlier gift idea.  It’s the classic “starter” book for any home brewer and I felt it deserved special attention.

Tasting Beer	Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher This is the book I am reading right now and it’s really great.  I don’t think you can be a great home brewer without having an educated palette and a good understanding of what it is you are tasting when you try a beer.  Randy Mosher is a legend in the home brew community and very active in the Home Brewers Association.  This book goes into detail on the history of beer, what goes into beer, different styles of beer, different flavors, how to detect those flavors and what those flavors mean.  This book is available at Amazon.
Brewing Classic Styles	Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer I have been listening to the Brewing Network quite a bit lately, they have some great podcasts and some really impressive people involved with their network. Jamil and John are two of the people involved in the Brewing Network and their knowledge is overwhelming. Jamil is in a few of the shows and has one of his own about brewing clone beers. Brewing Classic Styles is described as a recipe book but it’s more that that, it includes tips and info on each style that the recipe is associated with. It’s a great resource and is available at a discounted price on Amazon.
Brew Like a Monk	Brew Like a Monk by Stan Hieronymus Belgian beers, particularly Trappist style beer, is one of the most popular styles of beer among craft beer enthusiasts. This book goes into great detail on the history and style of Belgian beers. I haven’t purchased this book for myself yet so i can’t give you a detailed overview of it but it’s been recommended to me by a bunch of different people in the hobby. You can check it out at Amazon
Brewing up a Business	Brewing up a Business by Sam Calagione Sam Calagione is the man behind Dogfish Head Brewery, one of the largest craft brewers in the country. He started out as a home brewer and created a growing and successful micro brewery that puts out a consistently great product. This book is the story of how he did it and what he went through. Check it out on Amazon

Please Note: This article is part of our Holiday series highlighting the top 12 gift ideas for beer enthusiasts and homebrewers. Read the original post to get the full list of beer gift ideas.

Complete Joy of Home Brewing

If you know someone who is interested in the Home Brewing hobby, I can think of no better book to get them started with.  Charlie Papazian is an evangelist of home brewing and good beer.  his mantra is Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a Homebrew.

It’s the first homebrew book I read for my year of beer and I will be writing a more comprehensive review on it in the near future.  Until then, I will say that the book does an excellent job of covering a wide range of brewing topics.  It goes into great detail for the beginning brewer and gives you everything you need for those first batches.  If the person you are buying this for is a beginner, it’s the perfect starting point.  If they are an experienced brewer and have been brewing beer for awhile, they probably already read the book.  If they haven’t read it, they may get more benefit from a book that focuses on more advanced brewing teqniques if they already have the basics down pat.  Charlie covers a wide range of topics, including advanced brewing but doesn’t go into as much detail on those tequniques as he does in the beginner sections.

I can think of no better person than Charlie Papazian to usher anyone into this wonderful hobby.   He takes away the worry and intimidation and convinces you that you can do it.  He makes it fun.  You can read more about this book and purchase it at Amazon

Please Note: This article is part of our Holiday series highlighting the top 12 gift ideas for beer enthusiasts and homebrewers.  Read the original post to get the full list of beer gift ideas.