Drinking in Boston: Hit the Beer Books

Boston is a beer-drinking town. So if you’re new here or are just not a beer drinker (shame!) you might sit in a bar staring down fifteen brightly colored, alluring taps and find yourself utterly overwhelmed. We understand. Or, we’ll put up with it for a short period of time.

Rather than drinking yourself into a stupor every night (you won’t remember the beers that way, anyway) try using a book to guide your sampling.

The world of beer literature is surprisingly rich (heady even!) with something for every taste. There are books on beer styles, on beers of the world, on cooking with beer, on brewing beer, the history of beer, and of course, on appreciating beer. Searching for “beer guide” on Amazon brings up a bundle, but you may also want to try BeerBooks.com, a site devoted to beery literature. Also stop by the Publick House’s Provisions Store (adjacent to The Roadhouse) to flip through a number of books and magazines in their reading nook.

Don’t know what to look for? The late, great Michael Jackson (King of Beers, not the King of Pop) has long been renowned as beer’s Official Aficionado, has written numerous guides. Charlie Papazian, who wrote Complete Joy of Homebrewing, the bible for homebrewers, has also written Microbrewed Adventures about his quest for craft brews across the country. There are numerous histories too, from the story of Guinness to that of the ever-popular Pabst and several that cover beer’s history from its Sumerian beginnings up to the present like Fermenting Revolution.

But that is just a small selection. Ask the bartender at your favorite beer bar. Ask the guy who looks like he knows what he’s doing at the liquor store. Everyone has their own Good Book.