Drinking in Boston: Beer Porn!

Remember those DK Eyewitness books from when you were a kid that would explain anything? There was one on animals, stars, dinosaurs… Always lots of colorful pictures and factoids. Well, now the same company has put one out for adults: on beer!

Bostonist was so excited by the The Beer Book and its full color, full-frontal shots and descriptions of nearly 1,700 beers from all over the world that we came close to drooling on the bookstore’s display before buying our own copy to drool on.

In The Beer Book, the drool-inducing photos are accompanied by a quick history of the brewery as well as a note on the taste of a few of the maker’s key brews. The beer is arranged geographically, beginning with a lengthy section on the US. Oh, page after page of glorious beer! So many beer books; so little time.

This encyclopedic approach is split up with two-page spreads that feature a brewery, explain a certain beer style, or even locate on a map where iconic beers are brewed. And then of course there are the beautiful, richly-colored shots of breweries, bars, beers, people drinking, people brewing… you get the idea.

In other words, there is a little something for everyone. Newbies can admire the pretty bottles but still learn about styles and famous breweries. The more experienced can use it as their version of a birder’s “life list,” cross off those already tried, and start searching for the delectably foreign and out of reach.

One thing is for certain. The book is beautiful. Beautifully designed, beautifully organized, beautifully researched, beautifully shot. This here is some high class beer porn.