The Naked Pint by Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune is an excellent book. If the Craft Brewery Pilgrimage were a college course, this would be required reading. It is well-written, informative, entertaining, opinionated, and a lot of fun.
If you have questions about brewing, if you are intimidated by having so many craft brewing choices, if the idea that quality and flavors of beer are more important than the price and the quantity of beer, this book is a great place to start.
They begin at the beginning, with Beer 101. The first chapter discusses ingredients, the basics of fermentation and brewing, basic types of beer, the secret of how to get the beer you want to drink, and the etiquette of beer bars. If your introduction to beer was drinking whatever anyone else bought, this chapter alone is an excellent resource.
That is just the beginning. The Naked Pint goes on to describe what makes a great beer great. Christina and Hallie are enthusiastic and very well educated about great beer, and are gifted at drawing other people in and sharing their passion and their information.
They build the confidence of those who are brand new to craft brews, and encourage those with more craft brew experience to spread their wings. They describe brews with a spiritual, monastic background as well as those with a more sensual appeal. They write about pairing great beer with great food, and tell you everything you need to know to begin brewing at home. They describe the many different shapes of beer glasses, and tell you which you absoluteiy need.
As The Naked Pint says in the very first words on the very first page of the Introduction, “Beer loves you. Do you love beer?”
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