The Bookworm: 'Brewed Awakening'
Brewed Awaking, by Joshua M. Bernstein. 292 pages. Sterling Epicure. 2011.
Concerning beer, the last decade has witnessed more seismic changes than any time since Prohibition. There are more than 1,700 craft breweries in America, from community-based nanobreweries to the new breed of national brands such as Dogfish Head and Stone. Untethered from stodgy tradition and driven by unbridled creativity, American brewers are leading a boundaryless charge into the global future of beer. (p. XI)
Bobblehead gave me a copy of Joshua M. Bernstein’s Brewed Awaking for my birthday way back in 2011. I was entering the last year of my twenties, which shows just how long it’s taken me to get around to reading it.
Brewed Awakening not only provides an informative primer about beer and how it’s made, it chronicles the explosive growth in craft brewing over the last two decades (well, one decade when the book was published), the rebirth of past styles, and the motley crew of individuals quenching thirsts around the world one pint at a time. It’s a passionate biography about “the world’s craft brewing revolution.” It is, as written on the back cover, the ultimate beer geek’s journal.
From craft brewing behemoths like Sierra Nevada and Rogue to nanobreweries like Worth Brewing in Northwood, Iowa, Bernstein covers it all. A prolific food and beverage writer, Bernstein expertly and passionately weaves the story of brewing super bitter IPAs, sourcing organic grain, and the unique arrangements made by nomadic brewers. He dives into the world of homebrewing, collaborations, and food pairings. Interviews with brewers offer rich insights, as do Bernstein’s personal experiences and liquid research. Bernstein covers it all. He knows beer, and his writing is clear, concise, and understandable to all. His passion and enthusiasm shine through in his vivid profiles of brewers and breweries and the book’s many beer recommendations. It’s inspirational and made me think, “I used to do that!” Brewed Awakening taught me a lot even though I’ve been drinking and writing about beer for a while. The book features a much-appreciated glossary, and the cover doubles as a beer map, connecting styles, though it’s more pretty than useful.
The text is complemented by a lot of drawings and pictures. Brewed Awakening is presented as a journal with notebook paper pages and photos graphically taped in. I’m unsure what the point is—to mimic the journals beer geeks tote from brewery to brewery?—but it is imaginative and makes the book much more interesting. It is annoying at times, however. The sidebars profiling brewers, breweries, and beers use a less-than-ideal font to simulate handwriting, which is hard to read at times. The journal-like effects are cool, and probably took a lot of work to execute, but it’s distracting and makes the pages too busy.
Though some chapters are engaging and enlightening, others are boring. I think that’s to be expected from any book like this: some sections are more appealing than others based on the individual reader—and there were parts that did not interest me (but I slogged through anyway because I’m a masochist). The chapter on past styles drags on and on (42 pages) and the section about food pairings, where Bernstein recounts a beer dinner, feels like page filler. But a lot of that may have more to do with me: I don’t think it’s necessary to drone on about gose or beer-infused entrees or desserts.
Though I read all the beer recommendations at first, I started skipping most of them after a certain point to make the book pass faster, only reading the recommendations that interested me. Part of it was the font, but I was mostly uninterested.
One thing really impressed me, though it should not be that surprising given Bernstein’s knowledge of the industry and market: He predicted the boom in sour beer. I can’t remember when sours started taking off, but Brewed Awakening predates it by a few years.
Though it took me over seven years to get around to reading it, and it is very outdated now (I think there are more than 7,000 breweries in the U.S. now), Brewed Awakening is a worthwhile and informative book perfect for passionate, long-time craft beer drinkers and newbies alike.
