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Book Reviews

Book Reviews, Craft Beers and Brews

The Best Beer in the World: One Man’s Global Search for the Perfect Pint

March 29, 2016
Mark Dredge's The Best Beer in the World Book showcases the best beer from around the world.

Today, I’m happy to hand the blog over to my husband, Shawn Davidson, who was kind enough to review The Best Beer in the World by Mark Dredge for me. A newly minted beer student, Shawn is the perfect person to tackle this review (and he’ll be handling even more craft brew coverage moving forward).

The Best Beer in the World by Mark Dredge appeared in our mailbox at just the right time for me, as I‘m currently looking into making a career transition into the beer industry. I found this book to be a good way to begin my formal education, as I started reading it just before starting my first beer course at a local college.

The Best Beer in the World is full of educational and historical facts, lots of great tasting notes and descriptions of the adventures (including a couple quite drunken ones) that Dredge has taken around the world while looking to discover his favorite beer. I found the chapter on Belgian brewing particularly interesting and coincidentally read it two days before Belgian brewing history was covered in my class. The chapter helped me gain a small understanding of Belgian brewing and I felt a lot more informed while in class. One fact this book and my class truly drove home is that one chapter in a book or a three hour class will only give you a very small understanding of Belgian brewing history. It’s an extensive topic that I look forward to learning much more about.

This is a book I will keep handy for its insight on many of the world’s great beers and especially as a guide to assist in my travels. Dredge went to several destinations I hope to visit and several that I have visited and will again. For example, I’ll be in Amsterdam for the third time this summer and the book’s “City Guide” will definitely enhance my beer experience and provide some new experiences. I visit Germany every year; but this summer will be my first time driving through southern Germany and visiting Munich. Dredge’s section on Munich made me look even more forward to visiting and the book’s “City Guide” will certainly come in very handy with our planning.

Dredge is very knowledgeable about beer history, brewing and tasting. Several times I was fascinated that his tasting notes could be as in depth on his twelfth or fifteenth beer of the day as with his first or second. I guess, as with wine, it comes with experience but unlike wine there seems to be much less spitting in the world of beer!

As well as being very informative and educational, this book was a lot of fun to read. You get a real sense of the adventure Dredge was on as you read about the places visited and the beers tasted. Of course, with the amount of beer consumed in order to write this book there were some epic hangovers—and  he didn’t shy away from describing a couple. One in particular sounded absolutely horrifying considering the environment he was in and the amount he described consuming the day before. But he had a job to do and got right back to the task at hand.

Does Dredge choose a “best beer in the world” or even a personal favorite? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find that out! He shows passion and respect for all kinds of beer while writing and you definitely get a sense that I.P.A’s and pilsners are right at the top of his list. He gets quite in depth with lagers (quite the write-up on Budweiser!), and many craft beers and definitely shows appreciation for the English ales of his home country.

Dredge really drives home the fact that great beer is not simply what’s in the glass. It’s so much more than that. The people you’re with, the history and being where the beer is made all factor in. Everything from what’s going on in your life at the time to the weather can be huge factors in deciding what a great beer is or if it’s one of your favorites. This was a concept I could relate to and agree with. Dredge goes on to describe a “holiday” beer that is truly one of his favorites, even though most locals think it’s terrible and hate it with a passion!

The biggest and perhaps only change I would make here is adding more Canadian content. He mentioned Montreal, which was great (no mention of Unibroue?), but he spent a lot of time spent on the U.S. West Coast without a visit to Vancouver for its many brewpubs and microbreweries. A very small complaint and I hope he has the chance to visit some of the Canadian craft brewers for a future edition of this book.

Overall a great read that I would recommend to anyone from total beer enthusiasts to those looking for a fun introduction to beer.

What do YOU think is the best beer in the world? Share your thoughts in the comments or on social.

*I received a review copy of this book, but all opinions are my own.

Book Reviews

A Vineyard in Napa – Celebrating the History of Shafer Vineyards

March 2, 2016
A Vineyard in Napa book by Doug Shafer

One of my goals for 2016 is to read more of the wine books I own, thus the increase in book reviews on the site. For me, these books are a huge part of my wine education and I’m happy I made the commitment to get through even more of them. Plus, I’m excited to share them with you!

A Vineyard in Napa by Doug Shafer with Andy Demsky has sat on my shelf far too long and I’m so glad to have finally read it. At its core, this is the story of how the Shafer family – led by Doug’s father John – left Chicago in the 1970s to follow John’s winemaking dream. Beyond that, it’s also the story of how Napa developed into the wine region it is today. This book gives a behind the scenes look at how the winemakers in the Valley came together in the early years to create their own governing body and to designate their AVAs. This book is chock full of interesting California wine history that extends well beyond the Shafer family.

That said, the Shafer family played a pivotal role in shaping that history, in particular in the creation of the Stags Leap AVA and all the drama that came with that process. Reading this, I was fascinated to see how all the biggest producers in the area, as well as some of the lesser known vintners, came together (and sometimes tore each other’s ideas apart) to create a place that is now renowned for the quality of its wines.

When people write off Ontario’s emerging regions I may just have to refer them to this book. I think people forget how regions like Napa got their start. Winemakers did not suddenly appear there with cellars full of Screaming Eagle and Opus One, they had to learn the quirks of the region year by year and they made more than their share of errors in the process. All regions start with one person deciding to grow grapes and make wine, then they have the ability to blossom into something extraordinary if the conditions and community are just right.

Shafer Vineyards wines are now outside my budget, but in the 1970s they worried that $11 might be too much to charge. And given the many foibles they had as they developed their winemaking acumen (mudslides, a vintage reeking of sulphur, MIA winemakers), it may have been. But the story here is all about how the family pulled together and overcame any issues, supporting each other as they learned just how the winemaking business worked. And in doing so, they have remained a successful family-owned and operated winery—one that’s making wine which is consistently rated as some of the top in the world.

Not all their early challenges were from inexperience—wild fires, a local outbreak of phylloxera, recessions and more all came into play to make the Shafer story one that will be eye-opening for anyone who has thought about winemaking through a romantic lens. It is not easy to create a winemaking dynasty and it is even more difficult to do it with your family. In this case, the winery has brought the family even closer together, but Shafer writes openly about how he almost didn’t make the leap to becoming his father’s winemaker because he worried about the strain it would put on the family.

While this book was published in 2012, it still really holds up. The history of Napa winemaking is fascinating and the honesty with which Shafer talks about his early days of winemaking is impressive. A must-read for those who are interested in winemaking history and the development of California wine.

What’s your favourite book about winemaking? Share it in the comments or on social.

Book Reviews

Wine Folly – The Essential Guide to Wine

February 18, 2016
Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine book

One of my favourite presenters at the 2015 Wine Bloggers Conference was Madeline Puckette, better known to wine lovers as the blogger behind Wine Folly. I was very familiar with Madeline’s work because her blog style, which merges her graphic design skill with wine facts, has taken the blogosphere by storm. It was a great go-to when I was taking wine classes (I even had instructors suggest it) and I found the format of using graphics to illustrate both simple and complex wine concepts really engaging and easy-to-understand.

Her presentation at the conference endeared me to her even more—she was funny, enthusiastic and honest. I took away so much information and left the session feeling excited to get back to blogging. I also couldn’t wait to pick up a copy of her new book, Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine (co-written with Justin Hammack), which I bought soon after its release and recently read cover-to-cover.

The book itself is more of a reference guide, using the Wine Folly format of explaining wine concepts with a few words and some well-designed graphics. Having studied wine for several years, there wasn’t anything new or revelatory in this book, but I’m clearly not the intended audience. This is a book for newbies, for those who want a general understanding of wine and to feel confident at a tasting. And in that area, it does its job well.

The book breaks down wine info and gives you all the basics: what glasses to use, storage temperatures, how to taste, the hallmark grapes of some major wine styles and an overview of wine regions. It’s helpful and easy to follow. I can see picking it up when I want a quick reference for a factoid and for someone new to wine this would be really helpful.

Because this isn’t a deep dive into wine, there were omissions I was disappointed about (Canadian wine is nowhere to be seen, for example), but I think that came about because the book wanted to keep things simple and stick to the biggest grapes in the largest-producing regions. Given the intended audience, that made a lot of sense.

Throughout my read, I kept thinking how helpful this book would be for anyone who had just discovered wine or someone who was a more visual learner. I know that the wine production methods (though somewhat simplified) made a lot more sense in Madeline’s graphics than they did when my instructor went through them in my first wine class. I remember going home and looking for a video because, while I got the theory, I really needed to see the process to truly understand it. This book would have been a handy guide to have then and I’m sure I’ll recommend it often in the future.

Have you read Wine Folly’s book or visited her blog? Share your thoughts in the comments or on social.

Book Reviews, Wine and Food Pairing

Goodness – Wine Pairings for the Neal Brothers’ New Cookbook

February 1, 2016

Confession – I’m a fan of the Neal Brothers products. We can’t keep their honey-mustard pretzel bites in the house because they’re just too good and I will happily slather my sandwiches with their delicious sriracha mayonnaise if given the chance. I also like the ethos of the company—fresh ingredients, organic and Fair Trade whenever possible and supportive of local charities—so I was very interested in finding out more about their Goodness: Recipes and Stories cookbook when it was released.

Peter and Chris NealGoodness is full of yummy-looking recipes and interesting stories from chefs, entrepreneurs and food champions and would be worth checking out on that basis alone, but this book is so much more. Fifty per cent of the profits from Goodness are being donated to Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC), a charity that brings together people from low-income communities to “grow, cook, share and advocate for good food.”

For Peter Neal, the book was a way to spread the word about Canadian food fighters and support a cause he’s passionate about. “I am on the National Advisory committee for CFCC and in a November 2014 meeting we were discussing ways to raise awareness and funding,” he says. “I had always wanted to write a book to inspire others around entrepreneurship and conscious capitalism. Goodness; Recipes and Stories seemed like a wonderful vehicle to accomplish all of this.”

Crispy Cod from the Neal Brothers Goodness CookbookI bought a copy of the book at a recent Toronto launch party and then quickly set about making one of the recipes. OK, Shawn set about making one of the recipes – but you knew that already, right? We went with the Halibut Crunch by Peter and Chris Neal, which is an easy and delicious take on breaded fish. We made our version with cod, since there was no halibut available at our fish shop and chose Neal Brothers Srirachup Kettle Chips and Sriracha Mayonnaise to make the topping. Shawn and I both like spicy food, so this was the perfect version for us, but the recipe can be adapted to whatever your tastes.

We both agreed this recipe was super easy and the results really tasty. This is the sort of simple, filling dish that can be paired with a salad for a lazy dinner after work. The chips give the breading a great kick of spice and a burst of crunch and the mayo brings it all together in a delicious bite. No need for tartar sauce here – it’s built right in. For a wine pairing, we went with dry bubbles that cut through the spice cleanly. We chose the Veuve Ambal Crémant de Bourgogne, an affordable French sparkling that won’t break the bank for a casual meal and works really well with the level of salt and spice here. I liked this brut sparkler both on its own and with food—it was refreshing and crisp with just enough fruit on the palate and very strong bubbles that held up well.

Veuve Ambal Sparkling French WinePeter Neal is also a wine lover (and a partner in Hanna Neal Wine Merchants), so I asked him for his favourite wine pairings for recipes in Goodness. “I loved Lil Macpherson’s braised lamb shanks with a beautiful Rioja – Marques de Murrieta,” he says. “I also loved Palmer & Co. Champagne on New Year’s with Jamie Kennedy’s marinated wild sockeye salmon.”

Those both sound like mouth-watering options too! I was curious about Hanna Neal Wine Merchants and the work they do, which is currently focussed on Spanish wines. “We feature some beautiful and iconic Riojas from producers such as Marques de Murrieta, as well as lesser known value wines from areas such as Alicante and Emporda,” says Peter. “We are starting to work with a producer who makes the best value Cava in my opinion, La Perelada, and also hope to start presenting organic and biodynamic wines to the LCBO, but they need some nudging!” Hopefully not too much, as it would be great to see another organic option on store shelves soon.

The Neal Brothers Goodness Recipes and StoriesIf you’re looking for a good mix of recipes with varied levels of complexity Goodness is a great option (there’s lots for newbies or more experienced chefs here). It’s an easy-to-use cookbook for a great cause and full of dishes that call out for wine pairings. Shawn and I have marked a bunch of pages and are thinking the Beet Caprese by Chef Rocco Agostino will be next on our list to make and we’re excited to experiment with wine options.

You can order your copy of Goodness: Recipes and Stories on Amazon or find it at a local retailer.

Interested in another Spanish wine and food pairing? Check out this suggestion from Peter Neal’s partner at Hanna Neal Wine Merchants, Andrew Hanna.

What are your favourite wine and food pairings? Share them in the comments below or on social.

Thanks to The Neal Brothers for providing some of their products to help Shawn and I experiment with this recipe (and a few wine and snack food pairings). The bottle of Veuve Ambal Crémant de Bourgogne was also a sample. I bought my copy of Goodness at full price because CFCC is a really important charity and this is a great way to support them. Opinions are, as always, my own.