The Golden Age of Beer - by Tom Acitelli (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A stunning beer lover's companion from one of today's leading beer experts distills what you need to know to select the ideal beer for every week of the year and enjoy like a pro.

All hail the golden age of beer! Today there are nearly nine thousand breweries in the US alone, brewing an enormous range of styles from imperial stouts to double India pale ales, golden pilsners, briny melon goses, and much more. But while this breadth can delight the taste buds all year, how does one choose what to drink without feeling overwhelmed or defaulting to the same brews again and again?

In this unique volume, acclaimed beer expert Tom Acitelli presents a fifty-two week guide to choosing the perfect beer to complement every week of the year. With tasting notes, brand recommendations, a guide to how to best serve, sip, and savor, plus fascinating backstories and trivia, Acitelli unearths what beer lovers actually care about and reveals how to appreciate the best that the golden age of beer has to offer.

The Golden Age of Beer embraces Acitelli's inviting, accessible voice and dives into homebrewing, beer icons, today's industry game-changers, and more. It cuts through the noise and the hype to leave you with a lush, inspiring, and reliable guide for sampling and entertaining all year long.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Golden Age of Beer

"Through interesting and fun history lessons about beer styles and their unique characteristics, Tom Acitelli gives beer lovers--and even those who are just beer curious--a new way to enjoy mankind's oldest (and best) beverage. By pairing different beers with the different months of the year, this book immediately surpasses those boring beer encyclopedias out there to become a handbook for adventurers who want to explore new expressions, flavors, and experiences." --Clint Lanier, author of Ted Mac and America's First Black-Owned Brewery

"The Golden Age of Beer is a masterfully researched and charmingly written exploration of the people, places, and stories behind the world's beer styles. A must-read for anyone curious about the rich heritage and culture behind today's wonderful beer landscape." --Joseph Tucker, founder of RateBeer

"There's a reason The Audacity of Hops is the literal bible of craft beer history books, and it's not just because Tom Acitelli is a meticulous journalist or that he packs heaps of interesting information into a short space. Rather, it's his writing that stands him in a class of his own when it comes to spinning his narratives into magic. As we witness in Audacity and his newest book, The Golden Age of Beer, Acitelli portrays all of his subject matter in equally loving prose. His words form poetic and meaningful sentences while managing to be easy to read, entertaining, and funny. His descriptions of even the driest subjects can move me to reflection or a sentimental tear." --Tara Nurin, author of A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs

Praise for The Audacity of Hops

"Acitelli's exceptional document of this remarkable growth profiles the brewers, breweries, and brewhounds that have played a part in today's booming craft beer industry. . . . It's an ingenious means of telling a story with so many influential characters, and Acitelli pulls it off, with an eye for detail and a nose for drama." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Tom Acitelli has compiled an extensive collection of firsthand accounts from the pioneers, brewers and industry luminaries that have taken beer back from industrial giants." --Los Angeles Times

"Excellent history of the American craft brewing movement." --Slate

"Acitelli's exhaustive chronicle of the American beer revolution [is] . . . lovingly told." --Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Tom Acitelli is widely regarded as an expert on beer and the beer industry and has written extensively about both for outlets including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Eater. Tom was the long-time history columnist for All About Beer magazine and has been a guest speaker or moderator at several brewery events and festivals, including the Great American Beer Festival. Tom's prior beer books include The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution and Pilsner: How the Beer of Kings Changed the World, which the North American Guild of Beer Writers voted the best book of 2020. He lives in the Boston area.