The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beer Tasting will provide readers with a comprehensive introduction to understanding and enjoying the vast styles and complex characteristics of beer. Understanding and enjoying beer is no longer a simple process, as beer has gone from a world of relatively small offerings from major brewers to a universe of literally hundreds of unique styles from craft brewers around the world. Like wine, the taste and subtle characteristics of beer can be affected by a number of different components including the brewing style, the yeasts and hops that determine taste and character, how the various grains are used in brewing, and more. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beer Tasting is not a guide to brewing, it's a guide to tasting, understanding, and enjoying what has become a complex and often confusing process of enjoying one of the world's oldest beverages. Readers will learn the brewing process and how it can affect a beer, how to recognize tasting notes and aromas, how to identify unique styles, how to taste and enjoy them properly; even how to select the right glassware and serving temperature for maximum enjoyment.
Rita Kohn is a passionate craft beer aficionado and the author of 20 books including True Brew: A Guide to Craft Beer in Indiana [Indiana University Press, 2010] and Full Steam Ahead: Reflections on the Impact of the First Steamboat on the Ohio River [Indiana Historical Society Press, 2011]. In addition, Kohn is a playwright, producer of documentaries with WFYI public television in Indianapolis, and a senior writer with NUVO Newsweekly as their craft beer columnist and reviewer of local arts and culture. Her by-line also currently appears in Indiana Living Green. Kohn holds degrees from Buffalo State College, New York, and Illinois State University, which awarded her Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003. Author home: Indianapolis, IN.
The Upland Brewing Company takes its name from the rolling hills of southern Indiana and has been brewing ales, lagers, and sours in Bloomington, Indiana since 1998. Many of their brews are unique twists on traditional recipes, while others are products of their own imaginations. Their beers have received several international medals and awards, but their core philosophy is about brewing the kinds of beer they like to drink, and providing fresh, local options to their communities. The name "Upland" comes from the Norman and Crawford Uplands, the term geologists gave to the area of southern Indiana that was never overrun by the glaciers that flattened much of Indiana's northern landscape. The raised highlands or "uplands" remained untouched, resulting in a region of rugged, heavily wooded hills and hollows.
