November 10, 2017

Book Review: Atlas of Beer

When TLC Book Tours contacted us about reviewing one of their latest books, Atlas of Beer: A Globe-Trotting Journey Through the World of Beer, we were thrilled! We love to read and we read every type of book. But a book that combines travel and beer almost sounded too good to be true!

“This atlas is the ultimate beer lover’s guide to the world, filled with stunning photography, great storytelling, intriguing beer destinations, fascinating historical perspectives, and firsthand accounts from brewers and bar owners around the globe.”

To put simply, the book is a comprehensive world beer tour featuring 45 countries. This is THE guide to the best beer festivals, breweries and pubs/bars to visit all around the world. In addition to all of these recommendations, there are more than 100 maps and 200 amazing photographs. National Geographic explorers and beer geographers Nancy Hoalst-Pullen and Mark W. Patterson traveled to 28 countries and tasted more than 2,000 beers to write this book. Side note: how does one become a beer geographer because we want in on that career!

How the book works:

Introduction to the continent
Brewline (notable dates in each continent’s beer history) and the continent’s beer festivals.
Beer guide: places to visit for authentic beer experiences or where the beer lovers go.
Local brews: regional beers plus sidebars with Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster, Garret Oliver highlighting the native beer styles.
What’s brewing: highlights from the up-and-coming beer countries within each continent.

The Atlas of Beer is a really awesome guide to beer all over the world. As people who love to travel and often build our travels around beer, we found this book to be extremely helpful. We enjoyed that this book provided a history on beer culture, how geography shapes beer and the geographic origins of beer styles in addition to all the best places to drink worldwide. We also liked how they included useful tips such as how to ask for beers in foreign countries and other etiquette tips. This book prepares you for drinking all across the world so you don’t have to sound like a tourist. You will also learn so many facts about the region’s brewing process and what beers you should try. It prepares you to immerse yourself in the culture. Our only gripe is that it doesn’t come in a small compact form so we could put it in our pocket for traveling 🙂