Book Review: Tasting Beer (2nd Edition) by Randy Mosher

A Guide Built for Novices and Experts Alike

5 out of 5 stars

Tasting Beer was written for both beginners and experts who want to learn more about beer.  It covers topics such as beer and food pairing, different beer styles (updated for the 2nd edition), tastes, and other things that beer lovers should know and love.

As someone who has already taken the first level Cicerone test (Certified Beer Server) this book has been on my to-read pile for a while.  I’m excited that it came out on audiobook by Tantor Audio so that I could both listen to it and make notes in my copy.  Sometimes non-fiction books like this don’t make sense on audio since they are like sitting in a boring class with a monotoned professor who is just drowning on about stuff you want to learn but can’t.  Tasting Beer and the way that Donald Corren narrated it was the opposite of that.

I’ve been around beer for some time now and I write a beer blog BeerGodBlog dot com. But, I also know that I don’t know everything.  I jumped into this book with my mind open ready to learn.  I’m really glad I did because there is a ton of information within the pages of this book.

I realized about halfway through Tasting Beer that I need to meet Randy Mosher and have a drink with him.  I feel like I could learn more in five minutes talking to him than I learned in over a year working in the industry.   He’s just a wealth of knowledge, but he’s also able to explain that knowledge and expertise in a way that is easy to digest and remember later.  I will definitely be referring to this book numerous times as I attempt to take my Level 2 Cicerone certification.

Donald Corren was the perfect narrator for this.   I spent many nights listening to this with a pint in my hand listening to Corren read Mosher’s words.  I spent so much time with Corren in my ears that I felt like I had a new drinking buddy.  Corren provides a great narration to a great book.