BOOK REVIEW: Beer Drinker's Toolkit

Jokes aside, the new gift book Beer Drinker's Toolkit is fun but very informative and would be the ideal Father's Day present.

With the rapid rise of Aussie craft and non-alcoholic beers, it provides an insider's guide to help boost your beer knowledge.

The hardcover title Beer Drinker's Toolkit (Gelding Street Press, $32.99, August 2023) is the ultimate visual guide to learning everything you need to know about beer.

Passionate beer writer Mick Wust doesn't take himself or beer drinking too seriously and helps readers navigate the world of beer drinking - from the history, types of beer, best food pairings, non-alcoholic varieties and how beer drinking is different around the world.

Lavishly illustrated and accessibly written, think of this like the schoonerversity you wish you went to.

It taps (pun intended) into the boom in craft beer and boutique microbreweries and featurwa 200 quirky and eye-catching illustrations.

Researched and compiled by Mick Wust who is an award-winning specialist beer writer .

It follows on from Gelding Street Press's successful first offering in this genre, Beer Mania.

Mick Wust enjoys a brewski so much he became a specialist beer writer in 2015.

"I'm not a brewer or certified beer expert," he says in his introduction.

"I'm a writer who started writing about beer in 2015 because beer is the funniest drink in the world. And the more I learn about this wonderful drink, the more I fall in love with it.

"Beer is fun, so I reckon learning about beer should be fun as well. That's why this book is more like having a chat in a pub than sitting through a lecture. This isn't university."

In his history according to beer, he tells us that women have done most of the brewing throughout history without copping the credit for it.

And in the chapter on ingredients, he tells us that you can walk up to anyone in the street and ask them what's in wine and they will say grapes. Ask what's in cider and the response is apples.

But ask what's in beer and people are stumped.

Well, there are four ingredients - water, hops, yeast and malt - but there are endless possibilities.

He writes for The Crafty Pint, an independent online magazine and resource for anyone interested in craft beer in Australia, and he contributes fun and informative articles for a range of brewing media.

He hates beer snobs.

So, sit back - preferably with a brewski in hand - and embark on a wonderful journey.