My new ebook on beer styles – the FAQs

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Amber, Gold and Black, my just-published ebook on the beer styles of Britain, their origins, growth and current status, which I launched last week for downloading at thecornerpub, has been gathering notices across the beerweb, on Beer Advocate, RateBeer, Real Beer, and even Beertwitter, which I confess I didn’t know existed …

So far the comments have been pretty good: Ron Pattinson, for example, said:

A unique insight into the course of British brewing over the last 200 years, well-researched and well-written.. Amber, Gold & Black is worth a fiver of anyone’s money. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of the history of British beer.”

and Evan Rail said:

Amber Gold & Black is a really good read. It’s well-written and captivating throughout. Just bought it myself and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in British beer history.”

One of the great wrinkles to e-commerce is that, by its nature, I get to see exactly who is buying the book, and it’s been gratifying to see several brewers’ names coming through as purchasers and some fellow beer writers, too.

A couple of questions keep coming up, in emails and on bulletin boards, so here are

AGB – the FAQs

Can I purchase a hard copy of Amber, Gold and Black/Is there going to be a printed version?

If enough ebook copies get bought, then yes, and people who download the ebook version will be offered a discount on any printed version. But this is a do-it-myself publishing operation (though done, I hope, to properly professional standards) and the ebook has been produced to test the demand for a printed edition, and to try to raise the necessary funds for a printed version. So if you want to see a printed version, download the ebook …

Is this is a collection of the articles on beer styles you did for What’s Brewing?

No, the pieces in What’s Brewing were all very severely cut down versions of the chapters written for Amber, Gold and Black – 1,000 words at a time in WB, max, chopped out of 6,000 and more words, sometimes many more, in the chapters in AGB. There are also several extra chapters in Amber, Gold and Black that never made it into WB, on heather ale, herb beers, wood-aged beers and the surprisingly long and noble tradition of British lager, for example. So this is very much more – much, much more – than the tiny amount that got into WB.

For those of you that haven’t been to thecornerpub yet to download YOUR copy for just £5/$10, and want a taster of what the book is all about, here’s the contents page:

Amber, Gold and Black: the contents

Introduction: Why Britain is one of the greatest brewing nations, and how the ales and beers uniquely developed in Britain made it so

1 Bitter: Its Victorian roots in the pale ales of Burton upon Trent, its regional variations and comparatively recent national triumph

2 Mild: A history dating back to Saxon times, the myths, the varieties, the rise to national dominance and subsequent fall, the survivors

3 Burton ale: How the beer that once filled aristocratic mugs in St Petersburg became a favourite across Britain and vanished away

4 Porter: The true story of the beer that fuelled London’s street and river porters, its global triumph, and death and rebirth

5 Stout: What stout really means, the fortunes it made in London and Dublin, how it became “good for you” and what it is now

6 IPA: The myths and the truths about the seasonal speciality that turned into something marvellous on its journey to the East and became a huge success at home

7 Golden ales: The late 20th century answer from real ale brewers to the rise of lager, how it was invented and grew, where it’s going

8 Dinner ales and low-gravity beers: The story of beers made to go with food, and Britain’s tradition of refreshing low-strength ales

9 Brown ale: How an old style was given two new twists at the start of the 20th century, and went on to take America by acclaim

10 Wheat beer: A lost British beer style that gave us two legendary lost brews, and came back again at the end of the 20th century

11 Barley wine, stingo and old ales: Beer’s answer to brandy, the long story of powerful, aged brews that pack lots into each small glassful

12 Herb and flavoured ales: The many plants that have gone into beers and ales besides hops, from moorland bushes to weeds, and the fruits and berries too

13 Honey beers: One of the oldest styles of beer, which returned in the 20th century and proved popular with hairdressers

14 Heather ale: The ancient tale of a legendary brew supposedly made long ago by the ancient Picts, and revived by a boutique brewer.

15 Wood-aged beers: The 21st century development of beers aged so as to take flavours from the cask, including whisky brews

16 Lager: How the pioneers of lager learnt from British brewers, authentic Victorian lagers, and modern quality lager in the UK

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Filed under Beer, Beer styles, History of beer

Tags: Beer Advocate, beer books, ebooks, Evan Rail, Martyn Cornell, RAteBeer, Ron Pattinson