New Books You Need to Own

I said I’d be back later today with more news, and true to my word, here I am. And while the news might not be the biggest ever, it is important if you enjoy drinking in the Benelux.

More specifically, if you share my great affection for the city of Amsterdam and beers in the style known as lambic, Cogan & Mater and www.booksaboutbeer.com have two new titles you need to own. They are the second and greatly expanded edition of LambicLand and the latest in the …in 80 Beers series, Around Amsterdam in 80 Beers.

(Full disclosure: Tim Webb, who runs Cogan and Mater, is a friend of mine and a writer whose work I respect greatly. That said, I still think these books are terrific additions to any drinks library.)

The first book, LambicLand by Webb, Chris Pollard and Siobhan McGinn, has not only been expanded to twice its original size, but also taken to unilingual English rather than the original English/Dutch edition. Simply, there is no resource that I know of which more comprehensively covers the eclectic world of these wonderful, spontaneously fermented beers.

Around Amsterdam in 80 Beers continues the series that has already covered 80 beers in Bruges, London and Brussels with a methodology that is as simple as it is effective: highlight 80 worthy bars and suggest a single beer to be consumed in each. While Amsterdam arguably doesn’t boast the wealth of notable places that the other cities do – the entry for Kilimanjaro, for instance, speaks more of the food and Ethiopian coffee than it does of the beer and ambiance – this Tim Skelton book is still a must for any visitor seeking libation while touring the back alleys and canals of Amsterdam.

As a bonus, the booksaboutbeer.com website is selling the other three …80 Beers books in a package for only £20, so go ahead and get them all, why don’t ya! You know you want them.