Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing

As a craft brewer, most of the information here is completely alien, which makes it eyepopping. I'm usually not good with textbooks, but I basically read this thing in one giant 7 hour session (it was a miserable rainy day) with various breaks. So much interesting information on every page. For instance, 'normal' modern brewing is you mash some (already malted) grain, maybe using a single step, step mash, or decoction mash, then you lauter the wort off and boil it and add the hops as you go, then you cool it, add yeast, done. Ales and lagers are a little different but not hugely. Well, imagine being told you can make perfectly cromulent beer by boiling the mash itself, or that you don't even need to boil the wort. Or that you don't even need malted grain or yeast, you can use some rye grain and let its enzymes and yeast do the work instead. The results aren't anything like what we normally consider beer to taste like, but people drank it for thousands of years and it's undeniably beer. Lots of fascinating info on the farmhouse ale culture too, and why most commercial beers that call themselves 'farmhouse' are not (it's not farmhouse just because you use wild yeast, and most farmhouse ales didn't use wild yeast). The only sad part is realizing that as a brewer in the US whose family has no tradition of brewing I can't really make an authentic farmhouse ale, but I can darn well make one that's 'in the tradition of'.

A great reference to beers that have (mostly) not blipped on my brewing radar. Unfortunately this book has sent me down a few rabbit holes that I need to explore and new beers to brew (which is a good thing)! The author has done a great job of writing about these relatively obscure beers and the people who brew them in way that is educational, insightful, and entertaining. Highly recommended!

This book was an inspiration to try new ingredients, techniques and methods for brewing beer. There’s a lot to learn from all the brewing stories here and this book was a satisfactory replacement for not being able to experience the beers and brewing methods myself. I hope the true farmhouse ale tradition lives on and that it will grow as a result of this book.

Lots of neat historical facts and goes through the old farmhouse brew processes. My husband is excited to try some of the non-traditional beer brewing techniques out!

There's not much in the way of practical knowledge here, although a few recipes are included. It mostly describes the oldest known traditional brewing methods used at farms across northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia. Interesting read, and useful for an adventurous home brewer.

Great book

there is nothing better than a book the clearly outlines the facts and history of a story in a way that is easy to understand. This book adds a lot of context to the traditions of farmhouse brewing and widens the scope from the typical saison/biere de garde conversation. I really appreciate the original research and wider point of view

Well written and informative. The author has clearly put a lot of work into the book. Interesting and, on occasion, funny. The reader should do their own research in the values of the the yeasts lauded in the book. It is questionable if they produce useful results in general brewing .

El libro fue para un regalo a una persona especial y le encantó. Cuenta con todo detalle la historia de la cerveza. Está en inglés pero se lee fácil.

This book is spectacular ... learning from the past and how beers were brewed opens our mind to new and unique experiences - Congratulations Lars

Fantastic book, easy to read and very informative and entertaining. Well put together. If you want to learn kveik start here!

It's like reading a story about farmers and beers. Very unique information.

One of the best beer books I have ever read !