Book Review: Beer is Proof God Loves Us

Soon to be released (November 20, 2010) is Charles Bamforth’s book Beer is Proof God Loves Us, published by the Financial Times Press.  It is a heartfelt account of beer from the Beer Professor himself. This book is not a read. It is a intimate conversation that jumps out of every page. I’ve read many books about beer and brewing. Charlie Bamforth’s BEER is Proof God Loves Us reads as though I’m sitting at a pub table across from the Professor of Beer as he reveals personal tales and experiences over many pints of beer. A concise snapshot of the world of beer, past, present and future. It reads with remarkable insight into behind the scenes world of beer, peppered with Bamforth’s real world, real beer and real life experiences.

This is a book that begs beer accompaniment. My beer, the Professor and Beer is Proof…seem one. Beer economics, beer quality; the philosophical, psychological, technical, real and imagined are thirstfully revealed as though having a back room conversations with the Professor of Beer himself.

He may be the world’s Beer Professor, but his heart is revealed in his statement, “The contemplative and meditative me savors what I like to call the Slow Beer Movement…”

Anyone who admits to having had “delicious meatballs” in Saudi Arabia, only to discover they had “once swung proudly between the rear legs of sheep” deserves a good read.

Read his book and join me in toasting the blessed Professor of Beer himself.

Bamforth concludes, “[Beer] is a simple and innocent aspect of God’s reality.” You will agree too, after reading Proof…

Drops of wisdom excerpted from …God Loves Us.

• “Has beer, I wonder, lost its soul?....Or is it, rather, me that is the dinosaur?”
• …. All is not lost in the world of beer. Let’s go there.
• Personal insight into the origins of AB and Inbev
• Fierce rivalries inevitably end in gobbling. Brewing companies have been bought and sold for generations. Is ancient and modern consolidation good for consumers?
• Monks started brewing on Burton on Trent in 12th century only to be bought by Molson Coors and then eventually closed.
• Quality is: philosophical, psychological, technical, real and imagined.
• Rolling Rock founded by Benedictine Monks in the mountains of Allegheny.
• Meticulous and firsthand account of the demise and collapse of the UK brewing industry and the demise of cask ale
• So What is Quality? It’s an attitude “Let us be mindful… Let us each respect and be tolerant of each other’s opinions.” The Professor’s ensuing perspective is anything but boring. With his technical background, his humanistic undertone and soccer goalie stance …[he never reveals this secret in his book… he used to be a soccer goalie]
• Charlie Bamforth likes his meat well done and his ales NOT overhopped.
• The Biblical proportions of anti-alcohol forces. Tongue in cheek, while seemingly silently weeping at the dire possibilities and consequences of another prohibition. He does not add salt to his beer with teary eyed abandon, but offers intoxicatingly humorous perspective that provides thirst for the next page
• Hysterical and Bamforth perspective of the “pissing contest” to determine who can make the strongest beer in the world.
• Beer and Health – a wealth of study and intoxicating opinion
• “Some seek to deny me the quiet pleasure of my pint… Surely, as long as I am peacefully enjoying my beer, nonexcessively and without harming myself or others, it is a simple and innocent aspect of God’s reality… “

Charlie Twitters at twitter.com/CharliePapazian