The Beer-Taster's Log: A World Guide to More Than 6000 Beers

Rating:
Summary: Good but getting old.. and a bit biased
Review: Great book.. but it's getting old. There are many new breweries & beers not in the book. The reviews are good and fairly consistent. The book has the beer indexed by brewer, name, and state (US beers only). It really needs an index by type/rating as well.. it's difficult to find a highly rated beer of a certain type. The book is also biased towards 'holiday' beers that are unavailable.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Book
Review: The beer reviews are fun to read but are wholely descriptive; not the comprehensive reviews one gets with Jackson. Robertson and his assistants (yes, read the intro, he didn't sample all the beers) focus on appearance, aroma, and flavor. I hunt beer as a hobby and found this book to be a great companion. For the most part, my impressions of beers have matched Robertson's, so the book was a great way for me to understand how the beers I sample compare to those that I cannot find. As pointed out by another, the beer world is rapidly changing and so this book is already out of date. Another point, scottish beer isn't peaty, that's an american invention.

Rating:
Summary: an almost necessary book..
Review: this book is a bible of beers, regardless of whether or not you agree with Robertson's opinions... he hits the great beers (Salvator, Piraat, Aventinus, EKU 28, Orval, etc.) and the horrible ones... for someone just starting to discover the world of beers to all the self-proclaimed "beer experts" out there, this really is a comprehensive, well organized catalog... i was starting to think i was running out of beers to taste, now i have a whole list of targets! enjoy... keep it on the basement bar...