Good Starting Points to Learn About Beer

What's there to know? Buy a six-pack, head home, open it and drink it. What else is there?

If you want to keep thing simple, that's probably enough. But beer is a fascinating beverage, both historically and chemically.

There are a lot of resources out there on the web, including the BJCP, Beer Advocate (though in my opinion, BA is not well suited to beginning beer lovers), and others. Books abound as well.

My favorite beer book by far is The Brewmaster's Table. Written by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster for The Brooklyn Brewery, it covers beer's ancient history (starting with the Sumerians I believe!) to the modern era--where beer diverged into the myriad of styles that we see today. This is where the book really gets interesting. Oliver covers the regions where these styles orginated. The real focus of the book is how the different styles complement foods. But the book is enjoyable on many other levels as well, and in my opinion can serve as an introduction to beer. I did a much more in-depth review of this book back on Homebrew Exchange, I'm going to see if I can't dig that up and post it.

The works of the late Michael Jackson (not the late pop singer) are also a good starting point. I have Michael Jackson's Beer Companion:Revised and Updated. This covers beers around the world. It's a bit pricey, and at one time was difficult to find. I think my wife got mine used. A smaller, more practical book by Jackson is the Eyewitness Companion Guide to Beer. This is a smaller, pocket edition that has short synapses on breweries around the world and their most popular brews.

Again, there are many books out there that will start you out on appreciating beer. Sometime down the road I will cover books and resources I've successfully used to homebrew.