Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy

Good book. Lots of recipes to replicate well known branded beers. Well worth buying.

It's interesting to read about beers that I haven't seen around for 40 years; mind you, they were not all good, but Dave line gives recipes anyway as there is no accounting for taste. However, there are some undoubted gems from the Greene King Brewery,especially, as well as some others that have sort of been resurrected in more recent years, although not by the same brewers and not to the same taste, in my opinion. Anyone who has tasted Worthington White Shield as it was origiinally or Worthington from the wood will be glad to follow some of these recipes and recreate some great ales. I haven't brewed beer for a couple of decades and have recently decided to get back into it, with my first brew due to drink in three weeks time. I used to have this book back in the late 70's, early 80's but didn't use it because it does represent a step up from using malt syrups, but now feel more confident to give it a go: and it is worth it as you can make 5 gallons of reasonable bitter for a little more than a fiver. Anyhow, a good book to use and to help you improve your brewing skills, but probably not for the complete beginner. Nevertheless, you soon pick it up, once you get into it, so it could be an investment for the future homebrewer.

An old book now and it shows but allowing for age, there are some great nostalgic beers listed here. It's mostly all grain brewing but easily converted to dry extract which is my brewing method. Also useful is the water treatment table. Excellent read for home brewers.

A useful addition to your brewing library, but too out of date to be considered suitable as your first or main brewing book - for that I strongly recommend the most recent edition of Graham Wheeler's book, British Real Ale. That said, Dave Line's book is a fabulous resource of recipes, although if, like me, your brewing set up is aimed at 23 litre brews, many of the recipes here are aimed at 25 or 20 litre brews, leaving you to do a simple bit of arithmetic to scale up, or down, the recipe.Because of it's age, it doesn't cover some of the newer or more specialised beers out there, but most of the time served mainstream beers are here.At the current low Amazon price I think this book is a very good value 'nice to have', but only for someone looking for a good resource of recipes that will let them recreate some of the beers they've seen on the supermarket shelves.

Purchased this book many many years ago and it got me hooked on home brewing but lost it somehow, probably when moving home. I get quite annoyed when I read reviews stating that it is completely out of date and as far as home brewing equipment is concerned it is, but it’s still a good read and the recipes are still relevant today. Let’s not forget people like Dave Line were instrumental in pushing home brewing in this country, he left us far too early but his recipes live on.

I purchased this and probably mistook it for the Big book of brewing ( I think this was the title) which is a good read. This is good but a bit more in depth not a bad book but I probably need the big book of brewing for the same author as that is what I read years ago and has a more general approach. The author had a good style and a common sense approach although some may think it dated now.

This book is a delight for the home brewer who wants to take his craft to the next level from using a simple kit. It is perhaps also particularly valuable for beer drinkers who remember quality ales from quite a few years ago which are no longer widely available, or in some cases long extinct. I have not finished reading it from cover to cover as it is more of a reference source but I am already preparing the ingredients to follow one of the recipes for an ale similar to Fullers ESB which is my all-time favourite tipple. There are however dozens and dozens of recipes for different styles of beers so there's bound to be something worth trying for any serious beer drinker/brewer. I particularly like the fact that it is not overly complicated but gives all the detail needed to understand the processes involved.

I used this book for years to make poly-pin after poly-pin of delicious beers. Not exactly accurate in flavour as someone else mentioned, but very tasty and in the region of the originals all the same. The house used to stink of boiling wort and hops and the floor was a sticky mess, but what great fun.Unfortunately since moving to Ireland 20 years ago I couldn't buy the gear to brew properly any more. But there are a few places that sell the stuff online here now, so I think it's time to start again. This book and the CAMRA one will be the beginning of world domination...Muhahahahaaaaa!