How to write a beer review ... by writing a wine review.

In his approving review of Eric Asimov's book, How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto, Alan McLeod of A Good Beer Blog cites the following passage.

I've become a firm adherent of the notice that wine is for drinking, not tasting. Only by drinking, swallowing, savoring, and returning to a wine, and repeating the process over time, can one really get a full and complete idea of what's in a bottle and what the wine is all about. A taste is fine if you believe that understanding a bottle consists of writing down impressions of aromas and flavors. It's like buying music over the Internet - if a fifteen-second snippet offered everything you needed to know, why pay for the whole song.

Remarking on that, McLeod pivots to beer:

When was the last time you read beer writing like that? Focus on the complete idea of what's in the bottle? No reference to being a pal of the wine maker or how it fits into a structure of styles? A fluid first approach to appreciation.

Not often, I would agree.

Mr. McLeod's blog itself being one exception, read Mr. McLeod's review in its entirety. Then, read Mr. Asimov's book.

Perhaps I should have entitled this post: "how to write a book review."