The Great Canadian Beer Guide

by Stephen Beaumont

Covering over 163 breweries in Canada, Beaumont provides basic information such as address, phone and fax numbers and web sites, a short history of the business, and tasting notes on over 800 different beers. Each beer across the country is rated using Beaumont's four star system.

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Muzzlehatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This kind of book is outdated before it's even published, so if you approach it as a reference to guide you to the best of what's out there now, you'll be sorely disappointed. But Beaumont is an excellent writer and a discerning critic, and his analysis of where the Canadian beer scene was, and where it is (as of 2002, anyway, which is the date of the edition I read) is entertaining and illuminating. I probably wouldn't pay full price for a 6-year old book on any country's beer scene, but I would certainly grab this one from the library, or used and cheap, and I would say that it's as good a model as any on how to write such a guide.

[Sagely · Rating 2 out of 5]

The danger of this sort of guide is that it passes into the realm of dated artifact very quickly. While some of the prairie pubs and brewers Beaumont mentions are still operating, many are not. Those that are have often changed their lineup. Meanwhile many, many, many other breweries have opened.

Beaumont does offer a readable history of Canadian beer and a love of beer that will do anyone's heart good.