Books

I've not been quite as prolific in producing new books in the last couple of years. Gone are the times when I might bash out three or four in 12 months. I blame myself.

"Blitzkrieg!" has taken a few years to finish off. The original plan was to release it in May 2020 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Too much and too little information has been my problem. The section on beer styles is way bigger than in previous books in my BAML series. Over 500 recipes, too. While I struggled to find enough on one really important aspect of the book: brewing restrictions.

That's all sorted know. I have a pretty much complete manuscript. No, I have a more than complete manuscript. I've just got sidetracked into adding more about wartime brewing in Holland. Stuff which I hadn't intended including. I just got my hands on so much new data from the Amsterdam archives that I couldn't resist including it.

Then there's the cover problem. Or rather covers. Weighing in at almost 1,000 pages, it's much longer than the Lulu maximum of 740 pages. I'll split it into two volumes: one with the history stuff, the other with the recipes. Alexei is difficult enough to motivate to produce one let alone two covers. Some pathetic excuse about needing to study.

You may have noticed that I'm already working on the next volume of BAML - "Free!", covering 1880 to 1914. Over 20,000 words are already in the bag. Mostly in the form of recipes. Though I've filled in a few bits of the general text, too. 

I've had a few requests to put out another book like "1909 Beer Style Guide". A 1959 version seemed quite popular. A few weeks back I even laid down its keel. Ironically, that's put me off completing it. I realised that to a large degree it was going to duplicate "Austerity!". Which would make it easy for me to bash, but made it seem somewhat redundant.

Not that it stopped me knocking out more style definitions which it would include. Then I had another idea. Rather than going for a UK-wide style guide for a specific period, why not do one just for London, but for several time periods.

"London Beer Style Guide 1805 - 1973" - would anyone be interested in that? Like the 1909 guide, it would consist of style definitions and example recipes.

I'd like to know if there's any interest before I commit my valuable time. (Valuable because I've nio idea how many more years I have left in me.)