The Best Jewish Food Books of 2011
By Devra Ferst

“Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah” by Jeremy Cowan with James Sullivan
Many a passionate cook and home brewer have fantasized about starting an artisanal food company someday. Jeremy Cowan, the founder and owner of He’Brew (the only American Jewish beer company we know of) documents his company’s coming of age in the beer biz in this beer-memoir. While Cowan’s book won’t give you an exact guide for how to start your own beer company it’ll give you insight into just how far enthusiasm and a bit of shtick can take you.

Sending well wishes and hopes that your 2012 is starting out as the best one yet!

If you are in the Northern California area, please join us in Nevada City for some great wit and tasty beer on January 18th. Jeremy will be doing a book reading and beer tasting at Matteo’s Pub.

Should you be unclear what to get your favorite craft beer lover for the holidays, I have a suggestion, and no, it’s not beer: a book about beer. An impressive number of books about the world’s most wonderful beverage have come out in recent months and would make ideal holiday gifts. Here are a few possibilities.

“Brewed Awakening: Behind the Beers and Brewers Leading the World’s Craft Brewing Revolution,” by Joshua M. Bernstein The best-looking and most fun to read on this list, it’s a how-to guide for the beginning hipster beer nerd. Extra cool points for the book jacket, which unfolds into a beer map of sorts that shows the relationship among various styles and offers suggestions for the best of each. $24.95

“Chicago by the Pint: A Craft Beer History of the Windy City,” by Denese Neu If interested in Chicago’s beer history long before Daisy Cutter, this is the book for you. Each chapter begins with a brief synopsis of a present-day brewery, followed by a passage about our city’s brewing history — all the way down to the city’s first commercial brewery, Lill and Diversey Brewery, which opened “about 1841.” $19.99

“Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How it Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing Company an International Success,” by Jeremy Cowan with James Sullivan Cowan, founder and owner of He’Brew and Coney Island beers, writes an interesting and breezy autobiographical account of breaking into the beer world. Heavy on both beer and Judaism, it makes for — needless to say — a killer Hanukkah present, especially when paired with a six-pack of He’Brew. $25

What: Reading, Signing and Tasting
Where: The Strand, 828 Broadway (at E. 12th St), NY, NY
When: Wednesday, December 14, 7-9pm
Event is 21+ and Shmaltz 15th Anniversary Party “Christmas vs. Chanukah” will be held after at Taproom 307 (307 3rd Ave); for more info see here!

What: Reading, Signing and Tasting
Where: The Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.), DUMBO, Brooklyn
When: Thursday, December 15, 7-9pm
For more info see here! To RSVP please call 718.666.3049 or email rsvp@powerHouseArena.com
L’Chaim!

By Jenise Ortiz, for NBC Philadelphia
Monday, Dec 5, 2011

It’s OK to drink and read especially if you’re reading a book about how one craft beer came to be huge success.

The 2nd and Poplar location of The Foodery will host Shmaltz Brewing Company creator Jeremy Cowan on Sunday Dec. 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. to promote his newly released book, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah.

Don Russell a.k.a. Joe Sixpack, a known reviewer of beer will be joining Cowan during this event with beer tasting along with reading parts of his own book, What the Hell Am I Drinking?

It doesn’t stop there though. The after-party at Devil’s Den on the 1100 block of S. 11th Street will feature Shmaltz’s line up of beers (He’Brew, etc.) going head-to-head against Pennsylvania’s finest Christmas beers in The Battle Royale of Beers Showdown.

So come and find a new book to read all while drinking and learning about delicious crafted beer.

The event is 21-plus of course.

With the holidays fast approaching, there probably is at least one beer lover on your gift list. It may be tempting to pick up a ready-made beer gift pack — a “Beers of the World” approach — but it’s been my experience that the more passionate the beer lover, the  harder it is to actually buy beer for him or her. No matter what you choose, they’ve probably had it before.  (Samuel Adams’ 2011 holiday beer sampler may be an exception. The gift set includes their tasty Chocolate Bock, brewed with Ecuadorean cocoa nibs from San Francisco chocolatier TCHO.)

Still, that’s the nature of beer geekdom: We’re always looking for something new to try. So here are a few nondrinkable gift suggestions for the beer lover in your life.

Beer books
We’re in a golden age of beer books, with dozens of new titles published every year. But the most eagerly anticipated beer book of the year is the “Oxford Companion to Beer” (Oxford University Press, $60, 960 pages). It was edited by Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garret Oliver, and written by more than 165 experts in a variety of beer-related fields. It’s a hefty tome that’s easy to get lost in, but it’s also perfect for browsing. Open it to any page, and you’ll find something interesting to read. (I may be slightly biased, because I contributed about two dozen of the more than 1,000 entries.)

For the casual beer fan, try “Brewed Awakening” (Sterling Epicure, $24.95, 304 pages) by New York writer Joshua M. Bernstein. His book is jam-packed with fun facts, suggested brews and a thorough overview of today’s beer scene. It’s such fun to read you won’t realize you’re learning about history too.

Aspiring brewers will enjoy “The Brewers Apprentice” (Quarry Books, $24.99, 192 pages) by Greg Koch and Matt Allyn. It’s really a series of interviews with some of the world’s leading brewers on their craft. Over the course of the book, you, too, learn to brew beer. Interviewees include Bay Area brewer Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River, Sierra Nevada’s Ken Grossman and Eel River’s Ted Vivatson.

If biographies are your thing, you can’t go wrong with “The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.” (Ten Speed Press, $25, 208 pages), which details not only the story of San Diego’s Stone Brewing by its founders, Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, but also includes back stories
and recipes for home brews and even the food served at their World Bistro.

For a more irreverent take, try “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah” (Malt Shop Publishing, $16.99, 368 pages) by San Francisco native Jeremy Cowan, who tells the tale of Shmaltz Brewing, makers of He’Brew, the Chosen Beer. The subtitle alone will give you some idea of the wild ride you’re in for: “How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing, and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing an International Success.”

History buffs will dive into “America Walks Into a Bar” (Oxford University Press, $24.95, 336 pages) by Christine Sismondo. It’s a journey through the nation’s earliest taverns, the speak-easy era and today’s modern bar scene.

But my favorite book of the year is Joe Sixpack’s “What the Hell Am I Drinking?” (CreateSpace, $11.95, 198 pages). Joe Sixpack is the nom de plume of Philadelphia beer writer Don Russell, and his little book tells the stories and history of 50 different types of beer, along with a checklist of examples of each style. No matter how much you think you know about beer, you’ll learn something new and surprising from Russell’s latest. (Check it out at http://joesixpack.net.)

Beer gadgets

Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a few stocking stuffers and these bottle openers are for a great cause. Called “Beers Not Bombs,” they’re made from “Peace Bronze,” a bronze alloy made from disarmed nuclear missile silos. There are four models, each $14.95, and a portion of the proceeds goes to Doctors Without Borders and thegrass-roots International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Check out the full line at www.beersnotbombs.com.

The other must-have is the new Lagunitas Butterfly Beer Opener ($15). Head over to http://lagunitas.com and watch the video of how to master it, and you’ll quickly see why you need one of these openers, too, whether for yourself or as a gift — or both.
Malty Christmas and a Hoppy New Year!

by STL Hops

While it’s always cool to meet a brewer from your favorite breweries, they’re something slightly cooler about meeting the owner. It takes some very big cojones to start your own business and I think there is something special about meeting the guys who have the gumption to go out and make their own road.

One of those guys who made a go of it is Jeremy Cowan of Shmaltz Brewing Company. Jeremy will be in St. Louis later this week to promote his new book Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, a memoir detailing what it took to start Shmaltz.

If you’d like to meet Jeremy he’ll be speaking at the Jewish Community Center as part of the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival on Thursday, November 17th at 7:30PM (you can purchase tickets here.) He’ll also be signing copies of his book at Left Bank Books (the downtown location) on Saturday, November 19th from 4PM to 6PM.

After the book signing, Jeremy will be heading next door to the Bridge to enjoy some Messiah Bold and RIPA on draft. This is a great opportunity to meet one of the guys who helped to make this US craft beer renaissance a reality.

by Austin L. Ray for Omnivore, Food and Drink Blog of Creative Loafing Atlanta

Fri, Nov 11, 2011

Adventurous drinkers know Jeremy Cowan as the man who brought beers such as the HE’BREW Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. (a rye double India Pale Ale produced in tribute to late comedian Lenny Bruce) and the Coney Island Craft Lager series (of which a portion of the sales benefits the actual Coney Island) to Georgia. Since he started Shmaltz Brewing Company in San Francisco in 1996, Cowan has been creating and refining the Chosen Beers, his signature line of Jewish/pop culture-addicted ales, expanding to include the Coney Island line in 2008. On Sunday and Monday, he visits Atlanta as both brewer and author. He’ll be reading from, signing and generally promoting his new, self-published book, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, at Brick Store, Manuel’s, Hop City and the Atlanta Jewish Book Festival. Although Craft Beer Bar Mitvah‘s blurb claims the book will explain “how it took 13 years, extreme Jewish brewing, and circus sideshow freaks to make Shmaltz Brewing Company an international success,” we asked Cowan to elaborate a bit on the project.

Did you feel the world was clamoring for the tale of a self-described “Jewish Celebration Freak Show Craft Brewery”?
Absolutely! As is true with our beers, the Jewish Freakshow community being maybe 2 percent of the overall population, and with small craft beers being less than less than 5 percent of the beer market, I quantify the book market for Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah to be essentially within striking distance of 0 percent of overall readers. Niche, baby! But all we need is a few thousand of that tiny tribe and we are golden.

What was the impetus to get your story on paper?
My grandmother wrote a few books on technical writing and I loved looking at her name on the spine. That, and to prove an English degree was worth something, to write the great American novel—except non-fiction, and with beer.

You collaborated with your friend and published author/journalist, James Sullivan, to write the book. How did the creative process work between the two of you?
Jim listened to me wax only slightly poetic for a couple of hours on the phone each week for well over six months. He typed up my rambling stories, edited them into a more coherent structure, and then I started cranking on edits and re-writes until I thought I would lose my mind. Having Jim as a professional author gave me the confidence and a voice of wisdom that pushed the finished product far beyond anything I could have done on my own.

For the uninitiated, what does “Extreme Jewish Brewing” entail?
Normally, Jews don’t believe in active attempts to convert anyone to our traditions. However, in the realm of beer, I wanted to pursue all those exceptional beer drinkers who love wild styles, creative recipes, and outrageous flavors. My version of extreme beer – the Shmaltz shtick – always ties into Jewish traditions from the ingredients such as sacred species listed in the Torah, to holidays, great Jewish thinkers, and pop cultural icons.

You sold close to 1,500 copies simply through your loyal Shmaltz fans and distribution network. Were you surprised at that number, especially given that you self-published initially?
Yes! I am astounded and it has been extremely gratifying to have the little cult of the Shmaltz tribe engage with this book. Especially gratifying, however, and ultimately the goal of the specific writing of the book, was to stand on its own as a compelling work that can be judged, read and appreciated without knowing anything about our beers. Honestly, the greatest compliments I have received so far have been from both friends and strangers who said simply, “I finished the entire book.” For a business book, and for something so personal, that seems like a huge success.

Now that the book is finished, are you planning a follow-up?
Hell yeah, coming in 2013, a history of Jews and beer from ancient Mesopotamia to modern craft brewing. I’m working with another journalist from New York and we’ve already uncovered a ton of fantastic historical information. We will be exploring the secret Hebrew connections through modern craft beer.

Once you finish up the book tour, what’s on the horizon for your breweries? Any interesting beers coming up?
It is our 15th anniversary this year and we are launching a ton of new ambitious projects that I can’t wait to share with everyone, starting with Genesis 15:15 (launching right now), our barrel-aged harvest barleywine, to Jewbelation 15 coming out next month, and our newly re-designed Genesis dry-hopped session ale. Not to mention our first ever straight-up 6.5%, 65 IBU single IPA, called Hop Manna.

Events: Manuel’s Tavern Reading & Signing (With Shmaltz Beers on Draft), Sunday, Nov. 13, Free, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
404-525-3447, www.manuelstavern.com

Brick Store Pub Meet and Greet (with a vintage keg of Jewbelation on tap), Sunday, Nov. 13, Free, 7:30 p.m.
404-687-0990, www.brickstorepub.com

Hop City Reading and Signing, Monday, Nov. 14, Free, 4 p.m-6 p.m., 404-350-9998, www.hopcitybeer.com

MJCCA Book Festival, Monday, Nov. 14, Price varies, 7:30 p.m., www.atlantajcc.org

Funny thing about being a beer writer: I receive more books about beer than actual beer. The majority of them — the ones that open with “the differences between ales and lagers” — are a bore. Lucky for me, then, that three recent releases are anything but. If you’re looking to give something to yourself or the beer-lover in your life this holiday season, you might want to consider picking one of these up. After all, a book about beer is the next-best thing to beer. Trust me, I know.

The major release of the year is the highly-anticipated The Oxford Companion to Beer (Oxford University Press, $65). Big both in size (a whopping 960 pages, or four pounds) and in concept, the OCB is the result of years of research by editor Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, and his team of 166 contributors from every corner of the ale world. Even Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio drops in with a food-focused foreword. The encyclopedic chapters include everything from history (there’s a seven-page entry on Germany) to personalities and styles. In other words, there’s a little bit for everyone, and it’s easy to drop in anywhere you want. How else would I have found out that in Japan, a man will often declare “Toriaezu biiru!” (“I’ll start with a beer!”) when he enters a bar? Yes, the price tag is steep (you can find it cheaper online), but the insight is worth it. And if you pick up a box set in person at Brooklyn Brewery, you even get — yes — a free beer.

Greg Koch isn’t shy about promoting craft beer, especially those dispensed by his own Stone Brewing Co. in San Diego. I mean, the man travels with a megaphone. Now he has a new way to evangelize: The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance (Ten Speed Press, $25). Koch teamed up with Stone co-founder Steve Wagner and spokesman Randy Clemens (who’s also author of The Sriracha Cookbook, where we found one of our favorite Michelada recipes) to create a tome that is equal parts brewery history, surprising food recipes incorporating Stone’s bottles (stir-fried Brussels sprouts?), and lessons in homebrewing. You’d want to be a Stone enthusiast already (you can pick up their pale ale many places), but then it’s just about perfect.

And anyone who’s ever held a bottle of He’Brew Beer or Coney Island Craft Lager knows something about enthusiasm. Jeremy Cowan runs his Shmaltz Brewing Co. with a fair amount of shtick, but, circus-sideshow labeling aside, it’s clear that Shmaltz owes at least part of its success to Cowan’s ability to not take himself too seriously, which is accounted for in Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah (Malt Shop Publishing, $16.99), a look at the brewery’s 13-year history. Chapter titles like “Pomegranates and Cocksuckers” are anything but conventional, but then again, neither are some of the best beers. Bar Mitzvah is another reminder of how weird — and wonderful — the industry can be. At the very least, it’s more interesting than most books about a business startup.
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Evan S. Benn is the beer columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His Hip Hops column, blog, and beer app can be found at stltoday.com/hiphops, and you can buy his new book here. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.