Not too many years ago, a North American beer drinker in search of flavorful, distinctive beers had to look overseas for an alternative to the pale mass-market lagers brewed by a handful of giant brewing companies. Today, especially in the region bordering the Pacific Coast, a new generation of smaller, local breweries is providing us with better and more varied beer than ever. Among them, these "micro-" or "craft" breweries manage to duplicate nearly every beer and ale style known in the Old World, as well as some distinctively New World varieties.

The other great trend in West Coast food and drink over recent decades is in the sheer variety of our food tastes, as travel and immigration continue to add new flavors to our collective food vocabulary. Here on the western edge of North America, the way people cook and eat today represents a mingling of food traditions from around the world, with especially strong influences from Mediterranean, Asian, Latin American, and regional American cuisines.

Whether you call this blending of flavors and traditions "eclectic," "New American," "fusion," "Pacific Rim cuisine," or some other label, I think it's no coincidence that a lot of our favorite foods go very well with beer. In a sense, modern West Coast cooking and modern West Coast beer have grown up together, like the local food and drink in much of the Old World.

In this, my twelfth cookbook, I have assembled 150 American and international recipes to go with various styles of craft-brewed beers, from delicate hefeweizens to hoppy pale ales and espresso-black stouts. The book also describes each of these styles and more, and explores the how and why of matching the right food to the right beer.

Eleven years ago, in my previous book on this topic, I wrote "There has never been a better time than now to be a beer lover, especially in America." That is even more true today, especially here on the West Coast. It's been a great pleasure to delve once again into the subject of good beer and the foods that go with it, and I hope you will enjoy sharing the results of my research.

Unfortunately, as of early 2007 The Microbrew Lover's Cookbook (ISBN 1-57061-312-5) is out of print from the publisher. If you are unable to find it at your local new or used bookstore or kitchenware shop, we have some copies available for sale through Harlow & Ratner.

home | bio | publications | classes | links | get in touch