Still Smarter

So the dreaded excitement and curiosity has kicked in and going from making essential oils and accidentally becoming interested in distilling has created a resurgance of interest in home brewing. I think I must be in my second childhood now as I'm making stuff that I used to make in my wardrobe when I was still in school - wasn't an issue until I had exploding bottles of beer in there and then things became a bit more difficult with the parents aproval rating.
I don't have such issues anymore but I have got this resurgance of interest in brewing and of course distilling now and have various wines and beers on the go and even have the makings of my first all grain brew.
Having just rolled over another year I have been given a book token as a present but have no idea what I should buy with it.
I don't want a beginners book on how to make kit beer but would like something that helps with producing particular flavours etc.
So something a bit more involved but not a chemistry book - a practical advanced brewing book.
So what would people recommend?

Buy the book 'Proof'. Excellent.

I will buy in again, I gave my previous copy to a friend, he has 'mislaid' it moving house.

got that one on ordernow - only £3 so I still have my book token

Distilling book or all grain brewing?

.... just time, time. time to be lost in a book shop, with my phone on silent with my family not caring were I was. That's all.
Then I could choose. Time to smell the fresh print, time to smell the wicker of decay, time to feel the new elasticity of a page and the cracking of an old spine. To be aware of the cusp of new ideas and the burden of lost opportunity .

Yes, a good book shop. Preferably with many floors and a lift, a coffee shop, and a Gin bar. Heaven.

Ah a book shop - I think I've become too antisocial to be allowed into shops - I might hide in a corner and never come out again

Distilling or all grain - well possibly both.

I'm part way through John Palmer's How to brew and have of course become more and more interested in brewing some nice ale for myself but that probably needs to tie into what I am distilling and what results are possible.

Trying flavoured neutral hasn't really met expectations so I intend to try an all grain and see how I get on, and try an infusion from peated malt to see what that produces.

my first barreled spirit is starting to taste a bit like what I want but it isn't there yet and may never be but I will continue trying.

I see myself getting deeper into all grain and fear it could become a slippery slope to something eventually wonderful but I also may end up no longer trying to make whisky if I can't get the result I want.

Maybe I should be trying gin as I won't then have a comparison in my head of what I want to be achieving.

If there was a book that looked at all grain brewing for distilling that would be the dirrection I would go but I find books on one or the other and there seems to be a gap - unless I just haven't found it yet

I like jokes being mixed up.....

So yes

All brown bears are catholic and the Pope does shit in a forest...

No offence intended to anyone, big F*** off bears or gentlemen of high religious order.

Life is too short to waste time hanging around in bookshops, get a kindle they're mint . You don't have to put up with the smell of decaying paper and god knows what else has been smeared on the pages ( library books in particular ), nah mate ebooks rule.

buffalobob wrote: Tue Nov 25, 2025 1:55 am Life is too short to waste time hanging around in bookshops, get a kindle they're mint . You don't have to put up with the smell of decaying paper and god knows what else has been smeared on the pages ( library books in particular ), nah mate ebooks rule.

There is a lot of people that much prefer to actually hold a book and read it, same as a newspaper.
It’s not the same reading it on an electronic device.

Yeah. I will go with that. Books all the time for me.
.. But you can buy them online

I bought my OH a kindle when she was in hospital recovering from dermatomyositis and too weak to hold a book. She was strong enough to throw the fecker back in my face though. She likes a 'proper' book too. I don't get that feeling about books for some reason