A Sip Through Time, by Cindy Renfrow

This book was a gift from my father, who I turned onto brewing after he inadvertently turned me onto brewing (this must feel like there has to be some sort of temporal anomaly, but I can assure you, it was all linear - when I was growing up we went on a scotch distillery tour of Scotland, so when I read about homebrewing I was already ripe for suggestion, and it was only after I started brewing that I reciprocated with some forced homebrewing lessons (all clear now?)). For a little more context, I have been obsessed with the history of brewing since I found out that it was womens' work, and my father volunteers at the UPenn historical archives, so we are both on the same page about history. And now back to the book...

This book is chock full of incomprehensible recipes that use antiquated systems of measurement or ingredients that I am pretty sure are considered schedule I or II controlled substances at this point. Once you can figure out what a "peck" of wheat is, it is incredible to think that you can brew a beer that was brewed by someone 200 years ago. This book does not stop at 200 years or at beer recipes for that matter. The recipes goes back as far as Ancient Sumerian beer/mead/wine, so classed because it is a little bit of them all, and just up to the point when people started to use hops instead of other herbs to flavor and preserve their beer. Beyond ales and beers, there are extensive recipes for meads, wine, and distilled beverages, as well as caudles, possets, and syllabubs. It would take a lifetime to make all of these recipes, just as it has taken millennia for humans to come up with them. Definitely a book for the adventurous (i.e. anyone who might want to try turnip wine)!

Note: I am calling this a "must-have", but this really only applies to history buffs and other special people.