??? “毫不夸張地說，啤酒的歷史即人類文明史。一些人類學家認為，人類之所以從狩獵社會轉入農業社會，主要是為了生產足夠多的糧食，以釀造大量啤酒。”

????《牛津啤酒指南》（The Oxford Companion to Beer）一書的主編加勒特?奧利弗如是說，但他隨即將收回了這個論斷。他說，這些說法尚未得到證實。這有點吹毛求疵了。這種事情總是很難證明的，但我們有充分的根據相信，啤酒是諾亞帶上方舟的必需品之一。我們知道，埃及法老在其金字塔中囤積了成桶成桶的啤酒。我們同樣知道，在中世紀，啤酒被用作法定貨幣，可以用它來支付稅款，清償債務。

????在我看來，所有這一切完全講得通，盡管我必須承認我從未碰到過一種我不喜歡的啤酒。盡管這跟我們今天要談論的這本書沒有關系。重要的是，所有涉及啤酒的迷人的事實都被傾注在了這本厚達920頁的著作之中。這本書體現了一切書籍之美，囊括了所有你想知道的啤酒故事，是關于啤酒的終極指南——比如，密爾沃基釀酒人隊（ Milwaukee Brewers）和圣路易紅雀隊（St. Louis Cardinals）為何要在布許體育場（Busch Stadium）和米勒公園球場（Miller Park）這些名稱古怪的地方激烈廝殺，爭奪今年的全國聯賽錦標。

????我想極其真誠地說一句，這本書簡直太棒了。它的視覺效果相當不錯，部分原因在于書中有16頁精美的彩色照片和數百張雅致的黑白圖像。它的分量完全合乎讀者對一本售價65美元的學術大部頭的期望。這本書涵蓋了與啤酒相關的所有基礎知識——從釀制啤酒所用的農產品品種，到形形色色的啤酒釀制方法，每一種方法都帶來獨特的口味和質地。

????書中詳盡闡述了自釀啤酒的流程，這也是應該的。自釀啤酒的方式“可以像用罐煲湯那么簡單，也可以像小規模的商業工藝釀造那么富有技術性”。如今，估計有75萬美國人在自己家里釀制啤酒。作者也為那些打算上路的啤酒發燒友介紹了每年在世界各地舉辦的1,200多個啤酒節。本月的好去處是一年一度的慕尼黑啤酒節（Oktoberfest）和巴西啤酒節。在家門口，美國本土的20家啤酒廠也將于11月份帶著各自的特色產品，趕赴波特蘭市，參加在那里舉行的緬因州釀酒節（Maine Brewers Festival ）。

????這本書由1,100多個獨立的條目構成，按照從A到Z的方式呈現。其中有些內容出人意表。我以前總是把修道院啤酒（abbey beers）跟比利時的特拉普派僧侶聯系在一起，難道你不是這么想的么？并沒有確鑿的證據顯示，修道院啤酒果真是在修道院中釀制的。書中還介紹了克勞斯?扎斯特洛夫的故事。這位柏林技術大學（the Technical University in Berlin）的農業博士曾在安海斯布希公司（Anheuser-Busch）出任多個高級職務，他最終成了百威啤酒學校（Budweiser Beer School）的講師和指導員，向公眾傳授啤酒業的基本知識。

????書中的內容遠不止于此。比如，斟啤酒要比斟葡萄酒棘手得多。書中寫道：“幾乎所有的啤酒都有一些碳化作用。不同于閃閃發光的葡萄酒，啤酒的頂部通常會出現一個泡沫層。把啤酒倒入酒杯，在完整保留碳化作用和恰當泡沫量的同時還要獲得良好的視覺效果，這是一門需要經過一番實踐才能練就的藝術。”

????如今，微型啤酒廠隨處涌現，消費者也終于開始認真對待啤酒了。《牛津啤酒指南》一書在這一背景下出爐，可謂生逢其時。這本書是來自20個國家的166名專家集體智慧的結晶。加勒特?奧利弗親自撰寫了許多章節，并把其他專家的文字匯集成了一本有趣易用的啤酒指南。他十分了解這個行當。他常年主持品酒會，在世界各地發表演講，經常在廣播和電視上充當啤酒釀造業發言人的角色。奧利弗釀造的啤酒曾獲得過數個全國性和國際性獎項。他如今在備受尊敬的布魯克林啤酒廠（Brooklyn Brewery）擔任釀酒師一職。布魯克林也是Piel's, Rheingold, Schaefer, Schlitz和Trommer's等眾多啤酒廠的發源地。一想起這些古老的啤酒廠釀制的啤酒，垂涎三尺的我就恨不得回到黑暗的中世紀。

????—勞倫斯?A?阿莫爾是《時代》（Time）、《財富》、《貨幣》（Money）和《體育畫報》 （Sports Illustrated)等雜志個性化內容的副主編。

????譯者：任文科

????"The history of beer, quite literally, is the history of human civilization. Some anthropologists believe that man moved away from a hunter-gather existence to a settled agriculture-based existence largely to grow enough grain to brew large amounts of beer."

????So says Garrett Oliver, editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Beer, but then he takes it back. These statements, he says, have not been verified. Picky, picky. Things like this are always hard to prove, but we have it on good authority that beer was among the provisions Noah loaded onto the ark. We know that Egyptian pharaohs stocked their pyramids with barrels of beer. We also know that beer was used in the Middle Ages as legal tender for paying taxes and settling debts.

????All this makes perfect sense to me, although I must confess that I never met a beer I didn't like. But that's neither here nor there. The important thing is that all sorts of fascinating beer-related facts have been poured into this 920-page everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know beauty of a book that has the answer for everything—including why the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals battled it out for this year's National League pennant in quaintly named places like Busch Stadium (BUD) and Miller Park.

????In all sincerity, the book is terrific. It looks good, thanks in part to 16 pages of beautiful color photographs and hundreds of tasteful black-and-white images. It's got the heft you'd expect from a $65 scholarly tome. And it covers all the bases—from the variety of agricultural commodities that go into beer to the vast number of ways it can be brewed, with each method imparting its own taste and texture.

????Homebrewing—a process that "can be as simple as making soup from a can or as technically involved as small-scale commercial craft brewing"—is covered in detail, as well it should. An estimated 750,000 Americans are brewing at home these days. For beer enthusiasts who want to hit the road, the book includes an overview of the more than 1,200 beer festivals held around the world each year. This month features the annual Oktoberfests in Munich and Brazil. Closer to home, 20 local breweries will be trotting out their wares at the Maine Brewers Festival in Portland in November.

????The book consists of more than 1,100 separate entries, presented in A to Z fashion. Some of them are surprising. I've always associated abbey beers with Trappist monks from Belgium, but wouldn't you know? There's no hard evidence abbey beers were actually brewed within the walls of a monastery. And what about Dr. Klaus Zastrow, who turned a Ph.D. in agricultural science from the Technical University in Berlin into several high-level posts at Anheuser-Busch? He ended his career as a lecturer and instructor in the Budweiser Beer School, where he helped teach members of the public the basics of the beer business.

????There's a lot to it. It's far trickier, for example, to serve beer than wine. "Almost all beer contains some carbonation," the book tells us, "and unlike sparkling wine it generally forms a crown of foam. Getting beer into its glass with its carbonation intact and the correct volume of foam while achieving a nice visual presentation is an art form that takes some practice."

????With microbreweries popping up right and left, and with consumers finally taking beer seriously, The Oxford Companion to Beer couldn't be timelier. It is the work of 166 experts from 20 countries. Garrett Oliver, who wrote many of the sections himself and assembled the rest into a guide that's fun and easy to handle, knows his business. He hosts tastings and gives talks around the world, appears regularly on radio and TV as a spokesman for the craft brewing industry. Beers created by Oliver have won national and international awards. He's currently brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, a respected brewery based in the borough that brought us Piel's, Rheingold, Schaefer, Schlitz, Trommer's and other ancient firms that produced the beers I cut my teeth on back in the Dark Ages.

????--Lawrence A. Armour is deputy editor of custom content for Time, Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated.