The Brewers Apprentice by Greg Koch and Matt Allyn calls itself "An insiders guide to the art and craft of beer brewing, taught by the masters". The book really does not fail to deliver on this statement.
I liked how the book quickly covered the basics of brewing. I know the basics already and I'm looking for more advanced topics in my reading. The book has an introduction by Greg Koch of Stone brewing and the rest of the book is made up of introductions to the various topics the interviews with we respected craft brewers on the things they are considered to be experts in. Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River is interviewed about bittering hops, Mitch Steele of Stone Brewing Co. is interviewed about water chemistry and Sam Caligone of Dogfish Head is interviewed about using fruit and other strange ingredients. These are really the people who's opinions and methods warrant attention being paid.
It's not all hard brewing information Ray Daniels, founder of the cicerone program, is interviewed about beer evaluation and Ken Grossman founder of Sierra Nevada is interviewed about "making beautiful beer". These are two topics that you wont see in your typical brewing text.
The book is not all text either, all of the interviews have a great selection of photos to accompany them which serves to make things more interesting than just plain text.
I woe not hesitate to reccomend The Brewers Apprentice to anybody remotely interested in brewing. I think the topics were chosen well in that the will benefit new and experienced brewers alike. I can see myself refering back to the book often for troubleshooting, recipe advice or just to look at the pictures.

Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter the owners and founders of the Brooklyn Brewery is one of the best beer books I have read in quite some time. Hindy majored in English in college and did most of the writing for the book. Having written for the associated press for a number of years Hindy knows how to keep the writing easy to read and how to pepper in exciting details (like being robbed at gunpoint or the dangers of the whole organization going under) to keep the pages turning.

The book is intended to be somewhat of a guide for entrepreneurs in general, not necessarily just for those trying to open a brewery or get into the beer or brewing industry. Hindy and Potter chronicle all of their successes as well as their mistakes in an honest fashion.

While the book is not only intended for people opening a brewery it naturally covers many issues one may face when doing so. Hindy and Potter cover issues such as contract brewing, distribution, and building their new brewery starting from the time the two partners decided to go into business together until about 2003, Potter retried from the brewery in 2004 however this is not covered in the book.

Often books on beer and brewing, even ones that deal with the business side of things or telling the larger story of the brewery can get tedious at times. Beer School stays interesting and easy to read for the entire length of the book, probably due to the fact that Steve Hindy had been writing for the associated press for so many years. I managed to tear through this book in about a week which is pretty quick for me. The book comes highly recommended for anybody looking to open a brewery, go pro, become self employed or is just interested in beer and brewing.