Our first English brewing title and the oldest book we have republished yet, The Town and Country Brewery Book by W. Brande, circa 1830. A brilliant early 19th century English book discussing different types of regional English brewing techniques and their recipes.

At the time, Brande considered most of the books over the previous 50 years to have been simple recompilations of the same information and the same mistakes. He felt that a new book with practical instructions was needed and he set out to produce The Town And Country Brewery Book. Thankfully he chose to fill the void he saw because the result of his work is almost 300 pages of period English brewing unlike any other book we have read.

What Brande achieved, in writing The Town and Country Brewery Book, was saving information about styles of beer and brewing techniques which don't exist today. Styles such as Devonshire White Ale and Edinburgh Oat Ale.

Never heard of some of these beers? One reason is that this book is extremely scarce! Very few copies of the original book appear to have survived the test of time. (We have only been able to locate 4 copies in libraries world wide.)

Regional English Perspective
Brande understood that brewing and the resulting beers varied across the country (Great Britain) and described the effort he made to capture this information:

Every county in England is more or less noted for the quality of its malt liquors. It was a principal object of the author, before he commenced his labours, to furnish himself with every particular as regards these various methods of producing the different drinks, which are so famous in different parts of the British dominions. Of these, proper notes were taken, and the necessary remarks and observations made, preparatory to publication.

Brande includes "Observations on Various Country Methods" for brewing from Norfolk, Bristol, Rochester, Bridgewater, Elminister, Yorkshire, and Nottingham. Brande even goes so far as to include a recipe from America to "make a wholesome cheap drink."

Not forgetting that private ale brewing also produced some fine beverages, he also worked with private brewers to document some of their techniques and recipes. He even includes a recipe which was "long in the author's family at Topsham."

This attention to regional beers and techniques is an extremely valuable aspect of this book.

Recipes & Instructions
As noted above, Brande wrote of styles of beer which haven't survived to this day. He also provided recipes for other more normal period beers. There are recipes and/or instructions for Devonshire White Ale, Edinburgh Oat Ale, Yorkshire Oat Ale, Nottingham Sparkling Ale, Stout Butt Beer, Dark nutt-brown ale (Stitch), Welch/Burton Ales, porter, Intire Guile small beer, spruce beer, twopenny, and more.*

(Black) Patent Malt
In 1817, Daniel Wheeler patented a new roasted malt which would change the course of darker beers, stout and porter, forever. (Black) Patent malt would be part of the end of Brown Malt. The Town and Country Brewery Book is one of the first brewing manuals to include a section discussing Patent malt and its uses.

Additional Topics
As any good brewing book should, The Town And Country Brewery Book includes discussions on barley, malt, hops, water, fermentation, fining, and yeast. It also includes the following interesting topics:

  • Brewing beer/ale according to an "Inn-Keeper", a "Family Man," an "Old Welsh Woman", and a "Country Victualler."
  • Illegal Ingredients - An interesting discussion on ingredients which were considered illegal to use in brewing by the public brewers but could be used by private brewers.
  • The effects of the seasons on brewing.
  • Bottling Malt Liquors.
  • Working with Casks.

Table of Contents
To get a better idea of what the book contains, take a look at the table of contents from the actual book. The table of contents alone in this book is 8 pages long! A PDF version can be viewed by clicking here. The PDF is 396k.

Book Details
The book, as seen to the left, is a hard cover bound in bonded leather with gold foil stamping on the spine and front cover. It is 285 pages (+preface) and printed on 60lb. natural offset paper.

Review
If you would like to read an independent review of one of our books, Click here to read a review written by Jeff Renner, about our Complete Practical Brewer title. (This review appeared in the Homebrew Digest.)

How to Order

The book is in stock and available for US$35.00 plus shipping.

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Town and Country Brewery Book
To order The Town and Country Brewery Book: US$35.00

19th Century British Brewer's Set (2 books)
To order the Scottish Ale-Brewer and order The Town and Country Brewery Book: US$62.00 Sale Price US$45.00

Complete British Brewer's Set (4 books)
To order The Town and Country Brewery Book, Scottish Ale-Brewer, The Theory and Practice of Brewing, and Every Man His Own Brewer : US$155.00 Sale Price US$125.00

5 Pack (Books #3-7):
To order The Town and Country Brewery Book,Scottish Ale-Brewer, M'Harry's Practical Distiller, Combrune's Theory and Practice of Brewing, and Every Man His Own Brewer: US$190.00 Sale Price US$160.00

All Six Remaining Books In The Series:
To order The Complete Practical Brewer, Scottish Ale-Brewer, The Town and Country Brewery Book, M'Harry's Practical Distiller, Combrune's Theory and Practice of Brewing, and Every Man His Own Brewer: US$200.00

Purchasing with check or money order: We also accept checks and money orders. Click Here to go the order page.

* A limited quantity of these sets are available due to the limited number of copies remaining of some of the books. (Complete Practical Brewer and Complete Practical Distiller.)

** Sets that contain a pre-order book: If you order a set of books which contains a pre-order title, the entire set will be shipped when the pre-order title comes back from the printer.

* Disclaimer: Recipes from old books should be viewed with caution. Ingredients may have since been deemed dangerous. These books are being published soley for the historical perspective and information.