[.ca] Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers (ISBN 1580170773)

They taste like the store-bought stuff... even better.:
The recipes in this book really do come out tasting like the store bought versions of these beers (but homebrew is always better than the stale old store-bought stuff). Each recipe gives a brief description of the beer so you can read about different beers, then sample the brewery version of any that appeal to you and see if you like it enough to make 5 gallons of it. I have even won several competition medals brewing these recipes. There is a good reference section with specifications on beer styles and brewing ingredients (including grains, sugars and extracts, hops and yeast). Highly recommended. Also check out "Beer Captured" by the same authors.

Likely to disappoint all-grain brewers:
This book is clearly focused on the intermediate level brewer using extracts and specialty grains. The all-grain "equivalent" recipes ignore important variables like conversion temperatures (every recipe specifies a 150F rest) and mash thickness. I was also disappointed that measurable statistics (O.G., IBUs) do not always match what is reported by the breweries. For example, the Sierra Nevada website shows the O.G. for their Pale Ale to be 1.052, yet this book suggests a noticeably stronger 1.056. Such verifiable discrepancies erode my confidence in the rest of the book's accuracy. However, given the reduced level of control inherent to extract brewing, this book provides a very good starting point for intermediate brewers seeking to emulate certain commercial beers.

Excellent results:
I have completed and tasted a batch of Bass Ale and Warsteiner using partial mash and all-grain, respectively. Both have turned out better than any other recipes I have used. The instructions are clear and the extract/partial/all-grain conversions are right-on so far. The only suggestion I have is adding some detail to the post-fermentation phase of each recipe. Not all beers detail how long to lager, which are better filtered, etc... Regardless, I am getting spectacular results using a little common sense and some basic brewing reference materials.

Best beer recipe book around:
I own about a dozen recipe books and have used this book more than all the others combined! Recipes are broken down for extract, partial-mash and all-grain brewers. You can't go wrong with this book. Phil (President, New York City Homebrewers Guild)

Beer varieties from around the world, not quite for novice:
While not quite as good as their later book "Beer Captured", I'd give this book about 31/2 stars for the amount of information it contains (the Szamatulski's 2nd book is even more detailed hence the lower rating). You get a variety of recipes from all over the world including countries you might not expect to even allow alcohol. I've never brewed beer but I'd say that this book would do pretty well for extract, mini mash or all grain method brewers who have a good idea of what they're doing. While there is some introductory information and some more in the appendices I really don't think the total novice(like me) should rely on this book alone. How close are the cloned recipes?, I don't know but expect that most of us couldn't tell the difference.