The sources I use to learn about beer and brewing

Knowledge of craft beer and brewing goes beyond the simple ability to brew beer and appreciate (drink) it. Really anyone can brew beer like I am doing now if they have access to the equipment. However, being able to boil ingredients in water and ferment the wort at a certain temperature does not instill an understanding of what goes on in the brewing process in order to create different beer styles and flavors. There is a great deal of science that has to be considered, by home and micro brewers alike, in order to fully grasp how to make great beer (that can be re-created if desired).

I would like to think I know a great deal about a lot of what it takes to brew beer, but I by no means am in any way shape or form a self proclaimed expert, know-it-all, or any other similar title. That being said, I am constantly reading and researching different things to try and broaden my understanding of all aspects of craft beer, ranging from the science of the brewing process to the historical and cultural significance of beer. Now I am getting to the point of this post: I want to share the main resources I use since I find myself saying "I read..." a lot without stating where exactly.

We will start with the websites I mainly use:

-r/beer/ : A subreddit that is all things beer related. I mainly use this to keep up to date on news and releases. 

-r/homebrewing: Another subreddit. This is the primary forum I use to ask questions about all the things I dont understand about homebrewing

-American Homebrewers Association: Has a great forum for all things beer and brewing. Also a good resource to see inside micro-breweries and stay informed on things like the GABF and homebrew competitions.

-HomeBrewTalk : One of the bigger Homebrewing forums. More or less every question or problem I have run into has been discussed on at least 5 different occasions so it is a great resource. Also a great recipe database.

-Hopville : User submitted recipe databse.

And now the books:

-How To Brew by John Palmer. Bought this book way before I bought any equipment to brew. It is a great resource to walk you through every part of the brewing process for beginners, and then gets into the nitty gritty stuff as you get more comfortable. I have read this book at least 2 times cover to cover.

-The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver. This book is just short of 1000 pages. It is more or less a beer encyclopedia with everything from breweries, to ingredients, to brewing techniques. This is my new go-to book.

-Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff. Recipe book full of award winning homebrew recipes. The author is world renowned. Recipe books are actually a great way to become familiar with what ingredients are used in certain styles and things like that.

-The Homebrewers' Recipe Guide by Patrick Higgins et al. Another recipe book. Recipes are submitted by different people. There are little anecdotes and informative blurbs that make it a bit more interesting then just reading recipes.

Other resources worth mentioning:

-Beer Wars is a great documentary (that you can stream on Netflix) that concerns the roles of macro and micro breweries in the national and international beer market. There are segments on New Belgium, Sam Adams, and Dogfish Head just to name a few.

I realize this is a pretty dry and boring post, but I really felt the need to post all the resources I use to learn from. Like I said, beer is a science that goes far beyond boiling water, so there is a lot to learn and understand in order to achieve a strong comprehension of water exactly beer is.