The book was written in the winter of 2010 by well-known brew-industry journalist and consultant Horst Dornbusch with the support of the technical staff of the Weyermann® Malting Company as well as that of the Barth-Haas Group and SCHULZ brew systems.

Each recipe includes a brief, to-the-point style description followed by the key numeric specifications, grain bill compositions and hopping protocols for each style, in metric and U.S.-English units. Then there are the key temperature and time variables for all pertinent brew house and cellaring processes. All recipe quantities are calculated for a nominal system’s extract efficiency of 80 percent and are presented for brew sizes of 1 HL, 1 bbl, 5 gal and 10 L. The recipes can thus be scaled and adapted to suit any brew house size and yield.

The breath of recipes in the Almanac is wide ranging. There are such familiar and ubiquitous styles as Pale Ale (English, American, IPA, “Extreme”), Pilsner (Czech, German, and American), Porter (Baltic, Dry, London, Robust), and Stout (Foreign Export, Irish, Oatmeal, Russian Imperial, Sweet). There are also many less common and some nowadays even rare styles, such as Bière de Mars from Alsace; German Porter (yes, there is one!), Braggot from Scotland, Finnish Sahti, Rye and Spelt brews, Belgian (yes!) Stout, and German Zoiglbier and Zwickelbier.