In Search of the Perfect Brew: A Guide to Canada's Brewpubs and Microbreweries

Robert Gryfe is a recent University of Toronto Medical School graduate.

Writing for all those who have grown tired of having their taste buds
relentlessly assaulted by the astringent, overcarbonated, chemical-laden
beer mass-produced by Canada’s big two, Bowering takes his reader on a
sampling tour of practically every brewpub and microbrewery from
Vancouver to Halifax.

In Search of the Perfect Brew serves more as an extensive listing of
the many beers produced by those Canadians dedicated to the pursuit of
the German purity law of Reinheitsgebot. The information in the few
paragraphs dedicated to rating each establishment’s operations and
wares is at best only summary and often, in lieu of an independent
review, particularly outside of Ontario and Quebec, consists of a
description furnished by the brewpub/microbrewery. Canadian beer
diction, paraphernalia, history, and laws are all briefly dealt with.
For those with hopes to someday own, a current listing of Canadian
breweries on the selling block is included. The book’s typos and lost
half-sentences bespeak an editor who perhaps believed in consuming
rather than polishing the product of the work. Still, in the pursuit of
good beer, all can be forgiven, and although any one of the hundreds of
small brewing companies covered in the Bowering book could by itself be
the subject of a full-length work, his attempt is noble. Serving well
the thirsty Canadian reader, In Search of the Perfect Brew is a
convenient guide to the closest watering hole dedicated to the
production of fine beer.