FIZZ: A Beginners Guide to Making Natural, Non-Alcoholic Fermented Drinks

Really easy to follow! The art is so cute! Already made a whole batch of ginger beer

I’m a major DIYer when and where I can. With the price of some of the beverages at the grocery stores, this book really interested me. Why not learn to make my own fermented drinks? What I like best is being knowing what is in that bottle and giving my body some good stuff!This book lays it all out and is easy to understand and follow. Get your own Kombucha on and you’ll feel even better, knowing you’re taking great care of yourself!

FIZZ is a tutorial and recipe guide to fermented non-alcoholic drinks. Released 7th April 2020 by BIS, it's 160 pages and available in paperback format.This is a surprisingly comprehensive book and full of background information about the drinks covered. During the lockdown part of the current pandemic, it seemed as though everyone I knew was learning to make kombucha and fermented breads. This book fits right into the skill building - self sufficiency - home hobby genre. Kombucha is indeed contained here in a really solid tutorial chapter, along with several kefirs, ginger beer, a couple of different kvasses, mead, and tepache. An additional chapter at the end of the book includes a number of mixed cocktails utilizing the non-alcoholic brews in the book.The intro chapter includes a layman accessible explanation of fermentation, process, tools and ingredients, and hygiene and cleanliness. The following drink chapters include the necessary info to brew and enjoy non-alcoholic drinks at home.Recipes contain ingredients in a bullet point list in a sidebar. Measurements are given in standard metric (ml, grams, etc), followed by step by step instructions. Alternative brewing methods or ingredients are listed after the main/classic recipe along with serving suggestions. There are no photos, but the book is enhanced by the addition of whimsically colorful illustrations.Well written and presented, this would make a superlative gift choice, library selection, or a fine addition to the homebrewer's library.Four stars.Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I've been on the fizzy/fermented beverage train for over a decade now and I just can't get enough. As the popularity of kefir, kombucha, and all the other delicious fermented beverages (and their lovely probiotic lovelies) grow, it's no wonder that more and more people are looking at the benefits of homebrewing as it were.FIZZ is a collection of some fairly basic recipes and instructions to make kombucha, kefir (water and milk-based), ginger beer, kvass, mead, and tepache of your very own at home. While some recipes require some specialized ingredients (SCOBY's and kefir seeds) others can be accomplished with using wild yeasts that exist in your very own home. Now, while the book contains fairly basic recipes, which is awesome and totally cool to know how easy it is to make these drinks at home, the author gives a bunch of options to snazz up your brews.I've been brewing my own kombucha for about a year now and I love it but after a trip to New Orleans and having a local Ginger Beer brew I've been obsessed with making my own at home. I'm gluten-free so I have a hard time getting confirmation about ingredients in ginger beer. The idea of making my very own is super exciting to me and totally worth the cost of the book (in my humble opinion). I'm so excited to try some of the recipes in the book!I would absolutely recommend this book for those that like to cook and are as equally ensnared by the yummy fermented/probiotic drink craze as me. Seriously, I can't wait. My very own homebrewed ginger beer and kefir! Yum!*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I really liked reading this book! It's much more thorough than I was expecting, and very well researched as well! This book is about types of fizzy drinks that are healthier (and tastier!) alternatives to carbonated sugary sodas that are so popular. This book not only shares the different drinks, but the recipes, the process, and the cultures are all shared from the research that the creators have conducted, all alongside beautiful illustrations to add to the experience of learning about these amazing healthy and medicinal drinks from all over the world!This book is educational, inspirational, and entertaining; since the stories that form the history of each drink are shared as well.I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like an alternative to sodas, be it a change of flavor, a new adventure in the kitchen, trying to lose weight, or if you're just tired of water and don't want to spend money on sugary drinks. This book is short and sweet, but packed with well-written information and lots of details that adds a lot of spark and fizz to the reading! The illustrations as well are so beautiful, detailed, and pair very nicely with the information provided!I will definitely be looking into trying these recipes at home for myself and the fam!*Thank you to the publishers; BIS Publishers, and the authors; Elise van Iterson and Barbara Serulus, for my free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This is a good book at novice level if you want to start fermenting drinks at home. Unfortunately, not all recipes are fool-proof and, which is worse, some crucial information is sometimes missing (for instance whether to put a lid on a container, or whether to cover it with cheesecloth, or indeed whether an airlock is the best option). Deviating from some recipes after consulting sources such as redit, youtube and specialised websites has also dramatically improved results - for instance raising a ginger bug works much better with a tightly sealed lid instead of the cheesecloth recommended by the authors. The book also omits crucial advice such as keeping your ginger bug going; instead it tells you to use all of it in a single batch which is really not a great idea.