The Best Beer Tasting Journals and Notebooks For Brewers and Beer Lovers
I have gathered what I believe are the best beer notebooks and tasting journals for a beer geek. Not just beer gifts for men, but a gift for a great note-taker who likes to have a beer.
Maybe you’re looking for a good gift for beer lovers or you’re a home brewer looking for a proper home brewing recipe journal. Or you want to save your notes about your beer and just want a new beer journal for yourself, I made this post for you.
While most people use Untappd for their beer journaling and tasting notes, putting pen to paper is still a thing us beer geeks do. In fact, we can do both. We’re multi-talented with our drinking and beer notes that way.
You can get really simple with your journal and have something for just writing down basic beer stats, or you can do some advanced sketch-notes like the one pictured at the top by Catherine Madden.
BTW, If you purchase through the links posted below, I may receive compensation (key word MAY). Let’s take a look at the notebooks and journals that are beer-worthy:
Best Self Project Action Pad
The Best Self Project Action Plan pad, is for when you plan to drink beer and relax.
This is perfect for a home or pro brewer along with a pro home drinker that wants to document. It may not be specially made for a beer person, but it definitely can be adopted by one.
There is also the Best Self 13 Week Productivity Journal – for the long range brewing goals.
There are a ton of great notebook options and card prompts at Best Self.
The Leuchtturm 1917 Medium A5
This one has no particular beer things within. It is just a really solid notebook that you can make however you want to. Plenty of open (but ruled) notebook space to create and document all the beers or brewing notes your buzzed little heart desires.
It has two bookmarks and that 150 gsm paper – which just means ink won’t bleed through to the next page. I use this one for my Craft Beer podcast and it performs well.
There are 31 writable lines per page. And it’s durable. Slightly larger than a normal Moleskin style usually is.
It is running around $25.00, but check it on Amazon right now, to make sure.
The Moleskine Beer Journal
This is part of Moleskine’s “Passion” series of notebooks. Moleskine is my favorite brand of notebook to use, it would make sense to get this Moleskine Beer Journal:
It says on Amazon there is only six left. Not sure if that is a ploy to get you to buy it and then as soon as you do there is still magically one again. They don’t seem to be producing it anymore so this may be a collector’s item.
This is the one I would use for a beer diary. It MIGHT be too collectible to use (I am a nerd). I use a straight-up Moleskine notebook for my beer diary or beer brewing notes (if I were to get into brewing someday).
It has popped up on Bookshop.org too, but it comes and goes.
FEATURES:
- Beer-themed shapes embossed on its cover.
- Traditional Moleskine stickers but with a beer theme.
- Five themed sections for tasting notes.
- Section for notes about the place you purchased your beer.
- Glossary for beer tips.
- Has 240 pages and is large format size 5 x 8.25 inches.
The price in the past has been $20 to $25. But if it’s becoming this rare, that price is probably a steal now. At the time I am writing this it is $29.00 on Amazon.
I got one as a gift and opened it on my YouTube channel:
Using a simple blank Moleskine can work too if you like to set-up things yourself. Find a template that works for you and copy it.
The Beer Review Logbook: A Beer Tasting Journal
This one is just a straight up logbook for your beers. Nothing else. Who needs tips for Untappd when you have these pages!? It’s got everything formatted for you which is a plus for most people.
Best Notebook for Documenting Brewery Visits
Maybe the most…interesting name on this list, Brewery Journal: A J-MacTime Production, the notebook is for the lucky people that get to travel around and visit different breweries and tasting rooms (living the dream). It sets you up with all the promts so you can easily input what you enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy) about the brewery or beer bar.
Buy or Check the Price on Amazon.
Best Notebook to Get Wet: Rite in the Rain Notebook
These are great in case you tend to spill beer all over your stuff. You can write in them when they are wet too. I have one of these too and I would say the main reason to get these is the fact that they hold up under moisture – I am not a fan of using them otherwise.
There are different kinds you can find on Amazon – the reporter style pocketbook ones are my favorite of the Rite series.
The Craft Beer Tasting Logbook
If you’re not looking to spend a lot, want something that will go in your pocket and want to keep it simple, this might be your logbook.
FEATURES:
- Pocket size.
- Beginner tips on tasting.
- Resources for pairing beer with food.
- Themed for World Beers.
Check the price on Amazon.
Field Notes Drink Local
This sucks. It is sold out on the Fieldnotes website. Long gone. I love Field Notes almost as much as Moleskine so I really would like to get my hands on this somehow. I know Field Notes will sometimes bring a notebook back, so there is always hope.
OH WAIT! I found one on Amazon and it is in its original packaging! Kinda pricey though. I also found one in black.
FEATURES:
- It’s a Field Notes brand so it’s automatically cool.
- 3 Ales books. 3 Lager books.
- 2 Field Notes Coasters.
Even if it’s limited run and kinda pricey, you can gawk at it at least:
33 Bottles Of Beer Tasting Journal
This is rad because I had not known about these until I set out to write about and research beer-tasting notebooks, and I totally want one now!
The 33 Books are in the style of Field Notes; fit in your pocket and have a caring design. In fact, these appeal to me even more as it is just one dude in Portland [OR] making them.
Discover what a Flavorwheel is and why it’s cool.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find the beer one on Amazon, but I did find a whiskey tasting journal from 33 Books that you can check the price on.
The Home Brew Journal
Made to be like a beer brewing journal for home brewers or pros. This is another ‘tasting room head turner’ because it’s leather. Well, actually, it’s something called PU leather, which is super close to leather and supposedly feels nice.
FEATURES:
- Batch tracking.
- Hipster look.
- Unit conversion table.
- Hop chart.
- Yeast strain chart.
- Alcohol by volume chart.
- Glassware reference chart.
Buy or just check the price on Amazon.
Documenting Your Drinking with a Craft Beer Journal, Makes It Okay
The best thing about most journals, no matter if you use them as a beer-tasting notebook or a brewing journal is they are not expensive, so it doesn’t hurt to experiment. And they last a lot longer than you think, meaning, you don’t fill them up as quickly as you do a cheap grocery store notebook.
I used to buy those cheap $3.00 notebooks at the grocery store and think “Why would I spend $18 for some hardcover notebook?” But I would go through those quickly, they fall apart eventually and look and feel cheap.
Once you get yourself a solid notebook for journaling or beer thoughts, it makes you want to step up your game. It just feels right. And you won’t go back to $3 college-lined notebooks again.
Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what notebook you bought or what one you are already using.
If you are looking for more beer gifts from men or women, check out my ultimate beer gift page.
Cheers!
(Heads up: The Amazon links are affiliate links, but that doesn’t matter much for the list, I built it for the best options for you, a person looking for a good beer notebook, not for affiliate kickback, and it costs you nothing)
