I recently had the chance to pick up this game, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised. The rules of the game are quite simple, but there is a lot more strategy to the game than I first thought. I will not bore you with how the game works, as others here have done that already, I will just go into what I liked.
1. The ability to see real ingredients used- I brew at home, and it was cool to see things that I recognized.
2. The flow of making a beer- deciding which beer style to make (whether to knock someone off the top or be the first in a new style).
3. The decisions of what to discard make the game harder, as you may be tempted to hold onto that Belgian yeast in the hopes that you can produce this difficult style.
4. The events- someone said that they did not like this, but, as someone who has seen competitions and read about the industry, the events do a good job of mimicking the possible occurrences that could happen as a craft brewer. Do not forget that this is one goal of the game.
5. You can win even if your beer styles don't win a majority of the trophies. This is something that others have posted incorrectly. The winner is the person with the most trophies plus crowds in play. I have won with 2 trophies and 8 crowds in play.
All in all, for a card game, this does a good job of being true to its name. You can sometimes feel like you are actually preparing for a brew session, and I actually have some ideas for a few beers as well.
