Some beer-heads will think there's a typo in the title of Roger Protz's book "300 Beers to Try Before You Die!" -- only 300?!

In any event, Protz's research hops from Belgian fruit beers to "hoppy" cask ales, from microbrewery wonders to beires de garde (an ale traditionally brewed in the Pas-de-Calais region of France).

The promotional copy for the book trumpets Protz as "one of the world's leading beer writers," leaving some of us to wonder why Mr. Podbutter, our high school guidance counselor, never told us about that career path.

"300 Beers" is available now in a revised and updated edition from CAMRA Books.