• The Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Features
      • Brewing
      • People
      • Culture
      • History
      • Food
      • Travel
      • Styles
      • Homebrewing
    • Departments
      • Coming Soon
      • Columns
        • Visiting the Pub
        • Behind the Bar
        • It’s My Round
        • The Beer Enthusiast
        • The Beer Curmudgeon
        • In The Brewhouse
        • Michael Jackson
        • The Taster
        • Beyond Beer
        • Your Next Beer
        • Industry Insights
      • What’s Brewing
      • Pull Up A Stool
      • Travel
        • Beer Travelers
        • A Closer Look
        • Beer Weekend
      • Stylistically Speaking
      • Home Brewing
      • Beer Talk
      • Beer Books
  • Events
    • Durham’s Largest Happy Hour
    • World Beer Festival Durham
    • World Beer Festival Tioga
    • World Beer Festival Raleigh
    • World Beer Festival Columbia
    • World Beer Festival Cleveland
    • North Carolina Brewers Celebration
    • Event Calendar
    • Brewery Tastings & Events
    • Beer Explorer
    • The State of Craft Beer
  • Reviews
    • Beer Talk
    • Book Reviews
    • Staff Reviews
    • Buyer’s Guide for Beer Lovers
  • Learn
    • What is Beer?
      • Water
      • Malt
      • Hops
      • Yeast
    • Styles
      • Lagers
      • British and North American Ales
      • Belgian and Continental Ales
      • Wheat Ales
      • Stouts and Porters
      • Seasonal and Specialty
    • Glossary
  • News
    • New on the Shelves
  • Web Only
    • Blogs
      • Daniel Bradford
      • John Holl
      • Acitelli on History
      • The Beer Bible Blog
    • Video
    • Photos
Menu
logo
  • Advertise with Us
  • Subscriber Services
  • Retailer Services
Give a Gift Subscribe

Great American Beer: 50 Brands That Shaped the 20th Century

All About Beer Magazine - Volume 28, Issue 1
March 1, 2007
Dave Gausepohl

This quick read is a great way to travel through Americana by visiting all 50 sips. The brands covered include the first beer I ever consumed (Wiedemann from Newport, KY), and probably the first beer you ever consumed.

In today’s beer scene the breweries that have a big impact are basically those with nationwide distribution and advertising, but this was not always the case.

The 50 beers in this book were basically regional players who had great local impact, whether in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Minneapolis. These smaller companies spent money in the regions where they brewed. In fact, some of the now world-famous advertising agencies of today got their humble starts from the advertising dollars spent by these little guys. W.B. Donner and Campbell Mithun were two agencies that made their mark with their campaigns for G. Heileman and Theodore Hamm breweries.

In addition, the bigger players were not necessarily the major innovators in the brewing industry. It was the little guys who developed light beer, cold filtering, malt liquor, and canned beer.

Beers that we drink today are deeply rooted in the regional breweries of years ago. Even only though a handful of the brands covered in this book are still brewed, this is a great road map of what may be the future. Small and growing micros of today could easily be the successful regional and even national breweries in years to come.

Grab six or twelve of your favorite beers from days gone by and curl up with this good read.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pulled From Backend

Beer in your inbox

More Like This

  • Great American Beer: 50 Brands That Shaped the 20th Century
Subscribe to All About Beer Magazine

Most Popular

  • Big Beers Festival Tickets On Sale Wednesday, Sept. 2
  • Anchor Brewing and the San Francisco release Giants Orange Splash Lager

The Magazine

  • Advertise with Us
  • Subscribe
  • Give a Gift
  • Staff
  • Subscriber Services
  • Retailer Services

Learn Beer

  • Reviews
  • Back Issues
  • Articles
  • Full Pints
  • Writer Guidelines
  • Internship Program

Events

  • World Beer Festival
  • Craft Beer Events
  • News

All About Beer

  • 501 Washington Street
  • Durham, NC 27701
  • CONTACT
Craft Beer Marketing by Digital Relativity