Hard cover, $16.95, 128 pp.
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.
