CLEVELAND—Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC), Ohio’s most celebrated craft brewer of award-winning lagers and ales, announces its plan to expand distribution throughout the state of Minnesota. On September 9, 2013, GLBC will enter St. Cloud with Bernick’s Beverages & Vending. GLBC currently serves Duluth and the Twin Cities region, and this rollout will help to extend distribution throughout the state. Deeper distribution in the state of Minnesota aligns with the company’s strategic growth plans.

Customers can expect to see GLBC’s Year-Round family of beers in package and draft, as well as the GLBC Taster’s Pack (a sampler 12-pack). The new market rollout will involve multiple customer appreciation events, meet-and-greets, tastings, and giveaways throughout the area.

Great Lakes Brewing Co. currently serves 13 states and Washington DC. Founded in 1988 by brothers Patrick and Daniel Conway as the first craft brewery in the state of Ohio, GLBC is nationally known for its exceptional family of beers including Dortmunder Gold Lager, Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Burning River Pale Ale, Commodore Perry India Pale Ale, and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Visit greatlakesbrewing.com/Minnesotaand follow @GLBCinMN on Twitter for exclusive updates and event announcements.

It’s been two years since Gov. Mark Dayton signed the so-called “Surly Bill,” allowing Minnesota breweries to serve their beer on site. The legislation was in response to a then-proposed $20 million brewery from Surly Brewing Co., but the microbreweries and their fans have been the biggest beneficiaries. Neighborhood breweries, like Fulton Beer in Minneapolis, have been able to welcome thirsty Minnesotans into their homes for a drink in their taprooms.

Before passage of the bill, the brewing scene was comparatively bleak. Brian Hoffman, co-founder of Fulton Beer, says only a few breweries were producing quality beer and growth was stagnant. “In the five years or so before the passage of the law, less than 10 new breweries had opened their doors,” he says, noting that the small number didn’t reflect the increase in craft beer consumption in the state over the same five years.

Omar Ansari, president and founder of Surly Brewing Co., says the model for a successful brewery was different from today’s. “We had to sell a lot of our beer in restaurants, bars and liquor stores to make it,” he recalls.

Hoffman agrees. “Since the passage of the bill, there have been around 10 new breweries that either opened their doors or are currently working to make it happen,” Hoffman says. Although he doesn’t attribute the rapid growth entirely to the passage of the Surly Bill, he acknowledges the prospective revenue stream from taprooms made the economics of opening a brewery less frightening.

Ansari notes the recent opening of Indeed Brewing, the first Minnesota brewery built specifically with a taproom in mind. “It’s one of the first places conceptualized after the law change.”

Those that were already open have already seen a noticeable economic impact. Fulton has added eight employees, comprising brewing staff, business staff, taproom managers and bartenders. “We have been able to fund some considerable growth,” Hoffman boasts.

Best of all, removal of Minnesota’s draconian brewing laws allows the brewer to connect with the customer. “It’s a lot of fun for us to be able to get feedback on beers or styles folks would like to see brewed,” Hoffman says. “In the end, that’s why we do what we do. We love beer.”

Small settlement and farm breweries appeared even before Minnesota officially became a state in 1858, as settlers from Scandinavia and middle Europe took advantage of the pure brewing water and fertile land. The best way to maximize this combination was to set up shop and turn the water a beautiful shade of amber.

An in-depth chapter takes a county-by-county look at who brewed where and when. It’s impressive to see how many small or remote towns or settlements could support a brewery, and even cause it to thrive. Duluth brewing history alone proves the determination of the Land o’ Lakes.

This book does the wonderful service of stressing the innovative and inventive ways of this state’s breweries. The three largest breweries—Hamm’s, Grain Belt and Schmidt—still resonate throughout the upper Midwest, much as the Ballantine, Schaefer and Rheingold brands do back east. Hamm’s was “from the land of sky blue waters,” Grain Belt was “from the perfect brewing water” and Schmidt was “the brew that grew with the great Northwest.” Hoverson does a great job of taking these brands from their inception all the up to the present era.

The locals took pride in drinking local. Even as these brands were acquired by out-of-state owners, residents continued to drink Minnesota beer. That loyalty continues today, through the support for Minnesota’s microbrewing movement. A pioneering presence is still evident, as you read about the Minnesotans who will brew us into the next 150 years.

More than a beverage to consume on the sidelines, beer has a historical and symbolic link to the game. Football fans and beer lovers share in their sense of camaraderie. College football fans are fiercely loyal to their teams and their respective conferences. Regional bias adds yet more fuel to the sometimes blazing fealty, with inevitable debates about whom, or which, is superior. Beer aficionados are little different—they are often staunch in their love for styles, brands or regional inclinations. The debates are more subdued but no less inspired.

College football and brewing also share a chronology, as both were popularized in the latter half of the 19th century. Nowhere is this connection more apparent than The Big Ten. Famous for its physical, take-no-prisoners style of football, the member universities cut a latitudinal swath across the upper Midwest and Great Lakes, which geographically casts a cultural mentality common to all of the members.

The Big Ten universities range from Iowa to Penn State in the east. Every state in between has at least one conference member. The region is also the birthplace of professional football. The earliest teams rimmed the Great Lakes in small, working-class cities whose residents were enamored of both football and beer.

Primarily immigrants from central and eastern Europe, these new Americans brought their brewing skill and love for beer with them. As they were accustomed to imbibing lager beers in their homeland, they brewed the same in America. The affinity for bottom-fermentation endures, though all modern styles of beers are well-represented, making the region unique in the United States.

The Big Ten states of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois were among the most prodigious brewing states of the 19th century. The cool climate and often hilly terrain provided the perfect environment. Today, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are hotbeds of the modern American brewing scene.

Historically, football was just as reflective of the populace. Blue-collar football teams composed of farmers, factory workers, lumberjacks, and coal miners made for some rugged games on hardscrabble fields, a style that is still synonymous with the Big Ten.