I picked up a copy of Ambitious Brew when I was at an airport Borders. It was a great find at a time when I was going to have to resort to killing time playing solitaire on my iPod. Who says good things don't happen at airports!

Maureen Ogle is not your typical beer writer. In fact, she isn't a beer writer at all...unless you count this book. This is her first book that has anything to do with the topic. She's written two other books, one about the history of Key West and another called All the Modern Conveniences (a book about American household plumbing in the latter half of the 19th century). But maybe thats what makes this book great. Its written by someone with a non-subjective point of view when telling the story of how American beer came to be. Maureen writes with the keen eye of a historian, which she is, and really gives the reader a great look at the role beer has played in the lives of Americans and a fascinating look at the major players in the American beer industry and how they came to be.

Ambitious Brew's story picks up where the very early history of beer in America leaves off. Thus, the book is more the contemporary story of American beer in the last 150 years or so and not the entire history. It provides an in depth look at the Best, Anheuser, Busch, Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, and Coors family histories and the battles they all fought to try and establish the largest market shares in America. You may not be a big fan of their beers now, but not long ago that was all you had and the history of how the big brewers got so big is a fascinating one.

Ogle works her way through the rather complicated history of the well known American brewing giants to the more modern history of the microbrew revolution. She provides a great look at how the craft beer industry has become what it is today and includes a lot of great insight from the big names on what it was like when that part of the industry started to take off. She also manages to tie the modern state of beer in America in with the overall history of beer in the US in a way that paints a nice "big picture". Its not one of us vs them (big brewers vs small brewers) but one of beer and how everyone from the biggest macro-brewery to the smallest microbrewery has played a role in its history in America.

This is a great overview of how American beer and the American brewing industry has became what it is today.

 

Labels: Book Reviews