A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland (Heartland Foodways)

Once dominated by megabreweries like Miller and G. Heilemann, the Midwest has in recent years become home to a dynamic craft beer industry at the core of America's current brewing renaissance. Beer writer and Certified Cicerone® Michael Agnew crisscrossed Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin sampling the astonishing variety of beers on offer at breweries and brewpubs. The result is a region-wide survey of the Midwestern craft beer scene. Packed with details on more than 200 breweries, __A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland__ offers actual and armchair travelers alike a handbook that includes: Agnew's exclusive choices on which beers to try at each location Entries on every brewery's history and philosophy Information on tours, tasting rooms and attached pubs, and dining options and other amenities A survey of each brewery's brands, including its flagship beer plus seasonal brews and special releases Brewery equipment and capacity Nearby attractions In addition, Agnew sets the stage with a history of Midwestern beer spanning the origins of the immigrant brewers who arrived in the 1800s to the homebrewers-made-good who have built a new kind of brewing culture founded on creativity, dedication to quality, and attention to customer feedback. Informed and unique, __A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland__ is the essential companion for beer aficionados and curious others determined to drink the best the Midwest has to offer. Includes more than 150 full color images, including the region's most distinctive beer labels, trademarks, and company logos. Once dominated by megabreweries like Miller and G. Heilemann, the Midwest has in recent years become home to a dynamic craft beer industry at the core of America's current brewing renaissance. Beer writer and Certified Cicerone® Michael Agnew crisscrossed Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin sampling the astonishing variety of beers on offer at breweries and brewpubs. The result is a region-wide survey of the Midwestern craft beer scene. Packed with details on more than 200 breweries, A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland offers actual and armchair travelers alike a handbook that includes: Agnew's exclusive choices on which beers to try at each location Entries on every brewery's history and philosophy Information on tours, tasting rooms and attached pubs, and dining options and other amenities A survey of each brewery's brands, including its flagship beer plus seasonal brews and special releases Brewery equipment and capacity Nearby attractions In addition, Agnew sets the stage with a history of Midwestern beer spanning the origins of the immigrant brewers who arrived in the 1800s to the homebrewers-made-good who have built a new kind of brewing culture founded on creativity, dedication to quality, and attention to customer feedback. Informed and unique, A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland is the essential companion for beer aficionados and curious others determined to drink the best the Midwest has to offer. Includes more than 150 full color images, including the region's most distinctive beer labels, trademarks, and company logos. |ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii INTRODUCTION 1 The Rise of the Megabreweries after Prohibition 5 Minnesota's Beer: The History of Grain Belt 9 Brewery Caves Then and Now 13 How to Use This Guide 17 MINNESOTA 18 Twin Cities/Central 21 Northern 41 Southeast 50 Southwest 54 Fermenteries 57 WISCONSIN 58 Madison 61 Milwaukee 71 Northern 81 East Central 85 West Central 98 Southeast 110 Southwest 116 Fermenteries 119 ILLINOIS 120 Chicago Metro 123 Northern 158 Central 163 Southern 170 Fermenteries 173 IOWA 174 Central 176 Northeast 186 Southeast 194 Southwest 198 Fermenteries 200 GLOSSARY OF BEER TERMS 201 BIBLIOGRAPHY 205 INDEX OF BREWERIES BY LOCATION 207 GENERAL INDEX 211| "As someone who has written about beer for over thirty years I can tell you that it is almost impossible to write a book like this without falling into jargon or repetition of descriptions, and this author fell victim to neither. . . . This is research at its best."—Peter LaFrance, author of Cooking & Eating with Beer | Michael Agnew writes about beer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Beer Connoisseur, and other publications and is the author of the homebrew recipe book Craft Beer for the Homebrewer . He blogs at A Perfect Pint, www.aperfectpint.net. "When waves of immigrants arrived in the Midwest in the 19th century they promptly began brewing beer. Not long ago, Milwaukee was thought to be the capital city of American beer and many of the best known national brands emerged from the breweries of the upper Midwest. More recently, as consumers became more interested in variety and freshness, there has been a boom of micro-breweries throughout the region offering a wide range of craft beers. In his Beer Guide to the Heartland, Michael Agnew shows how widespread the boom has been, and how it has been kept booming by breweries' close attention to quality and consumer preferences. Agnew explains the basics of brewing beer, the rise, fall, and rise again of major labels, and describes the offerings of 200 different breweries in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Guide makes it possible for beer lovers to tour breweries near and far, experience for themselves what the different breweries offer, and make their own comparisons. Agnew identifies the breweries' specialties, their origins, their equipment, their capacity, and their brands, many of which are seasonal. He says which breweries allow tours, which sell on site, which have tasting rooms or attached pubs, and whether they also serve food. He doesn't hesitate to recommend the beers he likes best"--Provided by publisher Packed with details on more than 200 breweries, this book offers actual and armchair travelers alike a handbook that includes: Agnew's exclusive choices on which beers to try at each location; entries on every brewery's history and philosophy; and information on tours, tasting rooms and attached pubs, and dining options and other amenities.