front cover of Brewing Arizona
Brewing Arizona
A Century of Beer in the Grand Canyon State
Ed Sipos
University of Arizona Press, 2013
“Sergeant… there is a brewery here!” shouted Private Lutje into the tent of his commanding officer. His regiment had just set up camp outside of Tucson. It was spring. The year was 1866. And the good private had reason to be shocked. How could anyone brew beer in the desert? The water was alkaline (when it was fit to drink at all), grains were scarce, bottles were in short supply, and refrigeration was nearly non-existent. But human ingenuity cannot be overestimated, especially when it comes to creating alcoholic beverages.
 
Since 1864, the state’s breweries have had a history as colorful as the state. With an eye like a historian, the good taste of a connoisseur, and the tenacity of a dedicated collector, author Ed Sipos serves up beer history with gusto. Brewing Arizona is the first book of Arizona beer. It includes every brewery known to have operated in the state, from the first to the latest, from crude brews to craft brews, from mass beer to microbrews. This eye-opening chronicle is encyclopedic in scope but smooth in its delivery. Like a fine beer, the contents are deep and rich, with a little froth on top.
 
With more than 250 photographs—200 in full color—Brewing Arizona is as beautiful as it is tasty. So put up your feet, grab a cold one, and sip to your heart’s delight.
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front cover of Chasing Arizona
Chasing Arizona
One Man’s Yearlong Obsession with the Grand Canyon State
Ken Lamberton
University of Arizona Press, 2015
It seemed like a simple plan—visit fifty-two places in fifty-two weeks. But for author Ken Lamberton, a forty-five-year veteran of life in the Sonoran Desert, the entertaining results were anything but easy. In Chasing Arizona, Lamberton takes readers on a yearlong, twenty-thousand-mile joyride across Arizona during its centennial, racking up more than two hundred points of interest along the way.
 
Lamberton chases the four corners of Arizona, attempts every county, every reservation, and every national monument and state park, from the smallest community to the largest city. He drives his Kia Rio through the longest tunnels and across the highest suspension bridges, hikes the hottest deserts, and climbs the tallest mountain, all while visiting the people, places, and treasures that make Arizona great.
 
In the vivid, lyrical, often humorous prose the author is known for, each destination weaves together stories of history, nature, and people, along with entertaining side adventures and excursions. Maps and forty-four of the author’s detailed pencil drawings illustrate the journey.
 
Chasing Arizona is unlike any book of its kind. It is an adventure story, a tale of Arizona, a road-warrior narrative. It is a quest to see and experience as much of Arizona as possible. Through intimate portrayals of people and place, readers deeply experience the Grand Canyon State and at the same time celebrate what makes Arizona a wonderful place to visit and live.
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