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7 books match the query 'Breweries'
A Keg of Their Best
Brewing in the Beer State Capital—From the Beer Baron Era to Modern MicrobrewsRobin Shepard
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2026
Wisconsin has long been known as “The Beer State,” and the history of its capital city brims with stories of brewing innovation—from the city’s earliest beer-makers and long-forgotten farmstead breweries to today’s experimental microbrewers and enterprising taprooms. In A Keg of Their Best: Brewing in the Beer State Capital—From the Beer Baron Era to Modern Microbrews, journalist and beer expert Robin Shepard offers an authoritative history of Madison’s brewing legacy and its key figures from the 1830s to the present.
A Keg of Their Best documents how the beer industry emerged before Madison became a city, starting with the arrival of its first white residents, Roseline and Eben Peck, who opened a tavern in the back room of their cabin in 1837. Subsequent waves of German and English immigrants brought their lager and ale recipes and brewing traditions—some of which live on today. The book also explores how the region’s environment—its rich soil and abundant water sources—made it ideal for beer-making. And it reveals how beer barons created and funded much of the early infrastructure that established Madison as the territorial capital.
Readers will discover how brewmasters, bootleggers, and homebrewers survived during Prohibition and the ways the post-Prohibition beer-making renaissance gave rise to the modern craft beer movement. Shepard brings Wisconsin’s brewing history up through today by highlighting the craft brewers, microbrewers, and regional breweries that are producing inspiring pilsners, IPAs, stouts, sours, and other tasty brews in Madison and Dane County’s thriving beer scene.
Drawing from newspaper accounts, ancestry and property records, and hundreds of personal interviews, Shepard has compiled a thorough and engrossing tribute to Madison’s beer-making heritage—including every known brewery in Dane County since the 1840s. Richly illustrated with historical and modern photos, maps, and breweriana, A Keg of Their Best is a must-have for beer enthusiasts, history lovers, and anyone who has raised a pint in the Beer State Capital.
A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland
Michael Agnew
University of Illinois Press, 2014
- 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.
Beer, Brats, and Cheese
A Wisconsin Road TripHeather Kerrigan
University of Wisconsin Press, 2025
To thoroughly research this book, Heather Kerrigan undertook a twenty-six-hundred-mile road trip crisscrossing the Badger State, seeking the hidden gems that locals frequent. She visited Wisconsin’s best restaurants, creameries, breweries, butcher shops, and cheesemongers. In Beer, Brats, and Cheese, Kerrigan highlights the innovative flavors and unexpected delights found in these spots. Great beer isn’t made only in Milwaukee, Sheboygan doesn’t have a lock on the best bratwurst, and excellent cheeses don’t just come from Monroe County. In fact, there are towns large and small, from the far north to the Illinois border, from Door County to the Mississippi River, that contribute to the state’s amazing culinary experiences.
Whether you’re planning a bite-by-bite day trip or simply looking for a great place to eat or drink near home, this guide has you covered.
Bottoms Up
A Toast to Wisconsin's Historic Bars and BreweriesJim Draeger
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017
Bottoms Up celebrates Wisconsin’s taverns and the breweries that fueled them. Beginning with inns and saloons, the book explores the rise of taverns and breweries, the effects of temperance and Prohibition, and attitudes about gender, ethnicity, and morality. It traces the development of the megabreweries, dominance of the giants, and the emergence of microbreweries. Contemporary photographs of unusual and distinctive bars and breweries of all eras, historical photos, postcards, advertisements, and breweriana illustrate the story of how Wisconsin came to dominate brewing—and the place that bars and beer hold in our social and cultural history.
Seventy featured taverns and breweries represent diverse architectural styles, from the open-air Tom’s Burned Down Cafe on Madeline Island to the Art Moderne Casino in La Crosse, and from Club 10, a 1930s roadhouse in Stevens Point, to the well-known Wolski’s Tavern in Milwaukee. There are bars in barns and basements and brewpubs in former ice cream factories and railroad depots. Bottoms Up also includes a heady mix of such beer-related topics as ice harvesting, barrel making, bar games, Old-Fashioneds, bar fixtures, and the queen of the bootleggers. Now in paperback for the first time!
Breweries of Wisconsin
Jerry Apps
University of Wisconsin Press, 2005
The story of the Dairy State’s other major industry—beer! From the immigrants who started brewing here during territorial days to the modern industrial giants, this is the history, the folklore, the architecture, the advertising, and the characters that made Wisconsin the nation’s brewing leader. Updated with the latest trends on the Wisconsin brewing scene.
"Apps adeptly combines diligent scholarship with fascinating anecdotes, vividly portraying brewmasters, beer barons, saloonkeepers, and corporate raiders. All this plus color reproductions of popular beer labels and a detailed recipe for home brew."—Wisconsin Magazine of History
"In a highly readable style Apps links together ethnic influence, agriculture, geography, natural resources, meteorology, changing technology, and transportation to explore some of the mystique, romance and folklore associated with beer from antiquity to the present day in Wisconsin."—The Brewers Bulletin
Fifty Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio
Rick Armon
Ohio University Press, 2017
Every craft beer has a story, and part of the fun is learning where the liquid gold in your glass comes from. In Fifty Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio, veteran beer writer Rick Armon picks the can’t-miss brews in a roundup that will handily guide everyone from the newest beer aficionado to those with the most seasoned palates. Some are crowd pleasers, some are award winners, some are just plain unusual—the knockout beers included here are a tiny sample of what Ohio has to offer.
In the midst of the ongoing nationwide renaissance in local beer culture, Ohio has become a major center for the creation of quality craft brews, and Armon goes behind the scenes to figure out what accounts for the state’s beer alchemy. He asked the brewers themselves about the great idea or the happy accident that made each beer what it is. The book includes brewer profiles, quintessentially Ohio food pairings (sauerkraut balls and Cincinnati chili!), and more.
Minnesota’s Best Breweries and Brewpubs
Searching for the Perfect PintRobin Shepard
University of Wisconsin Press, 2011
Based on four years of travel and research, Minnesota’s Best Breweries and Brewpubs is a welcome addition to Robin Shepard’s series of guides to the best of the Midwest’s beer industries. From large-scale breweries such as Cold Spring, to chains like Granite City, to individual brewpubs like Fitger’s Brewhouse, Shepard provides commentary for more than thirty beer makers and three-hundred Minnesota beers. Accessible enough for people at all stages in their journeys to discover great-tasting beer, the information-packed guidebook also features a list of helpful books and websites, as well as information on Minnesota’s beer tastings and festivals.
For each brewery and brewpub site you’ll find:
• a description and brief history, plus many “don’t miss” features
• a description of beers on tap and a list of seasonal and specialty beers
• a space for the brewmaster’s autograph
• notes on the pub food, with recommendations
• suggestions of nearby sights and activities
• general directions to the location
• Shepard’s personal ratings of the experience, plus room to add your own.