From the writer of Bourbon, “the definitive history” (Sacramento Bee), comes the rollicking and revealing story of beer in America, in the spirit of Salt or Cod.

In The United States of Beer, Dane Huckelbridge, the writer of Bourbon: A History from the American Spirit-a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance bestseller-charts the surprisingly fascinating history of Americans’ romantic relationship with their most popular alcoholic beverage. Huckelbridge displays how beer offers evolved along with the nation- about AMERICA of Beverage: A Freewheeling Background of the All-American Drink from an area and regional product (a long time ago every American city has its own brewery and iconic ale brand) towards the rise of global mega-brands like Budweiser and Miller that are synonymous with U.S. capitalism.

We learn of George Washington’s failed try to brew ale at Support Vernon with molasses instead of barley, from the 19th century “Beverage Barons” like Captain Frederick Pabst, Adolphus Busch, and Joseph Schlitz who revolutionized industrial making and built lucrative empires-and the American immigrant experience-and of the advances in making and bottling technology that allowed beverage to circulation in the saloons of the Crazy Western. Throughout, Huckelbridge pulls connections between seemingly remote fragments of the American past, and stocks his reports from your frontlines of today’s craft-brewing trend.