Michigan's beer history is as diverse as the breweries themselves, and the stories behind them are as fascinating as their tasty concoctions. A few enterprising women found themselves at the forefront of early brewing in the state, and several early Detroit brewers also served as mayor. Pfeiffer's mascot was designed by Walt Disney Studios. Jackson's Eberle Brewing Company took its fight against local prohibition all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Silver Foam trademark embroiled disputants in a different legal fight. Renowned modern craft brewers grew from humble beginnings, often staving off financial disaster, to establish themselves as local, or even national, juggernauts. Grab your favorite brew and join author Patti F. Smith for a look at Michigan's distant brewing past and its recent triumphs.

Michigan's beer history is as diverse as the breweries themselves, and the stories behind them are as fascinating as their tasty concoctions. A few enterprising women found themselves at the forefront of early brewing in the state, and several early Detroit brewers also served as mayor. Pfeiffer's mascot was designed by Walt Disney Studios. Jackson's Eberle Brewing Company took its fight against local prohibition all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Silver Foam trademark embroiled disputants in a different legal fight. Renowned modern craft brewers grew from humble beginnings, often staving off financial disaster, to establish themselves as local, or even national, juggernauts. Grab your favorite brew and join author Patti F. Smith for a look at Michigan's distant brewing past and its recent triumphs.

While in recent years Detroit's craft beer scene has exploded with activity and innovation, brewing has a long history in the Motor City. Small brewers popped up during the mid-1800s to support nearby saloons. Many breweries survived the dry years by producing "near beer," or non-alcoholic beer, which was quickly abandoned after Prohibition. Consolidation marked the following decades until only Stroh Brewery Company remained. Local brewing returned triumphantly with dozens of breweries opening their doors since the 1990s, including Motor City Brewing Works, Atwater Brewery and Kuhnhenn Brewing Company. Join author and Motor City Brew Tours founder Stephen Johnson for Detroit history by the pint.

While in recent years Detroit's craft beer scene has exploded with activity and innovation, brewing has a long history in the Motor City. Small brewers popped up during the mid-1800s to support nearby saloons. Many breweries survived the dry years by producing "near beer," or non-alcoholic beer, which was quickly abandoned after Prohibition. Consolidation marked the following decades until only Stroh Brewery Company remained. Local brewing returned triumphantly with dozens of breweries opening their doors since the 1990s, including Motor City Brewing Works, Atwater Brewery and Kuhnhenn Brewing Company. Join author and Motor City Brew Tours founder Stephen Johnson for Detroit history by the pint.

Ann Arbor has always been a beer-loving town. From the establishment of the first commercial brewery in 1838 through a century of German immigration down to today's local craft brew boom, the amber liquid looms large in Tree Town's quirky past and present. Find out how beer helped a former University of Michigan professor win a Nobel Prize. Discover the Ann Arbor doctor whose nationally bestselling home remedy book featured ale recipes. Learn which Michigan football legend pounded brewskis as part of his training regimen. Covering the exploits of famous poets, performers and prohibitionists, local author David Bardallis pops the cap off the big beer history of this little college town and leads readers to "the best beer you can drink" in Ann Arbor today.

Brewing came to the Upper Peninsula in the 1600s, when French fur traders substituted pine needles for hops in batches of spruce beer. Promoted as a health drink, the evergreen suds remained in favor with the British army when it occupied the region. German immigrants drawn in by the mining boom introduced more variety to the area's fermented beverage selection, and the first of many commercial breweries opened in Sault Ste. Marie in 1850. Today, Keweenaw, Blackrocks and Ore Dock Brewing Companies are a few of the local craft brewers canning, bottling and shipping the malty flavor of the Peninsula throughout Michigan, Wisconsin and beyond. Book jacket.

Discover and celebrate the untapped history of Philadelphia beer. The finely aged history of Philadelphia brewing has been fermenting since before the crack appeared in the Liberty Bell. By the time thirsty immigrants made the city the birthplace of the American lager in the nineteenth century, Philadelphia was already on the leading edge of the country's brewing technology and production. Today, the City of Brotherly Love continues to foster that enterprising spirit of innovation with an enviable community of bold new brewers, beer aficionados and brewing festivals. Pennsylvania brewery historian Rich Wagner takes readers on a satisfying journey from the earliest ale brewers and the heyday of lager beer through the dismally dry years of Prohibition and into the current craft-brewing renaissance