Book Review: The Craft Beer Revolution

As both a brewery owner and active member of two brewing associations, Steve Hindy (co-founder of Brooklyn Brewery) has over twenty-fives years of first hand experience with the industry's inner workings and relationships. His book, The Craft Beer Revolution: How a Band of Microbrewers Is Transforming the World's Favorite Drink, is an insiders story about the rise of craft brewing, the struggles within the industry and it's associations and the relationships with "Big Beer".

Everyone is familiar with the story that Fritz Maytag is basically credited with sparking the craft beer revolution when he bought Anchor Steam Brewing just as it was about to close, but you'll learn about a lot of other people who also deserve some credit. And as an active Director of both the Brewers Association and the Beer Institute, Steve has being working hard to improve and steer the industry as well. There's definitely a lot of historical facts and tidbits that I was completely unaware of, but it may be a little too in-depth for readers who are not directly involved in the craft brewing industry. However, it's those stories that I found the most interesting. The ones that involve Jim Koch of Boston Beer Co. and the apparent running feud with some of the brewers (including Steve) were particularly entertaining (and explain Koch's quote about the book).  It's definitely a great read and I recommend it to anyone who's interests in craft beer go beyond just drinking it.