California Breweries North

California Breweries North
By Jay R. Brooks
Stackpole Books, September 2013, $19.95

When Jay Brooks says Northern California is the birthplace of American craft beer, he’s not exaggerating. What was kicked off with Fritz Maytag’s first 200-case batch of bottled Anchor Steam Beer in 1971 led to Jack McAuliffe building a homemade 1-barrel system, Ken Grossman taking community college classes in welding and refrigeration, and Vinnie Cilurzo creating his game-changing Double IPA. Brooks was witness to a lot of the region’s beer history—he’s lived in California for nearly 30 years, and been in the industry almost as long. In this book, Brooks (a BeerAdvocate contributor) leaves no pint glass unturned. Through details like the brewers’ backgrounds and the histories of the buildings, he makes each brewery jump off the page—a tall order, considering there are 161 of them. Go now to Northern California, with Brooks’ book in hand, but be prepared for it to end up with dog-eared pages, a well-worn spine and maybe a couple beer stains for good measure. ■