Beer Industry Guide: Craft Beers

In 1975, there was a single craft brewery in the United States; today there are more than 2,000. Based on interviews with all of the biggest and most influential names in craft brewing since the 1970s—including brewers, critics, and marketers—The Audacity of Hops brims with charming, remarkable stories, which together weave a very American business tale, one of formidable odds and refreshing success.

Here is your authoritative guide to exploring the diverse array of flavors found in craft beer--and the joys of pairing those flavors with great food to transform everyday meals into culinary events. Armed with the precise tasting techniques and pairing strategies offered inside, Beer, Food, and Flavor will enable you to learn about the top craft breweries in your region, seek out new beer styles and specialty brews with confidence, create innovative menus, and pair craft beer with fine food.

Randy Mosher explores and explains the tasting experience, guiding readers to a better understanding of how every batch of beer is affected by recipe formulation, brewhouse procedures, yeasts, fermentations, carbonation, filtration, packaging, and much more. Readers will learn to identify the scents, colors, flavors, and mouth-feel of all the major beer styles. For each style, Mosher includes historical and regional facts, taste and aroma characteristics, seasonal availability, food pairings, and a few terrific recommendations for readers to sample.

Chicago's craft beer scene may be new, but it enthusiastically taps the rich history of its home city. Order yourself a pint of Piece's Golden Arm Ale and meet its inspirationùNelson Algren, poet of the Chicago slums and author of The Man with the Golden Arm. Or sample the fine flavors of Crown Brewing, made in the former boiler room of a jail that was the site of a John Dillinger prison break.

The ultimate data resource on the malt beverage industry