Book Review: “The United States of Craft Beer” by Jess Lebow
A book like The United States of Craft Beer by Jess Lebow takes on quite a daunting challenge. How do you tackle the U.S., state by state, calling attention to some of the best breweries they have to offer and not piss off fans of those companies (VA’s Starr Hill or Legend Brewing for example) you don’t include? Honestly, it’s impossible — especially considering the rate at which breweries have been opening the last year or so.
The concept behind a book like this has promise and makes for something you can have sitting on a nearby home bar as a conversation starter. There’s just not much there to make you want to pick it often.
Lebow’s style of writing itself is loose and easy reading on its own, but there’s not much of a personal investment in a majority of the breweries outlined within the book. For many of the companies, the facts presented are items that any one can cull from any number of online resources.
This book would have benefited from more of a personal touch. Lebow’s experience in and with craft beer gives the expectation of something more from his writing. Personal experiences with these breweries, accounts of visits or anecdotes with any of their products would have been a welcome addition instead of simply listing the breweries’ offerings — as is often the case for a large portion of the book’s content. Hell, Devils Backbone (one of the more successful companies in Virginia) gets just three (3) sentences before a list of their products are presented.
I’m not trying to be harsh with this review, but as I stated earlier, writing a book like this has its challenges. There are a couple things, however, that can be done to make it a bit more interesting. More personal reflection of the breweries outlined is a necessity — simply listing out a company’s products doesn’t cut it. The maps that lead off each state are your standard, garden variety road maps. It would have been great to at least see the three breweries of each state represented on those maps, giving a quick idea of where each is located.
The United States of Craft Beer is a decent first crack at this concept. It should be comfortable sitting with a couple of other beer books on your coffee table or home bar. It shouldn’t be taken as any more than that or a book you’ll read cover to cover.
This is a review of a promotional copy received from the publisher.
