Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, D.C. (American Palate) - Softcover

Peck, Garrett

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1626194416 ISBN 13: 9781626194410

Publisher: The History Press, 2014

Synopsis

Imagine the jubilation of thirsty citizens in 1796 when the Washington Brewery--the city's first brewery--opened. Yet the English-style ales produced by the early breweries in the capital and in nearby Arlington and Alexandria sat heavy on the tongue in the oppressive Potomac summers. By the 1850s, an influx of German immigrants gave a frosty reprieve to their new home in the form of light but flavorful lagers. Brewer barons like Christian Heurich and Albert Carry dominated the taps of city saloons until production ground to a halt with the dry days of Prohibition. Only Heurich survived, and when the venerable institution closed in 1956, Washington, D.C., was without a brewery for fifty-five years. Author and beer scholar Garrett Peck taps this high-gravity history while introducing readers to the bold new brewers leading the capital's recent craft beer revival.

About this title

About the Author

Garrett Peck is a literary journalist and craft beer, drinking, wine-collecting, gin-loving, bourbon-sipping, Simpsons-quoting, early morning, rising history dork. He is the author of The Prohibition Hangover: Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet and leads the Temperance Tour of Prohibition-related sites in Washington, D.C. Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren't is his second book. A native Californian and Virginia Military Institute graduate, he lives in lovely Arlington, Virginia. His website can be found at www.garrettpeck.com.

Review

"Why'd it take us [DC's brewing culture] so long to get back on the wagon? Capital Beer will answer all your questions in the endearing style of your history buff friend who you can't take to museums (in a good way!)." - DCist, March 20, 2014. 

"Ever wonder what beer was like in Washington before DC Brau brought brewing back to the Capital in 2011? Grab a pint with local historian Garrett Peck. The beer scholar's new book, 'Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, D.C.,' traces the area's beer beginnings back to 1770, and explains why, after Prohibition, it took decades for the District to start brewing again." - Washington Post Express, March 27, 2014.

"In brisk and lively prose Peck covers 240 years of local brewing history, from the earliest days of British ale makers through the influx of German lagermeisters and up to the present-day craft breweries....Richly illustrated with photographs both old and new, as well as a colorful collection of her art, Capital Beer is almost as much fun to read as 'sitting in an outdoor beer garden and supping suds with friends over a long, languid conversation.'" - The Hill Rag, April 2014. 

"It turns out that a beer glass isn't a bad window onto history after all." - Capital Cooking, April 27, 2014.
"It's hard to finish this book and not thirst for a tall cold one." - Washington Independent Review of Books, May 22, 2014. 

"Garrett Peck's Capital Beer is a very good book that completely describes the history of brewing in the District of Columbia, Alexandria and Arlington. It should become a standard reference for anyone interested in the breweries of this region." - Mid Atlantic Brewing News, June/July 2014.
"Garrett Peck is to be commended for producing a very readable account of Washington, D.C.'s brewing past." - Journal of Brewery History, Spring 2014 

Edition details

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1626194416
• ISBN 13: 9781626194410
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208