The Disciples of King Gambrinus, Volume I: Twenty-five Unfortunate Lives (The Disciples of Gambrinus)

The hard-working men who made Idaho a part of the American nation worked up a mighty thirst in the process. European-born—mostly Germanic—men saw a need and a business potential and brewed beer for them. Beer to quench their thirst, to feed the inner man, to bind the society, and to save that society from whiskey-induced rages and excesses. European legend and lore said medieval King Gambrinus invented beer. The legend conveniently forgets the first few thousand years of brewing history in the Old World, but it offers a definite starting point for the brewers to begin their own historical epoch. A European brewer considered himself, if not a descendant from the legendary king, at least a disciple. This series of collective biographies tells the lives of the Disciples of Gambrinus as they lived, worked, and died in the Gem State. As with any large group, there were the saints and the sinners, the sane and the insane, the wise and the foolish, the successful and the failures. Some committed murder; some had murder committed on them. Some became enormously wealthy, while some filed for bankruptcy. They were a microcosm of the human condition, but their link to brewing endowed them with a certain essence that was theirs alone.

Herman Wiley Ronnenberg, Ph.D. author of Pioneer Mother on the River of No Return, The Life of Isabella Kelly Benedict Robie; The Politics of Assimilation; Beer and Brewing in the Inland Northwest; John Lemp: The Beer Baron of Boise; The Disciples of KIng Gambrinus Volume I, Twenty-Five Unfortunate Lives; Jeanette Manuel, The Life and Legend of the Belle of Fabulous Florence; Material Culture of Breweries