Chicago by the Pint: A Craft Beer History of the Windy City

by Denese Neu

Belly up to the bar and take a swig of Chicago's beer history with this new look at the Windy City's best and most historic brews and breweries. Included are Chicago's most prominent and significant craft breweries, with intricate details on history, important personalities and events in the breweries' past, top beers and more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Beer, History

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2011

Reviews

[Ed]

I hate to bash a book for not being what I expected it to be, but this book really wasn't anything I expected or wanted it to be. From the title, you'd expect either a history Chicago brewing or maybe a history of the new craft beer breweries that have sprung up since the 80s. Instead, you get something that I can't imagine anyone would want: a series of short essays on familiar Chicago history topics (the fire, the Haymarket Riot, Wrigley Field, the Pullman area, etc.) that are loosely tied to the locations of several Chicago brewpubs.

If the historical essays were particularly well written or insightful, I'd forgive the book for having such an odd conceit. However, they are around the quality level of free handouts you'd receive at a municipal historical site. With the poor concept, poor quality and scattered topics, this book is a real dog's breakfast.

[Adam Smith]

I don't mind a meandering history book, but this was exceptionally bad. It was mostly about Chicago history, as opposed to Chicago beer history. The author repeated herself numerous times throughout and each individual passage was inconsistent in both its pacing and its chronology. There was only a passing connection sometimes to the brewery that was listed and at times was very poorly written. I lost count of how many typos I read. The only saving grace (and the only reason I gave it two stars) was that some of the history was interesting and new to me. However, I literally read about the Great Chicago Fire, I think, three times. 🙄

[Chris Bauer]

I really enjoyed this impulse buy from the check out counter at my local Walgreens.

The book is surprisingly dense and filled with not just great beers and breweries in the Chicagoland area, but a very thorough accounting of local history as well. Well-researched and well written, this book is much more about Chicago history rather than Chicago beers - fortunately I enjoy both topics.

[Paul Young]

A collection of essays using Chicago-area craft breweries as starting and connecting points. The little information on the breweries themselves, is collected at the end of the book. The history lessons are interesting and I'd like read each one while enjoying a pint at the actual brewery.

[Julie]

As a person who worked in the Chicago brewing industry and a history lover, I really enjoyed it. A brief bit about a Chicago brewery and then that was used to go deeper into a part of Chicago history.

[Anthony Sperando]

Did I learn a lot about Chicago? Yes!
Did I learn a lot about Chicagoland craft beer? No!

[Griffin Parks]

Cool to learn about Chicago’s brewing history.

[Crysta]

This isn't really a history of craft beer in Chicago, but rather a history of Chicago told by using breweries as launching points for various stories. The author makes this pretty clear, and it's an interesting way to tell history. There wasn't a ton of new info for me, but it was worth the quick read.