Once dominated by megabreweries like Miller and G. Heilemann, the Midwest has in recent years become home to a dynamic craft beer industry at the core of America's current brewing renaissance. Beer writer and Certified Cicerone® Michael Agnew crisscrossed Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin sampling the astonishing variety of beers on offer at breweries and brewpubs. The result is a region-wide survey of the Midwestern craft beer scene. Packed with details on more than 200 breweries, A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland offers actual and armchair travelers alike a handbook that includes:

Agnew's exclusive choices on which beers to try at each location

Entries on every brewery's history and philosophy

Information on tours, tasting rooms and attached pubs, and dining options and other amenities

A survey of each brewery's brands, including its flagship beer plus seasonal brews and special releases

Brewery equipment and capacity

Nearby attractions

In addition, Agnew sets the stage with a history of Midwestern beer spanning the origins of the immigrant brewers who arrived in the 1800s to the homebrewers-made-good who have built a new kind of brewing culture founded on creativity, dedication to quality, and attention to customer feedback.

Informed and unique, A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland is the essential companion for beer aficionados and curious others determined to drink the best the Midwest has to offer.

Includes more than 150 full color images, including the region's most distinctive beer labels, trademarks, and company logos.

|ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
INTRODUCTION 1
The Rise of the Megabreweries after Prohibition 5
Minnesota's Beer: The History of Grain Belt 9
Brewery Caves Then and Now 13
How to Use This Guide 17

MINNESOTA 18
Twin Cities/Central 21
Northern 41
Southeast 50
Southwest 54
Fermenteries 57

WISCONSIN 58
Madison 61
Milwaukee 71
Northern 81
East Central 85
West Central 98
Southeast 110
Southwest 116
Fermenteries 119

ILLINOIS 120
Chicago Metro 123
Northern 158
Central 163
Southern 170
Fermenteries 173

IOWA 174
Central 176
Northeast 186
Southeast 194
Southwest 198
Fermenteries 200

GLOSSARY OF BEER TERMS 201
BIBLIOGRAPHY 205
INDEX OF BREWERIES BY LOCATION 207
GENERAL INDEX 211| "As someone who has written about beer for over thirty years I can tell you that it is almost impossible to write a book like this without falling into jargon or repetition of descriptions, and this author fell victim to neither. . . . This is research at its best."—Peter LaFrance, author of Cooking & Eating with Beer
|Michael Agnew writes about beer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Beer Connoisseur, and other publications and is the author of the homebrew recipe book Craft Beer for the Homebrewer. He blogs at A Perfect Pint, www.aperfectpint.net.