Brewing Minnesota

Author Doug Halverson knew no more than a hobbyist's take on the brewing industry of Minnesota when he began his decade long quest to document the evolution of beer making in the state. Rather than take a rookie's approach at covering the topic, Doug rolled his sleeves up to do his research; nearly moving into the Minnesota History Center at the same time. From the historic days of blind experimentation, through the dark days of boarded breweries and into the golden resurgence of the early 80's, the enthusiast turned expert fills 324 pages with facts and photos.

I discovered the book on my recent weekend visit to the Summit Brewery for a Saturday afternoon tour. With two of my good friends in town for the first time, the stop was a must on my 'guide to the Twin Cities' tour. Both of my guests were Summit fans coming into the day and were as pleased as I was to find that Doug would be our official tour guide for the day. After a disastrous and non-educational experience at Summit last summer, it was sheer luck that Doug decided to begin hosting tours about a month ago and now does so on a frequent basis.

Our tour group was able to taste a wide-selection of taps following our trip through the production facility; including the hard-to-find Oatmeal Stout. While sampling these varieties, Doug was gracious enough to engage the audience and answer questions, as well as sign copies of his book, which were available for $40 in the gift shop. A quick note here, the book is selling for as low as $23 on Amazon.com and has received 5-stars from those that have read it.

Doug answered several of my inquiries. Without too much detail, here's a recap:

What is your favorite beer? He avoids answering this, due to his many affiliations with breweries. To choose one would be to offend many of his friends and partners. He did admit to following the seasonal patterns with beers though and usually sticks to the same cycle with his personal tastes.

Have you heard of Brew52.com? He has and also knows the founder, Rett, who had been in touch with him recently. He seemed to like the concept, but has vowed not to review on the site to once again avoid showing favoritism or offending anyone in the industry.

Has anyone done a history of WI brewing book? As it turns out, Doug has been approached on this matter and may in fact be the one to write the publication himself. He went on to disclose that it would likely have to be at least a 2-volume set due to the much larger footprint that the industry has had in my home state.

Will you sign my book? He did. Pretty cool guy. I'll post a review when I get through it!

Cheers to those reading this- I recommend calling Summit for Doug's tour schedule and heading over to experience the highly informative walk-through.