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Ambitious Brew
In the first-ever history of American beer, Maureen Ogle tells its epic story, from the immigrants who invented it to the upstart microbrewers who revived it.
Beer might seem as American as baseball, but that has not always been true: Rum and whiskey were the drinks of choice in the 1840s, with only a few breweries making heavy, yeasty English ale. When a wave of German immigrants arrived in the middle of the nineteenth century, they promptly set about re-creating the pleasures of the biergartens they had left behind.
Just fifty years later, the American-style lager beer they invented was the nation’s most popular beverage—and brewing was the nation’s fifth-largest industry, ruled over by fabulously wealthy titans Frederick Pabst and Adolphus Busch. But when anti-German sentiments aroused by World War I fed the flames of the temperance movement (one activist even declared that “the worst of all our German enemies are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller”), Prohibition was the result. In the wake of its repeal, brewers replaced flavor with innovations like marketing and lite beer, setting the stage for a generation of microbrewers whose ambitions reshaped the drink.
Grab a glass and settle in for the surprising story behind your favorite pint.
Just fifty years later, the American-style lager beer they invented was the nation’s most popular beverage—and brewing was the nation’s fifth-largest industry, ruled over by fabulously wealthy titans Frederick Pabst and Adolphus Busch. But when anti-German sentiments aroused by World War I fed the flames of the temperance movement (one activist even declared that “the worst of all our German enemies are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller”), Prohibition was the result. In the wake of its repeal, brewers replaced flavor with innovations like marketing and lite beer, setting the stage for a generation of microbrewers whose ambitions reshaped the drink.
Grab a glass and settle in for the surprising story behind your favorite pint.
432 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
About the author
Maureen Ogle
10 books29 followersHistorian, author. World-class ranter (at least in my own mind). (And who else's mind should count??)
More info at maureenogle.com; lots of info; probably more than you want.
Voracious reader for over a half century (yeah, I'm old). I say, with no fear of exaggeration, that reading made my nightmarish childhood tolerable. Don't ask me to imagine a world without books; the idea is too terrifying, too painful.
Other stuff (not so serious) you may want to know: Check your ego at the door, and if you're lacking a sense of humor, don't bother to knock. 'Nuff said.
Now go read something!
More info at maureenogle.com; lots of info; probably more than you want.
Voracious reader for over a half century (yeah, I'm old). I say, with no fear of exaggeration, that reading made my nightmarish childhood tolerable. Don't ask me to imagine a world without books; the idea is too terrifying, too painful.
Other stuff (not so serious) you may want to know: Check your ego at the door, and if you're lacking a sense of humor, don't bother to knock. 'Nuff said.
Now go read something!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
November 10, 2014
A cousin of mine gave me this book as a gift years ago. I'm not sure what took me so long to read it; as a fan of both non-fiction and beer, Ambitious Brew is a must read. Now that I'm done, I am sad to have finished it. Maureen Ogle did an incredible job researching the people (Frederick Miller, Adolphus Busch, Frederick Pabst, Philip Best...) and ingenuity behind the brand names. The beginning of the book almost exclusively covers the story of these German immigrants creating what we think of as American beer in the 19th century. But there is much more to the story than that. Subsequent chapters cover prohibition (incidentally, this part of the read is kind of a downer) and its repeal (yay!). Still later we learn of the challenges Big Beer faced in the 50s, 60s and 70s (due to among other things, diet crazes and anti-establishment hippie types), as well as the home brew and craft brew revolutions of the 80s and 90s. The book ends in the early 2000s with PBR popular among the "bike messenger, retro-chic crowd." After reading this book I no longer look at a lager the same way. Also, I am now a fan of German beer like never before, which is cool since German bars and restaurants are enjoying a renaissance of sorts in LA.
I only have one gripe, but it's kind of a big one. Consider the following question: Is the Budweiser or whatever macro lager that you drink today the same as it was more than a century ago? Almost certainly it is not, and that is one way in which big beer has provided an opening for craft beer. So, the craft beer revolution is not only a difference in style of brew, but in quality. Maureen Ogle doesn't really answer this question or provide any idea of how historical recipes were different than what is produced today, even among lagers. I wish this book had explored this idea.
Pro-tip: read this book during a weekend or vacation because almost inevitably you will consume bottles and cans of the beers you read about.
I only have one gripe, but it's kind of a big one. Consider the following question: Is the Budweiser or whatever macro lager that you drink today the same as it was more than a century ago? Almost certainly it is not, and that is one way in which big beer has provided an opening for craft beer. So, the craft beer revolution is not only a difference in style of brew, but in quality. Maureen Ogle doesn't really answer this question or provide any idea of how historical recipes were different than what is produced today, even among lagers. I wish this book had explored this idea.
Pro-tip: read this book during a weekend or vacation because almost inevitably you will consume bottles and cans of the beers you read about.
September 11, 2023
3.5 stars
While I found a lot of the book interesting and I learned new things, I felt it was dragged down by so many minute details that didn’t add much to the story. I also think it focused too much on the business side of brewing and it was an entirely male-centric view of the story.
While I found a lot of the book interesting and I learned new things, I felt it was dragged down by so many minute details that didn’t add much to the story. I also think it focused too much on the business side of brewing and it was an entirely male-centric view of the story.
October 8, 2018
A nice book on the history of american beer brewing. Starts off in the early 1800's and tells of the early days of some of the big brewing empires. We go through prohibition and the wars, and finally into the 1970's where we begin to see the early days of micro breweries.
One probably minor thing bothered me throughout the book. The author continually seems to praise Anheuser-Busch, and indeed, much of her research came from their vast library, and they probably still are the biggest brewer of beer in the US. But my own problem is, that I've never been able to drink Budweiser. My throat will not even allow me to swallow it, so you can imagine my bias. Hard for me to wrap my brain around the praise.
Other than this though, I did like the book.
One probably minor thing bothered me throughout the book. The author continually seems to praise Anheuser-Busch, and indeed, much of her research came from their vast library, and they probably still are the biggest brewer of beer in the US. But my own problem is, that I've never been able to drink Budweiser. My throat will not even allow me to swallow it, so you can imagine my bias. Hard for me to wrap my brain around the praise.
Other than this though, I did like the book.
July 1, 2013
Solid history of the beer business in America, from the rise of Anheuser-Busch and Pabst and countless local breweries in the 19th century to prohibition to consolidation to the craft beer revolution of recent times. A consistent theme is that the big and successful brewers gave American consumers what they wanted (which might not be the beer that you and I would want): light lagers and pilsners, as opposed to the hoppy ales that I love.
Ogle does a good job of profiling the families and individuals involved in the industry. There is a ton of information here, and she presents it in a relatively breezy, novelistic way.
Ogle does a good job of profiling the families and individuals involved in the industry. There is a ton of information here, and she presents it in a relatively breezy, novelistic way.
February 27, 2013
This is a good and fairly comprehensive history of brewing in the United States. It's treatment of the big brewers is even handed (ie she could have easily slipped into the "corporate brewers hawk tasteless swill" harangue but didn't. I appreciate that not because I love big name beers (I decidedly don't) but because I think it gives the author more credibility. The reading can get a little slow especially about the post-repeal era, all in all I enjoyed it.
January 19, 2016
I loved this book! It was really interesting to learn not just the history of beer making in the US, but also the stories behind the hard-working, creative, and dedicated first family businessmen and women. Great read.
February 4, 2024
I really enjoyed this history of beer in America. It's written in a way that is easy to read. I loved the combination of biography of the brewers, insights on consumer trends throughout the years, and technology advancements in the industry.
January 22, 2009
Tedious, meandering and unconvincing, this book could have benefited greatly from a more passionate author and a more aggressive editor. Ogle throws a lot of names around, but doesn't construct a narrative thread beyond "this happened then that happened". Her most provocative thought is that the mega-brews grew out of consumer demand for a paler and less flavorful beer, and that the mega-brews excelled in providing that product - not exactly an earth-shattering thesis.
Absent from the book is any appreciation of the subject. While this does not purport to be a tasting guide, it is hard to imagine writing such a book without a more informed analysis of how the flavor of the mega-brews differed and converged, and what the alternatives available tasted like. She talks about the survival of a few regionals, but doesn't describe how their offerings differed from the majors.
This book reads like an Economics thesis that spun out of control.
Absent from the book is any appreciation of the subject. While this does not purport to be a tasting guide, it is hard to imagine writing such a book without a more informed analysis of how the flavor of the mega-brews differed and converged, and what the alternatives available tasted like. She talks about the survival of a few regionals, but doesn't describe how their offerings differed from the majors.
This book reads like an Economics thesis that spun out of control.
April 3, 2018
This was a comprehensive and well-written introduction to the history of beer making in the US. I really appreciated the chronology of how the early breweries formed and weathered prohibition, the rise of the modern "macro" brew, and eventually the formation of the modern microbreweries. My critiques are minor. I feel that the author put too much of a capitalist slant on the telling. In doing so, it detracted from the emphasis on WHY it was selling. Similarly, she refers to the owners of a brewery more often than she actually names the brewery itself. This makes the narrative difficult to follow at times, especially in later chapters. Lastly, the book would do well with some sort of appendix (or even a chapter) that charts the rise and fall of certain styles of beer. The book discusses the creation of the macro lager, but really doesn't delve into what defines a lager from an ale. I'd certainly recommend this to anyone interested in beer history.
November 17, 2023
The foreword emphasizes that edits were made to explicitly make the prose and history “less clunky”… perhaps that should have been my warning.
Having enjoyed other books that have taken a boozy lens to American history, I was excited for this book. Unfortunately, the prose and the organization in this book are absolutely terrible! Clumsy analogies and completely needless physical descriptions of historical figures are thrown in without any sense of purpose or interest. But most unforgivable is how the author interrupts their own stories to weave in the broader historical scope… but out of order and sometimes going pages without specifying the timeframe being addressed. For example, a story about happenings from 1820-1830 was interrupted by a broader scope of historical context from 1850-1900 with the decades broken up in no particular order… then resumed the original story at 1840. If there seemed to be a narrative purpose I could see this as a creative choice, but it comes off that the author dropped their notes and didn’t bother to put them back in order.
Or maybe had too much beer.
Having enjoyed other books that have taken a boozy lens to American history, I was excited for this book. Unfortunately, the prose and the organization in this book are absolutely terrible! Clumsy analogies and completely needless physical descriptions of historical figures are thrown in without any sense of purpose or interest. But most unforgivable is how the author interrupts their own stories to weave in the broader historical scope… but out of order and sometimes going pages without specifying the timeframe being addressed. For example, a story about happenings from 1820-1830 was interrupted by a broader scope of historical context from 1850-1900 with the decades broken up in no particular order… then resumed the original story at 1840. If there seemed to be a narrative purpose I could see this as a creative choice, but it comes off that the author dropped their notes and didn’t bother to put them back in order.
Or maybe had too much beer.
May 21, 2017
The story of beer in America.... sort of. The focus here is on lagers brewed by German Immigrants and how some of these developed into the bohemoths of today. The problem with the book is 2/3 of the way through the book the author will write something like (I am paraphrasing) "In 1967 Schlitz was the second largest brewer in the world followed by Coors and Rheingold" and then will stop and explain what the latter two breweries are without making an effort to provide well written histories as she has for AB, Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz.
As other reviewers have noted, this relatively long book drags on and on with with the history of prohibition and at the end goes off on tangents about Charlie Pappazian and finally relatively brief histories of Anchor, Sierra-Nevada, and Boston Beer Company.
This would have been a better book if the author had picked a single theme and focused on it.
As other reviewers have noted, this relatively long book drags on and on with with the history of prohibition and at the end goes off on tangents about Charlie Pappazian and finally relatively brief histories of Anchor, Sierra-Nevada, and Boston Beer Company.
This would have been a better book if the author had picked a single theme and focused on it.
October 30, 2018
This is a great book for someone who loves or even likes beer. The so-called history of American beer is something that most people feel that they are familiar with, but this book shows that the actual history is more complex and nuanced.
I really enjoyed how this book was not just a history of beer in America, but at times leaned towards more of a history of America through the lens of beer, brewers, immigrants, and everyone surrounding the brewing community from the 19th century through the modern day. At times, the book felt like it jumped around a bit, and could have been organized more effectively, but overall it was a fascinating read with lots of rich details, first-hand accounts, and even some photographs to round out the history and stories presented here.
I really enjoyed how this book was not just a history of beer in America, but at times leaned towards more of a history of America through the lens of beer, brewers, immigrants, and everyone surrounding the brewing community from the 19th century through the modern day. At times, the book felt like it jumped around a bit, and could have been organized more effectively, but overall it was a fascinating read with lots of rich details, first-hand accounts, and even some photographs to round out the history and stories presented here.
May 9, 2023
Great history of the "macros". They weren't always behemoths and household names they were the nano and micro breweries of their day.
I like all the personal histories of the original owners and their successors, but I wish they would've emphasized the beer brands when it wasn't obvious. Miller, Bud/Busch, Pabst, and some others their family name matches their beer, but others like Best and Uihlein do not yet are still big players.
I wish the book would've either stopped right after the first craft brewers in the 80s or continued to present, but given the book was published in 2006 it covers the craft beer scene poorly and misses the sale of the Bud/Busch and the global consolidation of the macros.
I like all the personal histories of the original owners and their successors, but I wish they would've emphasized the beer brands when it wasn't obvious. Miller, Bud/Busch, Pabst, and some others their family name matches their beer, but others like Best and Uihlein do not yet are still big players.
I wish the book would've either stopped right after the first craft brewers in the 80s or continued to present, but given the book was published in 2006 it covers the craft beer scene poorly and misses the sale of the Bud/Busch and the global consolidation of the macros.
May 29, 2017
Well written and researched -- a good read. My one bugaboo with this book is Ms. Ogle seems to think it's okay to make beer out of corn and rice. When mentioning Budweiser she usually adds a lauditory phrase such as "good beer" or some such wording. Yea, if you like your beer without character and taste, Budweiser is a good choice. Back in the day when there were many local breweries putting out skunky beer, tasteless was a good thing. Today, with store shelves stocked full of good craft brews, not to mention a plethora of home brew options, the marketplace is speaking and passing it by. Sales continue to drop. Change "good beer" to "blah beer".
July 15, 2017
Detailed and fascinating
While the book jumps around a bit, the detailed history of brewing was fascinating. I found it hard to follow all the name dropping towards the end, trying to remember which brewery each name was associated with was distracting. Overall a good book giving a good overview of the industry.
While the book jumps around a bit, the detailed history of brewing was fascinating. I found it hard to follow all the name dropping towards the end, trying to remember which brewery each name was associated with was distracting. Overall a good book giving a good overview of the industry.
May 14, 2019
It was ok,
some parts were good and it really is an exceptionally well researched book but it left me a little meh. Particularly interesting to me was how the post prohibition lager landscape was really a low bitterness easy drinking affair that left a gap for more full flavored craft to get a foot in the door.
some parts were good and it really is an exceptionally well researched book but it left me a little meh. Particularly interesting to me was how the post prohibition lager landscape was really a low bitterness easy drinking affair that left a gap for more full flavored craft to get a foot in the door.
January 13, 2020
Good read for a little history and lots of knowledge and background on beer. p
With the rise in craft brewers i was curious about whatever happened to the beers of my youth. This will give you the whole story on what happened to who and why.
With the rise in craft brewers i was curious about whatever happened to the beers of my youth. This will give you the whole story on what happened to who and why.
January 25, 2020
This was an excellent introduction to a fascinating subset of American history. It is a nice survey of American history in general and has me interested in diving further into the societal trends that pushes changes in the beer industry.
July 20, 2021
You can almost smell the cereal grains soaking, hear horse-drawn carriage slipping in knee high slop, and see the degenerates at the local tavern blowing the foam off a fresh one. Ah, how romantic those early days of the brewing industry were.
Good stuff.
Good stuff.
August 10, 2026
Really good read for those who want a fairly deep dive into the history of brewing, breweries, brewers and the beer industry as a whole. Quite a bit of the book was about Busch, Pabst, Miller and Schlitz. A little was devoted to the beginning of the craft movement. I enjoyed it.
September 17, 2017
Parts were interesting certainly, but a bit dry in other areas.
June 30, 2023
Enjoyed reading the history of some of my favorite beers
January 20, 2025
A concise and well written history.
December 21, 2008
This was okay, but not quite what I was expecting. It is an overview of brewing in the US, going back into the 1800s and focusing on the German brewers who helped popularize it. It's very focused on their personalities and the ups and downs of their businesses, to the point of being a little tedious and unnecessary sometimes. Which might have been ok, except the second half of the book wasn't nearly as detailed. When we get to Prohibition (which had been heavily mentioned as having an impact) she sort of breezes over it, talks a little about the depression and WWII, and then dips back into some detail to talk about a couple of specific, modern brewers. Personally, I would have preferred something a little less strictly chronological, and focused more on the evolution of the beers she talked about. Some of the giants are still around! For example, Budweiser. I want to know how close the modern recipe is to what was used at the time, as the descriptions of the insistence on quality ingredients drew my attention. Is this still the case? Overall I was a little disappointed, though this book may also have suffered on comparison to having so recently read a really wonderful nonfiction work (Poisoner's Handbook) that also had a focus on booze.
August 12, 2009
I have a BA in history and am currently starting a brewery, so this book nails it better than any other besides maybe Hops and Glory. It has a bit of a slow start, but is very worth it overall if you like beer or history: it deals primarily with 19th century brewing, and so you'll read about people named Busch, Coors, Pabst, etc. Of particular interest to me was the story of how Pabst's beer got a blue ribbon (spoiler alert: they didn't).
What I really appreciated about the book is though Maureen Ogle loves craft beer she's not afraid to say when the big boys did things right. As much as we don't want to admit it, the big breweries got big by doing a damn good job. Despite what we may try to tell ourselves, they didn't trick anyone into buying thin, watery lager: it's what people wanted.
I enjoy Ogle's writing in general, and though she doesn't talk about beer as much anymore as she's moved on to the meat industry I still like reading her blog at http://maureenogle.com/
What I really appreciated about the book is though Maureen Ogle loves craft beer she's not afraid to say when the big boys did things right. As much as we don't want to admit it, the big breweries got big by doing a damn good job. Despite what we may try to tell ourselves, they didn't trick anyone into buying thin, watery lager: it's what people wanted.
I enjoy Ogle's writing in general, and though she doesn't talk about beer as much anymore as she's moved on to the meat industry I still like reading her blog at http://maureenogle.com/
April 25, 2010
A very engrossing way to look at the history of American brewing. Maureen has a unique style of writing that kept me both entertained and turning pages. The book was hard to put down. The amount of research she did for this book is simply amazing. I finished the book knowing much more about the history of brewing in this country than I did going into it. I enjoyed the background story of how the mega-beer producers of today came into being and grew to the size they are now. My family was in the bar business as I was growing up and to hear how brands like Schiltz, Falstaff, and many others came and went is fascinating. The book finishes with modern history of how breweries like Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada & Boston Beer Company started, survived and are still thriving today. The epilogue touches on the current state of craft brewing. I only hope there is a sequel that delves more into craft brewing. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the history of American beer. Thanks to the Anat Baron's movie Beer Wars for turning me onto this great book.
October 17, 2016
It's taken me a long time to finish this book. The author's extensive research is so complex. But the history of beermaking in America seems so repetitive, it became a slog to wade through it all mostly due to my lack of business acumen (getting your head around 18 million barrels of beer is just too much for this old fuddyduddy).
I found the epilogue so upbeat for the future, and as this review is now written ten years after the book's publication, I am curious what the author's observations would be considering we have actually seen the resurgence of the big brewers buying up the little guys...there is probably an economic term referring to that cycle somewhere.
I was honestly interested (and more engaged) in the brewery histories of the names I recognized (or drank (hiccup)) in my lifetime, although there was so much time spent with the ancient brewers of the 1800's the post '70's microbrewery evolution felt like a informational pamphlet. And I definitely suffered from the "hometown" mentality when Portland/Oregon's homebrewing revolution was barely mentioned.
I found the epilogue so upbeat for the future, and as this review is now written ten years after the book's publication, I am curious what the author's observations would be considering we have actually seen the resurgence of the big brewers buying up the little guys...there is probably an economic term referring to that cycle somewhere.
I was honestly interested (and more engaged) in the brewery histories of the names I recognized (or drank (hiccup)) in my lifetime, although there was so much time spent with the ancient brewers of the 1800's the post '70's microbrewery evolution felt like a informational pamphlet. And I definitely suffered from the "hometown" mentality when Portland/Oregon's homebrewing revolution was barely mentioned.
September 26, 2013
This is a very readable history of American brewing, from the German immigrants of the mid-19th century to the proliferation of microbreweries today. If you ever wondered why Pabst has a blue ribbon, here's your answer. Ogle does an admirable job of detailing the challenges, failures, and triumphs of an industry that first had to overcome American puritan instincts, then xenophobia centered around immigrant German culture, and finally Prohibition, that spectacularly failed experiment of the 1920's. The rise of big industry beer in the 1950's and 1960's left us with few quality selections, but Ogle makes the case that only the big operators were able to survive Prohibition. She links the new micro brew revolution to a generally increased consciousness about food quality and food sources, and provides insight into how this thriving industry creating new enthusiasm for a wide palette of beer styles.
October 16, 2015
A must read for those that have an interest in American Beer History. It follows the history/evolution of American Brewing from about 1850 to 2005. It ends right before the second great wave of the Craft Beer movement and AB being acquired by Inbev. It's very thorough and traces all the major shifts in the tastes and changes in the beer preferences of the American beer drinker as a whole and how the breweries responded, or failed to respond to them. The book does primarily focus on the beer baron families (Busch, Pabst and Uihlein [Schlitz]) throughout the history of American beer, but there is some great information on the First Craft Beer movement that started with Maytag (Anchor) and Grossman (Sierra Nevada) as well as Koch (Boston Beer Co) and many more. There have been a lot of visionaries in this business and I highly recommend this book.
September 3, 2009
This book is a great history of commercial brewing in America. It starts in the 19th century and runs to about the present day.
The book does a great job explaining how the major breweries came to be and how their fortunes rose and/or fell. The pre-prohibition period is very well covered.
The author also did a nice job explaining how the microbrewery movement started and I learned a lot about some of the original microbrewers who I hadn't heard of before.
The only hole I felt was a lack of discussion of the 1930s through the 1960s. There were lots of regional beers back then & I would have liked to have known what happened to them all.
If you are into beer, this is an excellent history.
The book does a great job explaining how the major breweries came to be and how their fortunes rose and/or fell. The pre-prohibition period is very well covered.
The author also did a nice job explaining how the microbrewery movement started and I learned a lot about some of the original microbrewers who I hadn't heard of before.
The only hole I felt was a lack of discussion of the 1930s through the 1960s. There were lots of regional beers back then & I would have liked to have known what happened to them all.
If you are into beer, this is an excellent history.
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