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Rating: 
Summary: Looking at pubs & tavern through beady eyes
Review: When this first came out, it was an adequate guide to watering holes & beer producers of the Pacific NW. Now, it is a historical reference piece which will (possibly) bring a beery little tear to the eyes of those whole lived through the early '80's "microbrewery revolution". There are very few of the brewers named in this book still independent, owned by the founders, or even in business. Red Hook, Grants, Bridgeport, & others have had large chunks bought by giant beer factories or beverage combines. Horseshoe Bay, Mountain Ales, Cartwright, and Kufnerbrau have vanished into the mists of brewing history. Cartwright holds the distinction of being the first "boutique" brewer to go out of business. Kufnerbrau VERY deservedly vanished, to leave dusty pallets of yeasty swill still fermenting in the dark recesses of beer distributors who have also vanished from the scene. Kufnerbrau, like Chico's Saxon Brewery, brought us micro-fans down to Earth, hammering us over the head, screaming "Just because a brewery is small doesn't mean it's any good!". Regional brewers Rainier, Lucky, Heidelberg, & Blitz-Weinhard have been killed or emasculated by the "big" boys. Red Hook's original "banana" beer & Kemper's "blueberry" beer are but vague olfactory hints, like a whiff of Hai Karate or Jade East found on that old Nehru jacket. However, John Mitchell of BC's Horseshoe Bay Brewing begat Spinnakers, which begat Noggins, which begat Maritime Pacific, & indirectly begat Humboldt Brewery, Swan's Hotel Brewery, & Howe Sound Brewing. As I started this review, I was primed to stick one in Vinnie's beady brown eye, but I thought of all the beer that has gone under the bridge since this first came out, & as I wrote, I realized this actually was an important work at its time. If brewing history interests you, this is one to have, for the seminal days when the epicentre of the microbrewery movement was the Pacific Northwest.
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