Brewing Local

Book excerpt: Americans have brewed beers using native ingredients since pre-Columbian times, and a new wave of brewers has always been at the forefront of the locavore movement. Brewers use locally-grown, traditional ingredients as well as cultivated and foraged flora to produce beers that capture the essence of the place they were made. In Brewing Local, Stan Hieronymus examines the history of how distinctly American beers came about, visits farm breweries, and goes foraging for both plants and yeast to discover how brewers are using novel ingredients to create unique beers. The book introduces brewers and drinkers to the ways herbs, flowers, plants, trees, and shrubs flavor distinctive beers. A catalog of over 170 different ingredients describes the aroma and flavor influence they have on beer. Brewing Local includes 22 recipes from nationally recognized craft brewers and homebrewers.