New Book Releases

Brewing in Columbus began more than two centuries ago. The taps were only turned off during Prohibition and the short pause that preceded the modern craft beer explosion. For generations, names such as Hoster, Born, Schlee and Wagner secured staunch local loyalty for their brands and earned national acclaim for their brewmasters. Today, more than thirty craft breweries ply a prosperous trade in the capital city. After huge California craft brewery Stone became serious about Columbus for its East Coast expansion, Scotland's successful BrewDog chose central Ohio for its U.S. beachhead. Author Curtis Schieber celebrates the rise, fall and triumphant return of brewing in Ohio's capital.

Cleveland loves its craft beer. The city's breweries are flourishing under a period of brewing renewal and an insatiable taste for quality local craftsmanship. But Cleveland's brewing industry hasn't always enjoyed such prosperous times. The industry boomed during the 1800s only to see Prohibition, dwindling demand and increased competition stifle production. Each brewery, one by one, closed its doors until none remained. In 1988, Patrick and Daniel Conway opened the fledgling Great Lakes Brewing Company, and the industry was born anew. Today, local visionaries are engineering the comeback and bringing national attention to Cleveland's award-winning craft brews. Authors Leslie Basalla and Peter Chakerian chart the remarkable history of the ups and downs of Cleveland beer.

Despite a brewing pedigree richer than that of Milwaukee or St. Louis, Cincinnati's role in American beer history is quite often underappreciated.

Drawing on years of research, Michael D. Morgan, author of the award-winning Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King, tackles this subject with a fresh perspective. Complete with new findings, the true story of the city's first brewer comes to light, as do the oft-heralded deeds - and overlooked misdeeds - of the beer barons who built empires their progeny drove to ruins. From the story of the Scottish brewery that made Cincy famous for English ales, through forgotten Prohibition political scandals, to the birth and rise of the modern craft beer movement, Cincinnati Beer explores previously untold stories of our beer-soaked past.

The story of beer in Dayton and the Miami Valley is as old as the region's first settlers, who brought their brewing methods with them from Europe. From humble origins, the Schwind brothers founded a Dayton brewing dynasty.

Adam Schantz arrived penniless and amassed a fortune as one of the city's early brewers. Martha Vorce, one of the region's several unheralded woman brewers, was running the Springfield Brewery a decade before Eliza "Mother" Stewart gained fame there as a temperance leader. Although Prohibition swiftly destroyed this flourishing industry, today's local craft brewers promise to keep good beer and good times flowing for many years to come. Join local author Tim Gaffney as he explores the Valley's brewing heritage.

Once known as the Rubber Capital of the World, Akron can also justifiably style itself a beer mecca. More than a century ago, brewers like Renner, Burkhardt and others vied for local supremacy. Although these forerunners disappeared, a beer renaissance blossomed in recent years, with today's craft purveyors serving up some of the nation's finest brews. Several of Thirsty Dog Brewery's beers have won awards, and Hoppin' Frog consistently ranks as one of the top one hundred breweries in the world. Rob Musson presents a chronological look at Akron beer from its origins along the Ohio & Erie Canal in 1845 to the present day, featuring one hundred vintage and contemporary images.

Over-the-Rhine is a place where a building owner can stumble upon huge caverns underneath a basement floor or find long-forgotten tunnels that travel far below city streets.

ts present mysteries are attributable to a past that transcends the common story of how cities change over time: it is the story of how a clash between immigrants and real Americans helped rob Cincinnati of its image, its soul and its economy. In the 1870s, OTR was comparable to the cultural hearts of Paris and Vienna. By the turn of the last century, the neighborhood was home to roughly three hundred saloons and had over a dozen breweries within or adjacent to its borders. It was beloved by countless citizens and travelers for the exact reasons that others successfully sought to destroy it. This is the story of how the heart of the Paris of America became a time capsule.