Philadelphia Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Cradle of Liberty by Rich Wagner

The first half of this book covers the nearly 250 years of Philadelphia brewing before prohibition. Suitably, Wagner examines the history of Philly brewing by placing it in the context of neighborhoods, and also by establishing a timeline of the particular styles that gained prominence era to era. It was interesting to read about Philadelphia’s pioneering of Lager beer, and how its popularity helped to establish the city as a nationally leading beer producer. This section of the book was comprehensive, but also somewhat dry. At times, I felt as though I was reading a long wikipedia page on the subject.

The book picks up in its second half, as Wagner goes on to describe how the Volstead Act utterly destroyed one of Philadelphia’s largest industries. The vast majority of breweries closed at the introduction of the act, but some remained opened manufacturing near beer and selling it as a breakfast food (so punk rock.) Prohibition was of course repealed, but at that point the economy was suffering through the Great Depression, and most of Philadelphia’s breweries would never reopen.  There were over a dozen large scale breweries in the city before prohibition. By 1950, there were only four, and by 1970 there were two. Schmidt’s was the last brewery operating in the city when it shut down in 1989 and began its transformation from an abandoned industrial complex to a bro stomping ground. The final chapter dealt with Philly’s more recent history, from the small brewpubs that popped up during the 90’s to the large scale breweries of Yards and PBC that we enjoy today.

This book was a short, and I finished reading it rather quickly. The beginning of it was a bit boring, but only because so much of Philadelphia’s early brewing history has been lost to time. As the book continued, the author was able to interject an increasing amount of detail, making the book worthwhile for those with an interest in the subject. At the very least, it will give you some new things to ponder while walking around Brewerytown, or while catching a band at Ortleib’s. This book is available at Amazon

SPECIAL NOTE: I mostly was drawn to reading this book because I happen to be organizing a craft beer festival in historic Brewerytown. Info here: Brew Fair