Tired of seeing only advertisements for steakhouses or upscale restaurants when you read an airline magazine? After all, flying dehydrates you, and you might be as likely to be thinking about beer as meat.

This summer, travelers who fly on Southwest Airlines and open its Spirit magazine will find a list of 10 great American taphouses.

The advertisement appears in the June, July and August magazines, and will reach more than 3 million readers each month. The project was organized by Realbeer.com and paid for by participating taphouses. We expect the ad will make readers curious about not only these establishments but also about other fine taphouses.

It's not coincidence that this provides extra attention for these taphouses and the craft beer industry in July, when American Beer Month will be celebrated for the fourth time. These establishments and many more will be participating in the second Realbeer.com Challenge Cup, where bars and brewpubs across the country compete to see which can sell the most American beer July 22-24.

Each of the taphouses listed is special in its own way. Together they mirror the extraordinary diversity of the American beer scene. San Francisco's Toronado, for instance, annually hosts a barley wine festival that beer lovers from across (and sometimes beyond) the United States flock to.

The TapWerks Ale House and Cafe, with two locations in Oklahoma City, doesn't get nearly the same attention. Yet in a state that most beer drinkers associate with "3.2" beer it offers more than 100 draft choices in one pub and 85 in the other.

The taphouse phenomenon has mirrored rising sales of craft beer in the United States. When Boston's Sunset Grill & Tap opened in 1987, it had a single picnic pump for draft beer. Now it has more than 100 and has inspired scores of others to expand their draft selection.

Back in 1995, Rob Maletis of Maletis Beverage in Portland, Ore., pointed out why that matters. "On-premise sales are the foundation of the business," he said. "If you have success on premise, you'll have success off."

Like then, when micros claimed 27% of the keg market in Oregon, craft brewers in the rest of the nation are trying to catch up with that state. "(On premise) is where a lot of sampling takes place," Maletis said.

From intimate bars such as Andy's Corner Bar in Bogota, N.J., and Clark's Ale House in Syracuse, N.Y., to chains such as the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, American beer drinkers who seek out beers beyond the mainstream can find them.

Jeff Evans, a frequent editor of the Campaign for Real Ale's The Good Beer Guide in England, understands the importance. He offered these thoughts after a trip to the U.S.:

"All this leads me to conclude that brewers in California are in a fortunate position. There is clearly terrific public support for their work. They are elevated by the very striking affiliation that exists between quality beer and quality food in your society — a connection we are still trying to establish in the UK, where beer, unfairly, remains way down the list as far as 'gourmets' are concerned. Your guys have great imagination and great technical skill: It's a combination which can only succeed."

And now Spirit magazine will help those who want to get into — you'll excuse us the wordplay — the American spirit and find a good beer.