Yankee Brew News Archive

Book Review: The Great State of Maine Beer Book

Originally Published: 12/96

By: Donald S. Gosselin

The Great State of Maine Beer Book

By Will Anderson

Anderson & Sons Publishing Company. Portland, Maine

180 pages, with illustrations, $22.95

Will Anderson, perhaps New England's first beer historian, is long considered one of the best of the genre. Anderson follows up on the success of Beer New England (1988) with his latest beer text, The Great State of Maine Beer Book.

Many readers will somewhat surprised at the paucity of Maine breweries both before and after prohibition. This, Anderson explains, is attributable to the time tested strength of Maine's temperance movement. Indeed, with the 1851 passage of the "Maine Law," which prohibited the sale of liquor within the state, Maine set itself in the vanguard of the growing national prohibition movement. As a result, many of the beers offered for sale in Maine from the late 19th to mid 20th century were actually exported from Massachusetts and, of all places, New York.

Thankfully, with the advent of the D.L. Geary Brewing Company in 1986, Maine scrapped its temperance tendencies and reversed the anti-beer trend. Not surprisingly, Anderson devotes a great deal of attention to these 25 modern Maine breweries from the Allagash Brewing Company to the Sunday River Brewing Company. A thumbnail sketch of each brewery adds credence to the saying, "Maine, the Way Beer Should Be". Aside from these brewery histories, Anderson includes a center section pictorial devoted to the state's modern brewery art and breweriana.

Whether your home beer library is in Maine or "away", The Great State of Maine Beer Book makes a great addition.