Yankee Brew News Archive

Book Review: What's Brewing in New England: A Guide to Brewpubs and Microbreweries

Originally Published: 08/97

By: Brett Peruzzi

Book Review

What's Brewing in New England: A Guide to Brewpubs and Microbreweries

By Kate Cone, Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 1997, 141 pages, $12.95

Reviewed by Brett Peruzzi, Yankee Brew News Staff

Writer Kate Cone of Harpswell, Maine, whose byline is no stranger to regular readers of Yankee Brew News, has made the latest try at an unenviable task: creating an up-to-date guidebook to New England craft brewers. With approximately 100 breweries now operating in our region, and openings, closings, and other changes happening constantly, Cone has done an admirable job at producing a volume with the latest information.

Handsomely produced and designed for ease of use, What's Brewing in New England takes the reader on a state-by-state tour of New England's craft brewers, at the same time noting other area attractions for spouses, children, or other companions not interested in beer. States are broken down into specific areas when enough craft brewers are clustered there, such as the Portland and Bar Harbor areas of Maine.

The coverage afforded to each brewer is somewhat uneven. Some brewers have long passages, adorned by photos, logos, food recipes, and labels, while a few merely list the name, address, and telephone number of the brewery. Cone explains this phenomenon by noting that some brewers were not responsive in providing information. It's understandable that when compiling a guidebook where change is constant, there is always a delicate balance between depth and breadth.

Cone stresses in her introduction that she is primarily a writer, not a beer expert, and does not attempt to evaluate the beers produced by the breweries in the book. And in an Internet-age form of populism, Cone also built up an informal network of e-mail contacts who provided both facts and critical feedback about brewpubs and micros they were familiar with.

The book concludes with a trio of indices to help the reader find information easily. The contents of the volume are indexed separately by business, geographic location, and even the recipes that are included in the brewery profiles.

While it took a southerner to produce the first guidebook to New England craft brewers (South Carolina's Steve Johnson published On Tap: New England, now several years old) we now have an updated guide written by a Mainer, and published in Maine. Cheers to Kate Cone and Down East Books for making the latest ode to New England beer a local product.