The Comic Book of Beer

A full-color, lushly illustrated graphic novel that recounts beer's many-layered past and present through dynamic pairings of pictures and meticulously researched insight into the history of the world's favorite brew.

Starting from about 7,000 BC, The Comic Book Story of Beer traces beer's influence through world history, encapsulating early man's experiments with fermentation, the rise and fall of Ancient Rome, the (often beer-related) factors that led Europe out of the Dark Ages, the Age of Exploration, the spread of capitalism, the Reformation, and on up to the contemporary explosion of craft brewing. No book has ever told the story of beer in a graphic format as a liberating or emancipating force that improved the lives of everyday people.

Visually riffing on abstract subjects like pasteurization, "original gravity," and "lagering," artist Aaron McConnell has a flair for cinematic action and demonstrates versatility in depicting characters and episodes from beer's rich history. Hand-drawn in a classic, accessible style, The Comic Book Story of Beer makes a great gift and will appeal to the most avid comic book geek and those who live for beer.