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Beer Blast could be categorized into two separate genres: business marketing and history. Considering the subject matter, beer being sold in America, and me being a history nut I thought, 'worst comes to worst I'll read the history half of this book and dump it when the boring business section comes along.' However, Van Munching writes a very personal, very humorous account of what methods the "Big Beer Companies" (read: assholes) use to convince us, the ignorant consumers, to purchase their brew above any others. I was surprised and saddened to hear how Schlitz dropped the ball and, subsequently, their future. The 'business' section that I described was one-sided and personal. However, it was thoroughly readable and enjoyable. Van Munching was the third of his lineage to work with Heineken America (his grandfather and father were both successful presidents of the company), so his accounts of the obnoxious Jim Koch of Samuel Adams infamy, Corona 'Mexican Piss Beer,' and the fake Lowenbrau all read as informative, but bitter. Fortunately, the few aspects of this book that read unprofessionally do not detract from the entertaining overall message. After checking the book's sources, I see that Van Munching referenced one book very heavily, so I will be looking that work up in the future.

2022-11-14 17:55