Books for the Beer Lover in Your Life.

When Great Britain levied heavy taxes against the colonies, the Eastern Shore's first beer geek, John Beale Bordley, swore off English ales and set his substantial estate to perfecting his own home brews. It took another two centuries and a revolution of a different kind to bring brewing back to the Maryland shore. In 1989, Wild Goose bore the gospel of drinking local to Cambridge before falling victim to the first craft beer bubble. The next wave of high-gravity harbingers like Eastern Shore Brewing, Burley Oak and Evolution Craft Brewing fought to change collective palates and legislation allowing them to serve up their frosty pints. Beer bard and blogger Tony Russo taps into this full-bodied history while introducing the region's bold new batch of brewers.

Throughout its rich history, Baltimore has been known by many names: Mobtown, the Land of Pleasant Living, or Charm City to name a few.

Perhaps ""Beer Town"" would have been more appropriate. Several pivotal events in Maryland's history involved the brewing industry. Baltimore brewers were vital to building the fledgling town into the bustling city it is today. These brewers established some of the earliest churches in Baltimore. Eagle Brewery's Harry Von der Horst helped build the Orioles into a pennant-winning team in the 1890s. Mary Pickersgill sewed the stars upon the Star Spangled Banner on the floor of Brown's Brewery during the War of 1812.

Join Rob Kasper as he uses interviews, stunning vintage images and a few recipes to pop the cap on Charm City's brewing history.

Since Mary Pickersgill sewed Old Glory on the floor of a local brewery, Baltimore has been a beer-drinking town. At the turn of the nineteenth century, German immigrants erected elaborate breweries and leafy beer gardens, and the thirteen awful years of Prohibition only whetted the city's thirst for frosty pints. By the 1950s, Gunther and National Bohemian had joined advertising forces with the Orioles and the Colts in a spirited battle with American, Free State and Arrow for the palates and wallets of the Chesapeake Bay's burgeoning beer-drinking population. Baltimore beer scholar and journalist Rob Kasper traces the sudsy story from the days when alehouses lined the Jones Falls to the tales behind the current crop of local brewers who are fermenting a craft brew revival.