In the United States, beer writing seems to be entering a new phase in which books on the industry are going beyond ingredients, how-to, and cooking and starting to focus on individual breweries. With his new book, The Widmer Way, writer Jeff Alworth takes a look at a brewery synonymous with hefeweizen, the brothers who founded the company, and how it might be a larger case study for the whole industry.
Craft Beer & Brewing // Why is this the right time for a book about the Widmer brothers?
Jeff Alworth // We’re starting to lose important informants from the era when the brewery started. We’ve lost writers such as Fred Eckhardt, publicans such as Don Yonger, and we’re losing these voices who were there when the history was happening. Plus, folks are getting older, and they don’t remember quite so well. One of the brothers is retired, and the other is sliding toward retirement. I wanted to capture the story before it was lost.