Brewing Battles: A History of American Beer (review)

Though approximately eighty-four million Americans drink beer, few could explain how drinking has become such a pervasive pastime in American culture. In Brewing Battles, Amy Mittelman takes as her task to answer that question. She examines the evolution of the beer industry from colonial times to the present amid the persistent challenges of taxes and temperance. Along the way, she packs her book with interesting detail about how an array of actors—from the beer industry itself, to moralists, public health specialists, politicians, and government officials—have shaped consumer behaviors and beliefs about beer. Her book casts light upon how the beer industry has influenced markets and demand and how brewers have prevailed in a sometimes hostile environment.

Two strands of Mittelman’s analysis stand out: the beer industry’s ongoing struggles with taxes and temperance. She builds her narrative largely around the U.S. Brewers Association (USBA) and its efforts to curtail those two threats. Established in 1862, the same year that the federal government not coincidentally passed the Internal Revenue Act that imposed a beer tax, the USBA worked to ingratiate itself with the federal government. The USBA was unique in that it was the first of its kind; most industries did not have trade associations or this level of unity until the crippling economic depression of the 1930s. As Mittelman shows, alcohol taxes contributed greatly to the economic well-being of the country—at times over 50 percent of the country’s internal revenue—especially until the creation of the federal income tax in 1913. In turn, the USBA expected the federal government to ignore the pesky temperance movement. By working with the government, it hoped to limit taxes, keep temperance fanatics at bay, and present the industry in a positive light.

Tax impositions aligned with the interests of temperance. As the government began to receive revenue from incomes, it began to listen more attentively to the temperance movement. As Mittelman notes, many supporters of the income tax also championed Prohibition. The need for revenue in the grim 1930s ultimately brought down Prohibition. Mittelman is most interesting in her discussion of the neo-temperance movement that has made noise since the 1980s in its efforts to curb both drunken driving and the controversial fetal alcohol syndrome. Mittelman explores many other fascinating topics, from changing drinking habits and contexts, to new marketing techniques that both mass and craft brewers used to promote their products.

Brewing Battles suggests a compelling area of study that, in light of recent developments, business historians should revisit. Historians have yet to look closely enough at the intersections and tensions among business practices, political economy, and public health. Mittelman implies that powerful interest groups have a big hand in shaping drinking habits. The beer industry, the government, moralists, and public health and road safety advocates have all vied for the public’s palate. Yet today’s enemies are less alcohol than cigarettes, corn syrup, and even sugar, those other substances that scientists say kill us. Scholars should interrogate to what extent political and economic arrangements are responsible for the public’s health and begin to compare and contrast more closely how the barons of alcohol, tobacco, and agribusiness respond to the pressures of medical discoveries and government intervention, how their strategies converge and diverge, and how ultimately they help mold the very definition of “public health.”

Though Mittelman’s book is persuasive, a stronger causal statement and a tighter analysis would make it more provocative. At times, the barrage of detail muddles the argument. She might have structured her argument more forcefully around her central themes. This shortcoming may be the effect of studying the topic on its own terms, in lieu of coming to it with a specific set of questions in mind. Moreover, scholars unversed in the history of American beer may not understand how she contributes...