Publishers Weekly
04/13/2020
Journalist Acitelli (The Audacity of Hops) recounts the history of one of the world’s most popular beers in this effervescent and informative take. In the 1830s, with imports threatening domestic beer sales, the Czech burghers of Pilsen in the Austrian Empire, Acitelli explains, created a modern brewery and new style of beer that was light gold in color and would soon replace the dark, heavy, chunky ales and porters that dominated the beer landscape. By the late 19th century—thanks to such scientific advancements and inventions as pasteurization, bottling, and refrigeration, the beer’s popularity spread from Europe to the U.S. and throughout the world. Brewers including Pabst, Miller, and Heineken rode the wave to international success, but it’s the Busch family’s Budweiser brand that became the king of pilsner, by creating a production line, then controlling the entire production process from distribution to marketing. Woven throughout are interludes of intrigue (yeast being stolen by monks), social unrest (beer riots, anti-immigration and prohibition movements), and economics (the U.S. government’s need for tax revenue ended Prohibition). Written with scholarly attention to detail as well as with dramatic flare (“a sickly nineteen-year-old shot a plumed nobleman... and everything changed,” Acitelli writes of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the beginning of WWI), this chronicle will intoxicate both beer nerds and history buffs. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
“Serious beer aficionados will love this detailed history of their favorite quaff.”—Booklist
“Pilsner, the book, is just like pilsner, my drink: bright, crisp, bubbly, fun, golden, and easy to knock back.” —Meathead, author of the New York Times bestseller Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling
"It was so interesting to look at a huge breadth of world history through the lens of a very specific topic. Incredible to map out the impact of this particular beer style on the course of history, as well as history's impact on the beer's change over time." —Joanna, Goodreads
"It was a fun travelogue through the history of beer, making the characters and beer itself alive with every turn of the page. Beer lovers will love reading this book." —Fred, Goodreads
“Tom Acitelli tells the vibrant story of the world’s most beloved (and misunderstood) beer style. The characters, passions, and flavors of lagers and pilsners get the respectful treatment they deserve from an author regarded as one of beer’s great historians.” —John Holl, author of The American Craft Beer Cookbook and host of the Drink Beer, Think Beer podcast
“Expertly crafted from deep knowledge and sharp insight, Pilsner: How the Beer of Kings Changed the World finishes light, refreshing, and deeply satisfying. It’s a lot like my favorite beer style, pilsner! Well done, Tom Acitelli.” —Bill Covaleski, founder and brewmaster, Victory Brewing Company
“Acitelli’s confident, precise approach produces an entertaining narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
2020-05-04
The stealthy rise of humble Bavarian-style pilsner as the world’s everyday beer.
Acitelli, a James Beard Award finalist who has written widely about beer, wine, and whiskey, shrewdly connects the story of the quintessentially plebeian tipple to time and place, starting with early European experiments in fermentation. By 1900, he writes, “barely fifty years old, [pilsner] was the ascendant beer style and one of the bestselling alcoholic beverages ever.” In a humorously meandering narrative, the author ties pilsner’s popularity to Europe’s cycles of violence and upheaval, which spread it to America alongside immigration, even as the beer barons embraced innovation. For example, although Louis Pasteur originally intended to aid European winemakers, “Pastuerization instead proved much more popular and durable among brewers.” When backlash threatened, “brewers hardly noticed. They were in the midst of a remarkable run of growth.” Yet, temperance advocates harnessed the World War I–era anti-German hysteria to propel their agenda. The resulting Prohibition “all but killed off the American brewing industry and its favored style.” Although the large brewers roared back following the repeal of Prohibition, writes Acitelli, “it was as if [beer] had been run through a decontextualization machine.” Such watersheds as the 1935 introduction of canned beer by a smaller brewer contrasted with the dominance of the giant brewers Anheuser-Busch and Pabst, which increasingly snapped up smaller concerns, as well as competition for market share by foreign entities like Heineken. After World War II, brewers continued to pursue consolidation and new technologies even as their signature product declined in consumer cachet beginning in the 1950s. As Acitelli notes, “so many breweries…had unwittingly set themselves up to fail in the 1960s [once] the positioning of pilsner as a lifestyle choice did not work.” This would only change decades later, as better-marketed beers like Anchor Steam returned via foodie culture and the microbrew explosion.
Though sometimes repetitious, Acitelli’s confident, precise approach produces an entertaining narrative.
