The Comic Book Story of Beer: A Chronicle of the Worlds Favorite Beverage from 7000 BC to Todays Craft Brewing Revolution

A full-color, lushly illustrated graphic novel that recounts the many-layered past and present of beer through dynamic pairings of pictures and meticulously researched insight into the history of the world's favorite brew.

Starting from about 7,000 BC, The Comic Book Story of Beer traces beer's influence through world history, encapsulating early man's experiments with fermentation, the rise and fall of Ancient Rome, the (often beer-related) factors that led Europe out of the Dark Ages, the Age of Exploration, the spread of capitalism, the Reformation, and on up to the contemporary explosion of craft brewing. No book has ever told the story of beer in a graphic format as a liberating or emancipating force that improved the life of everyday people. Visually riffing on abstract subjects like pasteurization, "original gravity," and "lagering," artist Aaron McConnell has a flair for cinematic action and demonstrates versatility in depicting characters and episodes from beer's rich history. Hand-drawn in a classic, accessible style, The Comic Book Story of Beer makes a great gift, and will appeal to the most avid comic book geek and those who live for beer.

JONATHAN HENNESSEY is a veteran of the Hollywood film and television industry. He has worked as a story and screenplay analyst for Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Phoenix Pictures, and has appeared on panels at New York Comic-Con and on The Rachel Maddow Show and The John Batchelor Show. MIKE SMITH has worked in breweries large and small for the last two decades. He is currently head brewer at Back East Brewing Company.

AARON MCCONNELL is an award-winning freelance illustrator, comics creator, and the artist of The U.S. Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation; Forward, 54th!; and The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation of the Civil War. He received an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently a member of Periscope Studio. He has worked for both Marvel and DC Comics on such titles as Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and Batman/Superman.