What Craft Beer & Books Have in Common

I love beer. Actually, I take that back. I love great beer. I am not alone.

In the past decade, the number of breweries in the U.S. has doubled, driven by the craft brewing movement and the desire to enjoy something unique. We could say this is simply an excuse to drink more great beer, which may be partially true, but at the heart of this is the desire of Americans to feel connected to something real, something tangible, something made with care, something local. We want to be connected to people with passion. Craft beer offers this opportunity, and the trend can be seen repeated in so many other markets, from wines to farm-to-table restaurants to hand-crafted furniture. In all of its manifestations, this movement is a small scale but powerful rebuttal of the mass-produced, mass-sold, made-somewhere-else culture that pervades America.