Vegas Brews: Craft Beer and the Birth of a Local Scene
Document Type
Monograph
Publication Date
10-22-2019
Publisher
New York University Press
First page number:
1
Last page number:
336
Abstract
An inside look at how craft beer makers and IPA devotees come together to brew, taste, and enjoy fine ale while also building a sense of community in Las Vegas. Equally reviled and revered as Sin City, Las Vegas is both exceptional and emblematic of contemporary American cultural practices and tastes. Michael Ian Borer takes us inside the burgeoning Las Vegas craft beer scene to witness how its adherents use beer to create and foster not just a local culture but a locals’ culture. Through compelling, detailed first-hand accounts and interviews, Vegas Brews provides an unprecedented look into the ways that brewers, distributors, bartenders, and drinkers fight against the perceived and preconceived norm about what “happens in Vegas” and lay claim to a part of their city that is too often overshadowed by the bright lights of tourist sites. Borer shows how our interactions with the things we care about—and the ways that we care about how they’re made, treated, and consumed—can lead to new senses of belonging and connections with and to others and the places where we live. In a world where people and things move around at an extraordinary pace, the folks Borer spent time talking (and drinking) with remind us to slow down and learn how to taste the “good life,” or at least a semblance of it, even in a city where style is often valued over substance.
Keywords
Craft beer makers; Sense of community; Sin city; Las vegas; American cultural practices and tastes; Local culture
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology | Sociology of Culture
Language
English
Repository Citation
Borer, M. I.
(2019).
Vegas Brews: Craft Beer and the Birth of a Local Scene.
1-336.
New York University Press.