Brewed in Detroit describes the history of the brewing industry in the Detroit metropolitan area (including Ann Arbor, Mt. Clemens, Pontiac, Windsor, Wyandotte, and Ypsilanti) from its beginning in the 1830s to the present revival by microbrewers and brewpubs.

A historian and trained veteran of the brewing industry, Peter H. Blum divides Detroit brewing history into seven distinct phases: the early Anglo-Saxon ale brewers, the German brewers who arrived after 1848, the rise of brewing dynasties in the 1880s, Prohibition, the return of beer in the era after repeal in 1933, the war years, and the post-war competition. Blum also includes detailed information on the way beer is produced -- the craft of brewing and the tradition of master brewers.

Brewed in Detroit tells the story of the Stroh Brewery Company, which was a family brewery in Detroit from 1850 to 1985 and became Detroit's largest brewery by the turn of the century. Blum then chronicles the stories of forty-three individual Detroit breweries in small groups of similar ethnic or economic units, describes breweries in the six surrounding cities, and tells of H.W. Rickel & Company, the preeminent local malt producer.

Each brewery's story is told in terms of the individuals and families who started the enterprise, and chronicles their fortunes and failures. There are about 180 photographs of brewers, buildings, wagons and trucks, equipment, and advertising to illustrate the various chapters. A special feature is sixteen color pages of brewery advertising, including rare lithographs from the Stroh archives, made possible through a gift from the Stroh Brewery Company.

The book concludes with a compilation of every brewery inDetroit of which there is a record, brand names of all beers and ales marketed in Detroit, production figures of all Detroit breweries since 1933, a glossary of technical terms, and an index.