The Lager Queen of Minnesota

By J. Ryan Stradal

Pamela Dorman Books     2019

349 pages     Literary

Another great book this month! I can’t believe my good fortune. The Lager Queen of Minnesota is the second book by Stradal I have read and reviewed. The other was Kitchens of the Great Midwest. As much good luck as a Minnesota girl could ask. The first book was about Minnesota cuisine while The Lager Queen is about beer—Midwest traditional breweries, and how they morphed into the craft beer culture. But if you are saying, “Why would I read that? I don’t want to read about beer,” have no fear; it is as much about women’s fortitude and women’s audacity as it is about beer.

You need to know that I know very little about beer, so I was very impressed by the women that form the main characters in the book. Helen is a farmer’s daughter who as a 15-year-old has her first sip of beer and discovers that she wants to learn how to brew beer. She sets out to become a brewer, majors in Chemistry in college, and then marries into a brewing family. Her sister, Edith, chooses a more traditional path and becomes estranged from Helen when their father dies and Helen inherits the farm. Edith’s life is full of challenges, but that woman can bake pies—the third best pies in Minnesota, by the way--and discovers late in life that she can also brew beer. Diana is Edith’s granddaughter, and without knowing Helen, discovers her own passion for beer and becomes a brew master at age 19. How she got to that point is one of the serendipitous moments in the novel.

I was impressed by how much Stradal knew about beer making. And how quickly Edith and her other friends learned how to make beer. This subplot was one of my favorites of the book. This group of grandmas learned to produce several varieties of beer, which are named for them and became popular across the region. One of the more endearing aspects of the book.

I, of course, was thrilled with all the Minnesota references. On page three, when describing the three best pie makers in Minnesota, the author mentions Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors as first on the list. It was at that point I knew I would love this book as much as I loved Kitchens of the Great Midwest. We have eaten at Betty’s Pies many times, and by the way, they also make great pasties (another Minnesota treat). In a list of Minnesota breweries, he lists Fitgers, which was owned by the Beerhalter family in Duluth. (One of my childhood friends was Barbara Beerhalter.) Surprisingly, the list also mentioned Bell’s, the biggest brewery in Kalamazoo. I found myself underlining all the references I knew, and when I pass the book along to my sister, she will love those references as well.

However, you don’t have to be from Minnesota to love The Lager Queen of Minnesota. It is the perfect summer read for this pandemic summer. It is good-spirited and funny, light but meaningful reading. The Washington Post reviewer says, “The zingers don’t disguise Stradal’s fundamentally optimistic view of human nature, a belief that people can change and virtue can be rewarded, at least sometimes.”

The New York Times reviewer had this to say, “Serendipity may not bubble up in real life as often as it does in Stradal’s world, but who cares? Other readers can nitpick all they want about what’s realistic and what’s not. I willingly suspended disbelief, shotgunning the whole optimistic, meticulously researched story in one satisfying gulp. And when I arrived at my destination, you better believe I had a cold beer. Or two.”

When our book club met last night, we had the great good fortune to Zoom in with J. Ryan Stradal, the author of The Lager Queen. It was without a doubt one of the best meetings we could possibly have had. Stradal is a charming man—“Minnesota nice,” one of the book club members said. We had an in depth discussion about the book, the characters, the influence of his mother, his writing philosophy, and his future endeavors. We learned a bit about the women brewers that he met when doing his research, about his baby son, and about what he was cooking for supper. He indicated that he likes having his books reflect a Midwestern voice and a Midwestern consciousness.

I know you will love The Lager Queen of Minnesota as much as I did. Be sure to have your favorite brew with you as your read. It will be on my list of the best of 2020.

J. Ryan Stradal’s website