The Lager Queen of Minnesota

A Novel

J. Ryan Stradal

- 4.3 • 334 Ratings

- $14.99

- $14.99

A National Bestseller!

“The perfect pick-me-up on a hot summer day.”
—Washington Post

“[A] charmer of a tale. . . Warm, witty and--like any good craft beer--complex, the saga delivers a subtly feminist and wholly life-affirming message.”
—People Magazine

A novel of family, Midwestern values, hard work, fate and the secrets of making a world-class beer, from the bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Two sisters, one farm. A family is split when their father leaves their shared inheritance entirely to Helen, his younger daughter. Despite baking award-winning pies at the local nursing home, her older sister, Edith, struggles to make what most people would call a living. So she can't help wondering what her life would have been like with even a portion of the farm money her sister kept for herself.

With the proceeds from the farm, Helen builds one of the most successful light breweries in the country, and makes their company motto ubiquitous: "Drink lots. It's Blotz." Where Edith has a heart as big as Minnesota, Helen's is as rigid as a steel keg. Yet one day, Helen will find she needs some help herself, and she could find a potential savior close to home. . . if it's not too late.

Meanwhile, Edith's granddaughter, Diana, grows up knowing that the real world requires a tougher constitution than her grandmother possesses. She earns a shot at learning the IPA business from the ground up--will that change their fortunes forever, and perhaps reunite her splintered family?

Here we meet a cast of lovable, funny, quintessentially American characters eager to make their mark in a world that's often stacked against them. In this deeply affecting family saga, resolution can take generations, but when it finally comes, we're surprised, moved, and delighted.

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

You might not think a novel about family and beer would have gentle humor, dead-on observations of blue-collar Midwestern life, and a heart as big as Lake Superior, but this one does! J. Ryan Stradal’s mighty characters make the story: Edith, the best pie maker in Minnesota, who has the inner strength of a steel cable; her brilliant, troubled granddaughter; and her estranged sister, Helen, owner of the Blotz Brewery. When life’s regular cycles of birth and death bump up against its more knotty aspects—like letting go of grudges or having your business bruised by beer-drinking trends—the wisdom of these women is their life preserver, and their story left our hearts warm and satisfied.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAY 20, 2019

Stradal follows up Kitchens of the Great Midwest with a refreshing story about women who know how to take charge in a family that becomes involved in the brewing industry. Edith and her sister, Helen, are young Minnesotans in the 1950s, and though the unassuming Edith gains temporary fame for her scrumptious pies, Helen becomes obsessed with making beer after her very first sip. Both women marry, and while Edith and Stanley Magnusson struggle to make ends meet, Helen manipulates her ailing, beer-loving father by selling him on her capacity to make a beer of her own. After he dies, she takes Edith's inheritance along with her own. Helen's husband, Orval Blotz, is heir to his family's failing brewing empire, and while Helen uses her inheritance and persistence to bring Blotz Beer back to popularity, Edith has difficulty forgiving Helen for her betrayal. The sisters lose track of one another for decades, but Edith's teenage granddaughter, Diana, is drawn, seemingly by fate, into the brewing business. This is not a story of drinkers and drinking, but is rather a testament to the setbacks and achievements that come with following one's passion. This story about how a family business succeeds with generations of strong and determined women at the helm makes for a sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but always winning novel.

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