I was a little sceptical after seeing the title, expecting a loose collection of super niche factoids.

That was mostly unwarranted. While the book has sections that just list facts, it also manages to paint a good picture of life in Ontario in different phases of its history.

At times it is really entertaining, for example when quoting contemporary documents; my all time favourite has to be the brewer arguing before a court that lager beers are not intoxicating, no matter how much you drink.

While of course all of the history of the area before the introduction of beers by european settlers is omitted, as a recent immigrant I learned lots about the history of settlement, socializing, transportation and laws around alcohol from the book.

Essentially, it is a history of Ontario from the perspective of brewers and beer drinkers, and it greatly improves my understanding of today's Ontario.