Brewing A Bestseller: Thriller Novel Series Features Craft Beer-Swilling Protagonist
Milwaukee thriller writer Kevin Kluesner serves up page-turners with a side of craft beer culture—and his FBI protagonist would rather be water-boarded than drink light beer.
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Editorial Dept.
Meet Cole Huebsch, Special Agent in Charge of the Milwaukee field office of the FBI. He’s a bad ass with a big heart who’d rather be water-boarded than drink a light beer. “Is there even a difference between the two?” asks his creator, thriller novelist Kevin Kluesner, who’s built an entire book series around this hop-obsessed federal agent.
Especially fond of IPAs, Cole often sips a local gem or a regional powerhouse while solving high crimes and treason—making Kluesner’s novels a craft beer lover’s dream read.
The Legendary Brews
King Sue and Pseudo Sue IPAs from Toppling Goliath Brewing Company in Decorah, Iowa, and Zombie Dust Pale Ale from Three Floyd’s Brewing in Munster, Indiana had cameos in Kluesner’s debut, The Killer Sermon, and its follow-up, The Killer Speech. These beers seemed more like urban myths when they first came out. You’d hear about their amazing hoppy goodness and the occasional supposed sighting, but you could never catch a glimpse of one yourself, much less get your hands or taste buds on one.
When you finally saw these beers on a local shelf, you were limited to buying only one at a time. And when you snagged your first of these beers you took a picture of it and texted it to your fellow beer fanatics—like you might if you caught a 52-inch muskie.
Reclaiming Brew City
Yet most of the beers quaffed in Kluesner’s thrillers are local. Milwaukee was once known as “the beer capital of the world,” back when Miller, Pabst, Schlitz, and Blatz were all brewed there. It might have lost that title, but there’s a talented and diverse group of brewers in the area that are working hard to earn back the “Brew City” crown. They must be doing something right, because this year USA Today ranked Milwaukee number two on its “Best Beer Cities in the US” list. Not too shabby.
Third Space Brewing’s Happy Place makes a splash in The Killer Speech, along with Good City Brewing’s Motto Mosaic Pale Ale, Component Brewing’s Mosaic Theory IPA, Raised Grain’s Paradocs Red Imperial IPA and its Naked Threesome (the last is not only an IPA, but its name is a fiction author’s dream).
Authentic Storytelling, Not Product Placement
This isn’t product placement, otherwise known as embedded marketing. Kluesner hasn’t received a penny from these brands to have their beers featured in his novels. And he hasn’t been given free product either, although, he’s not saying he wouldn’t accept any (it’s considered impolite in some circles to turn down a free beer).
There’s not a beer mentioned in his novels that he hasn’t thoroughly enjoyed on multiple occasions. “I use the beers to help set the scene,” Kluesner explains. “I could say Cole is drinking a generic beer or ale, but when I say which one and how it tastes it feels more authentic.”
His latest thriller, The Killers’ Terms, features the Rectifier IPA from Milwaukee’s Eagle Park Brewing and a hazy IPA from The Brewing Projekt in Eau Claire, Wisconsin called Dare Mighty Things. Cole even samples On the Wings of Armageddon, a DC Brau Brewing Company IPA while he’s in our nation’s capital holding bad guys accountable.
The Ultimate Collaboration
The craziest thing Kluesner’s done yet as an author is to collaborate with Nate Fakler and his Faklandia Brewpub on what they call “The Killer IPA.” Fakler brewed three sample batches of IPAs, picked the best, and then he brewed a bunch of it, serving it on tap and in cans that used the cover artwork from The Killers’ Terms.
Books That Pack a Punch
Kluesner’s books are fast-paced thrillers you can enjoy at the beach or from the comfort of your couch by the fireplace on a cold winter’s eve. But, like his protagonist and the beers he includes as Easter eggs, the books pack a punch. They’re fun and thrilling, but they delve into key societal issues that dominate our collective national psyche—think reproductive rights, big pharma, and, with his current release, human trafficking and Congressional term limits.
He’s had a lot of readers tell him that it’s especially fun to sip one of the beers that appears in his novels while they’re reading the book itself. He must be doing something right, because his first two books have lofty 4.7 and 4.8 ratings out of 5 on Amazon, while The Killers’ Terms has a 4.9 rating at the time of this writing.
Ready for a thriller that pairs perfectly with your favorite IPA? Check out Kevin Kluesner’s Cole Huebsch series and drop him a note at kevinkluesner.net when you’re finished. Let him know what you think of both the books and the brews.
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