With my limited experience, I was able to get a job on the ground floor of an up and coming brewery in Wisconsin. I feel very lucky for the opportunity and am looking to start the 5th of November.
For whatever it's worth, here's the process I did (which got me pretty consistent replies of interest) to get my foot in the door. I looked up a list of breweries in WI and found the ones whose area I preferred. Then, I called each establishment and asked for the head brewer or manager/owner. After having a discussion with them about my experience and passion (experience limited, passion, not!) for brewing.
If they liked how the conversation went, they'd ask me to e-mail my credentials to them. After writing a one-size-fits-all "love letter to beer," I sent that and a hand-tailored e-mail and my current resume to each prospective employer. In addition, I took it a step farther and bought my own domain and server space and my fiancee' who's very a very good web designer and graphic artist, worked with me to make a site that was essentially my online portfolio, complete with beer profiles.
Beyond that, it was just a matter of meeting the brewers/owners and making a good impression. For the record, even if you're turned down, it's not necessarily a totall loss; I happened to get a 6 pack from one of the brewers just for coming by. Can't go wrong with that!
Long story short, some combination of that must've worked because it looks like I'll get a chance to do my dream job in short order. I could never get tired of that smell of delicious mash throughout the place.
If you like, I can send you a link to my website and maybe that'll help give you one idea on how to approach that, if it's something you're up to.
Either way, best of luck my friend in beer!