A Book & A Beer – The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

Samuel Adams has a beer connection, you might have heard of it. Now I got the chance to read Stacy Schiff’s take on The Revolutionary, Samuel Adams.

This is an atypical biography for sure. It does not march lockstep from birth to death with hearty doses of familial backstory. Nope, Schiff has Adams on the run from the very start. A trio of Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere are wanted whether thet be on land or on sea.

Adams comes across as a prodigious writer. His hand must have hurt all the time. Penning tracts for newspapers, writing correspondence and then almost as quickly destroying it lest it fall into wrong hands. His true strength also lay in his thinking about how to outwit the British governor and Lieutenant governor in Boston. He was a prime antagonist.

He seemed built for this particular slice of American history. To joust with words over the definition of liberty and freedom. As Schiff points out, his life had been just kinda normal before and them quiet again after the revolution. Almost a designated hitter for the birth of America.

For beer, I would lean towards something that was revolutionary for craft beer when microbreweries and brewpubs were starting out. Look for an amber ale, a fruity wheat ale or a brown ale. They are not in supply at some breweries and you probably won’t find a 16oz can but maybe on tap and maybe you can read the paper (on your phone) and see what the city, state and world is up to.