Beer writer Marty Nachel has been collecting stories around craft beer and the cover art is here which means that the book itself (Beer Story Project) is getting closer to a release date so keep an eye out for a pre-order date.
Telling Stories
Review – Final Gravity Beer ‘Zine # 10
Time to dive into the first double digit Final Gravity, # 10…
I love a theme. From This American Life to short story anthologies, I truly enjoy when disparate views center onto one idea. So when I saw that this edition of Final Gravity had a social justice bent to it, I was excited. But Issue 10 is hit and miss.
There are a couple pieces where beer is mentioned (sometimes with specific beers name checked) but the overall piece is not beer at all and even the featured artist section is 3/4 non-beer graphic art from someone who has stepped away from beer. Not to diminish the sober viewpoint but I am left to wonder why a beer-centric ‘zine isn’t focusing on beer and art especially with crap AI being used more and more on beer labels and actual beer label design needing champions.
That being said, there were a few pieces that had golden nuggets of knowledge tucked into them, like…
The South Has Something to Say: Our Culture Brewing by David Nilsen—Atlanta. Southern ag. What’s worth fighting for.
Almaza, Momento of a Life in Lebanon by J.D. Harlock—Lebanon. Economic recession. The nostalgia of a local lager.
Returning to Shawshank at the Phoenix Brewing Company by Carmone Macfarlane—Crows. Mansfield, Ohio. The only guilty man in Shawshank.
Keep supporting beer writers!
Family Ties
When me and the missus do another round of Netflix binging, the first thing that I am going to watch is House of Guinness. And if it gets too soapy or melodramatic, I will turn to the history in the new book: Guinness – A Family Succession by Arthur Edward Guinness.
It may only be tangentially about the beer but I expect to read plenty of details since Guinness has such a fantastic archive to pull from.
And there is a second book also out now by Raymond Helm entitled The Succession Of The Guinness Family: The Rise and Legacy of Ireland’s Brewing Dynasty. Seems kinda similar if you ask me.
Pubs
Pubs and Ireland go hand and hand and though the pub landscape has certainly shifted, but they are integral to tourism and to re-kindling social interaction that was lost in Covid Time.
That is prologue to this post about Donal Fallon’s new book on the history both known and hidden of the pubs in Dublin. Per the book description The Dublin Pub features “the stories of Dublin’s early houses, gay bars and shebeens. Drawing from rich archival collections, The Dublin Pub includes previously unpublished photographs as well as oral recollections that bring the history of the Dublin pub to life.”
At the Movies – Death of a Brewer
On a more positive note, a new movie based on the Steve Sherman book, Beer Money about the battle of breweries vs temperance in Iowa is in the works and looks to be a much more engaging yarn about pre-prohibition America…..
Finalized
I am a voracious reader, especially when it comes to beverages so as we roll into fall, I start thinking of little stocking gifts for beer fans in your life and I know I have mentioned it many a time before but the Final Gravity Zine is a great idea for that. And if you catch it at the right time, you can pre-order and get free shipping. Like I did for the November issue.
You Can’t Stay Here
As far as book titles go, Kevin Martin’s Have Ye’ No Homes to Go to? has got to be in the top ten.
The fact that it is a history of Irish pubs made me order a copy up faster than you can say the title. History and beer will get me every damn time.
The Sound of Beer
Beer pairings are a fruitful well of blog ideas. All by my lonesome, I do three each month. Em Sauter at the delightful Pints & Panels has a large and super eclectic beer pairing artwork and now noted drinks writer Pete Brown takes it a step further into the realm of auditory science with his new book, Tasting Notes…..
… and I have to say I got a bit jealous when I read this from his book announcement , ” I stood in front of about thirty people with my iPhone plugged into a speaker, and made them listen to New Order and the Pixies while they drank beer.”
Would I enjoy a beer more with early New Order or later? I will need to read the book to find out.
Review – Final Gravity # 8
Issue # 8 is probably the strongest overall issue that Final Gravity has put out, in my opinion, and one that is both extra timely and filled with trips around the world.
Firstly, well lastly, there is a really cute origin story about Chicken Nugget the brewery cat. It leaves you happy as you put down the ‘zine. But the bookend stories do just as well.
Brett Cortelletti’s tornado tale drives home the point of beer and community in a folksy and not forced way. And the ever reliable Matthew Curtis shows how big a role that sound plays in a taproom and what can be done to make a space more enjoyable for all.
In between, there is travel to France, Peru and Argentina. With, again, the two bookends being fun and educational while the trip to Peru with Ale Sharpton being far too short.
But what put this issue above is the clearly laid out information about how to deal with ICE if they show up at a brewery. Concise and action focused without creating any additional fear. On a more fun note, Deborah Sale-Butler’s piece about Paperback Brewing ( right here in Los Angeles ) and their Bunny with a Chainsaw Hazy IPA talks about finding that just right beer and then losing it
The Brew Deal
There are little historical niches that either get passed by in history class or get a tiny paragraph in a history book that are waiting to be discovered.
One beer related bit of knowledge is that prohibition wasn’t just the law one day and then gone the next. Nope, as Prohibition wound down, “the US government allowed the consumption and sale of “non-intoxicating” beer, which was at or below 3.2% alcohol-by-weight. Beer’s return–permitted with an eye toward job creation during the Great Depression–was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s earliest New Deal policies.”
Jason E. Taylor author and economist uses his new book, The Brew Deal to uncover how 1933 was such a pivotal year for beer and this country.
