Category: Beer Books

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Beer Book Review – Beer and Racism

The more you open your eyes and see how race has impacted people and communities, the more you see the long and horrible history of how it has been baked into every nook and cranny of life. And craft beer is no exception. That is the focus of Beer and Racism: How Beer Became White, Why It Matters, and the Movements To Change It by Nathaniel Chapman and David Brunsma.

First off, this is a sociology text. There are citations everywhere and it has a distinct scholarly rhythm to it. I cannot review the book based on readability or pace. How I review books like this is to see how many revealing bits of information are found. Below are a few:

  • Craft beer was revolting against homogenization of beer and yet only 15% of our community is black or Latinx
  • many of the steps in becoming brewer are not really open to minorities because of education, bank loans, networking
  • appropriation of black culture by white breweries is basically sanctioned where IP theft is not

The most interesting section of the book is the dip into talking about malt liquor and how’s it was one of the first cases of beer being actually marketed to black people. It is troubling to see the insensitivity from the larger regional breweries that made this style of beer towards their customer base in not only the packaging but the pricing and the way it was brewed. I could see a whole book that delves into this history.

The weakest part of the book is the concluding section about the movements to change. Granted, this book was primarily researched and written before 2020 and any crystal ball gazing would have been undercut a bit but there was not a lot of discussion about the role of education in creating a new class of minority brewers and I firmly believe that is where we need to start.

Overall, this book adds to the discussion and should be read, if only, to ground yourself in the idea that racism has hurt, is hurting and will continue to hurt the brewing industry until we truly leave it behind.

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A Book & A Beer – The Midnight Library

Regret. It is powerful and can make you choose unwisely. There is regret and bad choices aplenty in this modern age Bedford Falls like locale where Nora Seed finds herself at The loosest of ends before finding herself back with her grade school librarian looking for just the right life.

Of course, you may know where that journey ends but author Matt Haig in The Midnight Library. has created some realistic scenarios that Nora has to work herself through before coming to the ultimate realization at the end.

This book is probably on the cusp of teen lit but it is good for anybody who has honestly asked the question What If?

To pair with this novel, I would suggest going to your local bottle shop and randomly picking beers. That way you can see how a throw at the dartboard of life changes how you enjoy the book. Or, find a dark as midnight stout and curl up next to a New Years fireplace.

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Coors Boycott

There are a lot of moments in beer history that most of us beer fans don’t know about because either they happened to one of the giants or was before craft beer took off. 

Allyson Brantley has found one such moment and written about it in, Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism.

I had never heard of the Coors Boycott and it sounds fascinating as tensions between a big company vs. Latinx, labor, gay and lesbian, Black, feminist, environmentalist, indigenous, and student activists who joined forces to oppose the Colorado company. 

Side note, Brantley is LA based so you would be supporting a local by buying the book!

Sadly, this one comes out from University of North Carolina Press in spring 2021.

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In Brussels

Want to get a historical and business look at a famous beer city? Well, the Irish expat writer Eoghan Walsh deep dives into the full Brussels scene in his new book, Brussels Beer City.

Here is the elevator pitch, “For the first time in English, award-winning writer Eoghan Walsh brings to life in this collection of stories the family dynasties, the brewers, the activists – and the stories behind them – that have made Brussels a world capital of beer and brewing.“

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Lager Facts and Fun

There has been a surge in beer books focused on pilsners and lager this year and writer Melissa Cole adds to the bounty with a book that covers the span of the beer style in The Little Book of Lager

Might be a touch late for this Christmas but you can always go the route of wrapping a photo instead, maybe along with a bottle of lager.

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Beer by Design

One of the good things to come of 2020 is that Pete Brown wrote two books! The second is all about branding. Beer by Design talks about design from the marketing and appreciation angle. That last part is key because you can have an effective design but it I should just a literal flash in the pan. The examples shown in the announcement post alone are really cool to look at. Put this on your Christmas list.

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Beer Book Review – Hops by Kenneth Helphand

History. Beer has plenty of it if you look behind the curtain of hops. Kenneth Helphand has compiled some really cool photographs including some Dorothea Lange ones in his book about the hop world way, way back in the day.

This is a specific book. You are not going to get what varietals were made or even much talk about the end product. This is first and foremost a curated set of photos of the people in the hop fields. You also get recollections from people who went picking and from newspaper mentions as well. It does lead to a certain sameness. A group of people in front of a row of hops or surrounding a barrel filled with the days pick. But then you look a little closer and you see Chinese faces, Native American faces, recent immigrant faces.

You see, the everyday racist slights in the advertisements for workers. Or a YWCA camp set- up as a safe haven for women working the fields. You also get a glimpse into camp life with dances, movies, company store and living in tents until the harvest is complete.

It also leads me to want a similar book but of the current hop season. Let’s see the faces who grow and pick and bale our hops now.

Also, love to see my last name in a book…even if he is just standing around

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Book Review – Pilsner by Tom Acitelli

Pilsner by Tom Acitelli roams all over the world. Fitting since the style has too.

This book is formatted with bite size chapters that are super easy to blitz through which is both good and bad. The good is that you are quickly propelled through history. The bad is that each chapter seems to be missing an opportunity to deep dive into a historical character or a moment in time.

I wanted more of the Anheuser-Busch saga and the marketing. I wanted more of Freddy Heineken. I wanted more because the history of pilsner is everywhere in modern history especially here in the US.

I guess that I wanted a book three times the size because Acitelli is a really good writer and I wanted the book to keep going but it arrived at the finish line too soon.

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A Book & A Beer – The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Wow, this is a depressing book but narrated with both a resigned and jaunty air. Originally this book was to be named the Saddest Story Ever Told and that is no understatement. Yes, the Ashburnham’s at the center of the story do not seem the type to care about. Nor is the casual wealth of narrator John Dowell and his wife Florence helping to relate to them.

Even still the dissolution of not only two marriages and four people in shells of their past selves is just harrowing. No one comes out unscathed by the end. For a book from 1915, this is really a deep dive into therapy.

To drink, I would look for beers that mimic cocktails. Boulevard, Firestone Walker and others have versions out there. Or look for a wine/beer hybrid to go for that continental feel of the lazily rich.