Category: Beer Books

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Book Day – Malört by Josh Noel

Right off the bat, I have never had Jeppson’s Malört even once. And I probably don’t want to pay for a full bottle since the sub-title of Josh Noel’s book contains the word, reviled.

That said, The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit has me wanting a taste, at least.

Take away the whole taste of Malört angle or the whole spirits business angle and this is still a fascinating tale of people told in a fair and even-handed way while still showing the warts of people.

It starts with George Brode and Red Horse Liquors. Brode brought Malört into the portfolio and when that business went down, took it with him and for years ran it as a side-hustle while his legal practice paid the bills (and then some).

Brode had a secretary, Pat Gabelick, who he in true 1950’s style had an affair with while staying married to his wife. This is where the story goes in a whole different direction. Brode and before him, his wife, pass away and Gabelick inherits Malört. Brode was a steady hand but not one for growth and Gabelick is even less interested never really enjoying or even really tasting the product that she sort of lacklusterly runs.

Then Malört starts being cool and fans come in and volunteer to help and eventually catch the hipster wave. And there is more drama before the story reaches the here and now.

This is an entertaining tale that Noel takes us through clearly and at a pace that matches the rise of the drink. You learn about Chicago, cocktail culture and social media too.

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Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall

When the U.S. can pre-order A Pub for All Seasons by Adrian Tierney-Jones, I will be in the front of the line because it sounds like a delightful book…

“The story of one man through the year and his travels to all corners of the country, A Pub For All Seasons follows Adrian as he visits far-flung corners of the country. From mellow, gentle pubs in autumn and dim, cosy spots in winter to bright, lively bars in spring and wondrous, buzzing gardens in summer, Adrian speaks to locals and landlords, hears unique sounds and stories, and samples food, drink and atmosphere. He watches the wild and beautiful similarities, differences between pubs, and notices how they all shift, tonally, throughout the year.”

Until the book is U.S. ready, you can listen to the author talk about it with All About Beer and John Holl, right HERE.

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Review – Full Pour Magazine

I admit until I saw Issue 6 of Full Pour on a newstand recently, I did not know of its existence as a fancy quarterly beverage magazine.

But now that I do, I need to dive in and see what is inside the covers…

FP covers wine, beer, spirits and then infused? before non-alc and most of the articles inside are a page or two to start with before kicking into the features section which are not that much longer. Now I usually write very concisely but I felt many of the articles could have been expanded. There were 19 separate ones in this issue. Dropping it down to 15 and adding more detail would make it more engrossing. Especially the piece about craft brewing in India which I wished had more about some of the breweries. Or a map maybe. The other thing that riled me was that were as many cannabis drink articles as beer ones.

On the plus side, I was thankful for the charitable ads inside that were sponsored by advertisers. Always good to see people making an effort at being community based. The variety of articles was impressive as well.

For a magazine that is $20 a pop the bar has to be set quite high and while close, at least this issue, didn’t quite reach it.

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Beer & Chocolate

I mention the writer David Nilsen recently in talking about non-alcoholic beers and now I get to highlight his new book, Beer and Chocolate which gives you…

– “The basics of both beer and chocolate for folks coming to this topic more familiar with one or the other.
– The process for successfully pairing beer and chocolate.
– Instructions for how host a beer and chocolate pairing in your own home.
– Style by style pairing guidance for dozens of beer styles. In each style chapter, we talk about the style’s basic flavors and ingredients, how it pairs with chocolate (including challenges and types of chocolates to seek out and ones to avoid), commercial examples of beers in this styles and specific chocolate to seek out, and example pairings to illustrate the principles.
– Each style chapter also includes space to take pairing notes of your own.”

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Draught Devil

The last few years have brought to light women in brewing (finally and belatedly), the latest being The Devil’s in the Draught Lines: 1000 Years of Women in Britain’s Beer History by Dr Christina Wade.

It is from the publishing arm of CAMRA and is described as a “new groundbreaking book that delves into the history of women in brewing, explaining the real reasons why women brewers became marginalised, while also debunking some tired old myths along the way.”

Since I am a beer history fan, you know I will be ordering this one.

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Book Review – Yooper Ale Trail

Time to head East for the U.P. to find some beer on the Yooper Ale Trail.

This handy guide by Jon Stott and Mikel Classen covers the Upper Peninsula in Michigan and the first thing that I thought was smart was how each of the eight trails had no more than four stops listed and many were less than. (There was one with five but one brewery on it had not opened at time of writing). It makes for achievable adventures.

The second smart thing was that for many breweries, the author visited twice and could show the evolution of the brewery from new brewers to new beers. It is something that I haven’t seen employed in guidebooks before and I liked it.

Other fun facts are that blueberry beers are pretty much a required beer menu item. The style can change, though most were wheat beer based. If that berry is your favorite, I would say head up because blueberry ain’t seen much outside muffin pastry beers.

Also, because outdoor activities are the main tourist draw, the beers skew to the lower ABV since folks are hiking and biking and paddling and can’t be downing Quad IPAs.

On the new book cover, the book lists two authors but the book doesn’t really differentiate who wrote what which is fine in fiction but here, I would like to get a bead on who wrote what. I think that Stott wrote the majority and I like his folksy writing style but I can’t know for sure.

Another dent is the fact that after reading the really informative brewery summaries, there is a whole appendix listing contact info, beer lists and whether they had food or not. Format wise, that could have been folded into the main book fairly easily instead. There was also an appendix of beer styles and I would have preferred more about favorite Michigan beer styles.

I would say though, I usually hate the capsule brewing process chapter and I inwardly groaned when I saw it in the book, but it was much better here. It was more like having a friend explaining brewing than a manual.

Overall, a guide should help beer fans find new breweries and Stott and/or Classen do that really well. This book will help.

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History Day – Beer Book Review – Over-The-Rhine

Over-the-Rhine or the OTR is probably not known much past the city limits of Cincinnati but for a period of time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the Portland or San Diego of its craft beer day.

Michael Morgan starts and ends the book with a bit of archaeology as a street is surreptitiously dug up to find lagering caverns (felsens) that had been used by Cincinnati brewers to keep their beers chilled.  And throughout the rest of the book, Morgan digs up a lot history including the small possibility that lager was a Mid-West invention as much as a German one.

German immigrants being the connector as they arrived in the OTR in a couple of waves that created a bustling brewery, beer garden and saloon trade.  The latter being the example used most often by temperance campaigners as the font of all America’s ailments.

What sets this history apart is that Morgan delves into the thorny issues of anti-immigrants, machine politics and riots with an even tone.  Of course many Cincinnati and Ohio natives do not come off well and Morgan is quick to compare current to past without losing the thread of the narrative.

There is not a lot of brewing talk in the pages, as with many histories the actual brewers and the ingredients and processes used are not brought up as the bulk of it is about the men with their names on the side of the brewery.

After reading this history, I did feel that it would be great to have one for each major brewing city.

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Magazine Day – Final Gravity # 03

Previously on Beer Search Party, I reviewed issue # 01 of the beer ‘zine, Final Gravity. That memory made me pass on # 02 but the list of articles intrigued me for # 03 so I ordered it up and here are my thoughts.

Will I be back for # 04? The answer is yes. I found the stories in this issue landed with me better from the opener about Ola Brew and their ingredient buying, to going gluten free or Ayurvedic and especially the Spanish local beer from Cooperativa Cervesera Cadaques were all fun little peeks into locales that made me want to go there. I still don’t understand the art interludes all that much because they don’t tie into beer. A beer comic would fit in my opinion, a lot better. Strangely, the weakest piece was from one of the editors David Nilsen and the most emotional was from the other editor Melinda Guerra.

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Magazine Day – Imbibe 75

Keep on reading, as we peek into what Imbibe Magazine has selected for their “ones to watch” in 2024.

Of course my eyes were peeled for beer movers and shakers and by my count ten of the 75 were in that camp. And of those here are ones to keep on the craft beer radar to visit…

  • Heck Brewing – might this be the N/A beer that tastes like beer?
  • Keeping Together – a trip to New Mexico for an Averie Swanson creation is in order
  • Tin Roof Brewing – head brewer Maria Shirts is an MJJ Foundation winner, that is enough vetting for me
  • 7 Clans Brewing – new crop of Asheville craft beer that you should read the backstory on
  • Shmaltz Brewing – will it return better than ever?
  • Borderlands Brewing – America meet Mexico and female brewers
  • Greater Good Imperial Brewing – bug ABV only? Interesting zag in this day