Category: Beer Books

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History of Beer via Comics

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The trio of writer Jonathan Hennessey and illustrator Aaron McConnell with the able assistance of professional brewer Mike Smith have fashioned a new way of looking at the history of beer. The world of comics.

The Comic Book History of Beer goes ALL the way back to the very beginning and using a style that only the comic/graphic novel medium can truly heighten, you get a historical tour with fun facts that isn’t dry and dusty and rooted in biology and chemistry. Instead of “wording” about yeast, you get graphics instead.

Looks to be a fun read.

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A Book & A Beer – Tarkin

I did feel a little self-conscious checking out a Star Wars universe book at my local library. But with the first trailer for the Force Awakens out and the Comic-Con appearance of the stars young and old, I felt a little nostalgic for the original trilogy which is the only set of movies to my mind. (No matter how much you edit the abominations of Phantom, Attack and Revenge or re-order their viewing order.)

But after a long book on Alan Turing that nearly drained me, I needed something light and easy and Tarkin by James Luceno was just that. The book charts the rise of Peter Cushing’s DeathStar Grand Moff from his upbringing on the Outer Rim planet of Eriadu to commanding the construction of the destroyer of worlds.

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Darth Vader and the Emperor are along for this novel too. Tarkin comes off as a supreme tactician who knows moves way before they happen, with Vader and the Force they seem unstoppable until they come across a rogue who can match them step for step with help from the inside of what will soon be the Empire.

It gets a bit repetitive with T&V making correct chess moves to match the rebel as they hop from planet to star system via lightspeed. Then it happens again and again. The flashbacks on Tarkin’s childhood are good as is how he rose in prominence in the power structure due to the fall of others but in the end this is all just backstory. Something that the actor probably didn’t have unless Lucas had an outline like it in his head. It serves as something that could be brought out in a bit of dialogue and actorly looks on set. But you can’t write every minor and sub-minor character their own backstory in a screenplay so if you are the completist type, this will scratch the itch for more on how Tarkin ended up on the original DeathStar.

Obviously, the beers to go with this are easy to pick. For SoCal locals Galaxy Defender from Monkish Brewing a Belgian-style blonde with grapefruit peels & Galaxy hops would be an excellent choice as would be the Citizens of the Galaxy IPL from Cismontane. No matter where you are in the country, there is probably a Galaxy hopped beer that will do the trick.

Or you could go to the dark side with the Black IPA Hop Vader from Beachwood Brewing or Wookey Jack from Firestone Walker.

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from other writers – Part 1 – Roses are Red


Poetry is not my gig. I have never gotten into it. For me, it is juvenile “Once was a Man from Nantucket” on side and twee hippy shit on the other. (Let the poetry hate mail commence!)

So when Sarah Bennett wrote about Sam Wagner’s book of poetry, The Poetry of Beer, I thought, in a nutshell, M’eh.
But then I read that Wagner got a grant to write about craft beer and esoteric poetry styles which must have been a convincing grant proposal. To further pique my interest one of the pieces is a rant about IPA’s.

So now I am on the fence about buying it. Which is saying something considering how much I don’t like sonnets and their ilk. Check out Wagner’s website HERE.

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a Book and a Beer – The Water Knife

Now that I am back in the groove of reading, I thought it was time to get back to pairing books with beer on a semi-regular basis.

The book is “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi. (Maybe next month, I will do “Go Set A Watchmen”, or not)
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I read the previous Bacigalupi book, “The Wind-Up Girl” and thought it was a fun summer/potential movie script.  And his latest follows along the same road, pretty stock characters doing pretty stock things though the ending does toss a curve ball that attempts to “dirty” up the pretty finale.  What is frustrating to me is that the setting and backdrop could be used for so much more.  Drought and who controls the levers of the water supply is a rich vein to mine.  The movie Chinatown worked the edges hard without digging too deep into it and the Water Knife and it’s lead character, Angel could have really been fleshed out and into something deeper.  On a side note, Angel as a name doesn’t work for men or women anymore.  Way too laden with imagery.  If it was a modern day mystery or thriller, I probably would have read it and put it aside without a thought. But this book practically asks for more.

The easy beer to pair with it would be 2020 IPA from Golden Road.  This hop bomb was made in conjunction with the LA River 2020 project so you have a nice water tie in and since Calie’s are the “big bad” of the story it works.

A deeper cut could be Tenaya Creek and their Monsoon IPA.  It combines the Vegas that is a major part of the story with a heavenly torrent of water that would have really, really been welcomed in this bleak future.

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Portland Beer Stories

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Steven Shomler first told the stories of the people inside Portland’s food carts and now he has moved on to another group of creators.  The brewers of Portland with his Portland Beer Stories which drops into bookstores in September.

I’m not a big fan of printed interviews.  Finding a balance where the interviewer can espouse their feelings and put the subject into wider context without getting too chummy or to by the book is hard.  I feel it works better in radio or podcast form where the inflection and tone can bring a person to life.  But I do hope that this book contains some informative and lively talks.  More discussion than one-sided.

To be reviewed later this year….

 

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Portland Beer

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I am looking forward to seeing how this history of Portland beer plays out and whether I agree with any suppositions made.  Kindle, here I come.

“Is it the water, or the quality hops? The deep-rooted appreciation of saloon culture? How did Portland, Oregon, become one of the nation’s leaders in craft beer cultivation and consumption with over 50 breweries in the city limits? Beer writer and historian Pete Dunlop traces the story of Rose City brewing from frontier saloons, through the uncomfortable yoke of temperance and prohibition, to the hard fought Brewpub Bill and the smashing success of the Oregon Brewers Festival. Meet the industry leaders in pursuit of great beer–Weinhard’s, McMenamins, Bridgeport, Portland Brewing, Widmer, and more–and top it off with a selection of trivia and local lore. Bringing together interviews and archival materials, Dunlop crafts a lively and engaging history of Portland’s climb to Beervana.”

Review to follow, maybe even in Oregon Beer Month.  Wait…that’s now!

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Book Review – Best Food Writing 2014

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I am a big fan of the “Best of” [pick a year] series of books. Be it mystery, essay, sports or comics, I have read a bunch of them throughout the years. I could add a rant about the fact that there is no specific volume for drinks but you can’t have everything.

But this review is talking about the next closest thing, Food Writing. The parallels between food and beer are obvious. The trend to bigger flavors and smaller producers occurs in both so I eagerly dove into the Best Food Writing of 2014.

Almost right off the bat was a great piece from Kate Krader, Are Big Flavors Destroying the American Palate? You could easily substitute Sriaracha for hops other wild flavors for sour beers and the article would still hit home. Krader advocates forcefully for simpler eating while also reserving a place at the table for the spicy.

Dan Barber wrote about a remarkable carrot with a Brix rating of 16.9. Which makes for a tremendously sweet carrot. The tinkering with plant life reminded me of the cross-breeding of hops and the new varietals that spring up. The piece also was one of the few that really made me hungry and I am not a huge vegetable fan.

After that there were quite a few essays that just didn’t reach out to me from the pages. Nothing boring or off-putting but nothing that leapt from the pages. The book is laid out into categories such as “The Way We Eat Now”, “Personal Taste” and the chapter that broke the losing streak, “Extreme Eating”.

There was an excellent article about the final meals of death row inmates but maybe because I have been watching season 3 of Orange is the New Black, the essay by Kevin Pang, “Fixed Menu” about the food at the Westville Prison near Chicago drew me in and taught me at the same time.

My favorite writing was from former New York Times food writer, Frank Bruni. “Familiarity Breeds Content” housed my favorite quote in the book, “I was a paid philanderer. It was exhilarating. It was exhausting. And it wasn’t necessarily the best course” I was happy to see that the eternal struggle of the new, new versus the old familiar stand-by was not just a craft beer phenomenon. And like the article about big flavors, there seems to be a push for comforting foods and drinks. Not everything needs habanero added. A simple meal at a restaurant where the people know your name can be just as exciting.

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The Law

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Numerous times I have heard the phrase, “There was no one place to get the information that I needed to start my brewery.”.

Now, with Brew Law 101, maybe the journey will be a bit easier. The California Edition covers “business formation and capital raising to location and licensing to labeling and intellectual property to employment law and common craft beer contracts.”

If that doesn’t sell you, then the fact that Peter Zien of AleSmith and Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey have contributed, should put the book over the top.

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Book Review – Canned! by Russ Phillips

Canned! Artwork of the Modern American Beer Can really illustrates what a good label and branding can do for a craft beer.

Just go to page 153 to see it. There you will find the first iteration of Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues. Barely recognizable from what is on shelves today except for the color scheme of blue and red.

That is the strength and weakness of this book. Canning is still young enough to not have a ton of design changes. But those changes that are there chart the growth of craft beer.

Comparing one brewery and their design to another is cool but too many designs are too jokey or too cluttered or the biggest cardinal sin to me, don’t highlight the brewery name enough.

My personal favorites from the book are below:

I wish the Santa Fe Brewing name was bigger and the design is more poster-like but these labels are artfully arranged while utilizing common iconic colors and images.
I wish the Santa Fe Brewing name was bigger and the design is more poster-like but these labels are artfully arranged while utilizing common iconic colors and images.
Hilliard's is so retro and Mad Men and so different from the other designs out there. They just pop but they feel textured as well.
Upslope is so simple and classy. Relying on colors to indicate the beer style but without looking too spare. The Pumpkin Ale can is my favorite.
Upslope is so simple and classy. Relying on colors to indicate the beer style but without looking too spare. The Pumpkin Ale can is my favorite.
Hilliard’s is so retro and Mad Men and so different from the other designs out there. They just pop but they feel textured as well.

I almost wish that this was a glossy magazine that appeared quarterly rather than a one-time book.  By the time this book was in my hands, more cans and different label designs have been out in the world.

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Book Review – The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer by Ashley Routson

I guess that I was expecting more. More of the distinctive voice of the Beer Wench (aka Ashley Routson) in her Guide to Beer.
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As it stands, her book certainly is fine. Interesting recipes for using beer with food. Interesting ideas for beer and food pairings and a thankfully not overlong section on beer styles.
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But the verve and wit and yes, attitude that I was waiting for never showed up on the page. Which is sad because that is what would have propelled this book. I could get all the information in Routson’s guide elsewhere. Be it Tasting Beer or The Brewmaster’s Table most specifically. Those two books went into much more detail without having the slow pace of this book. A more polarizing tone would have worked for me because it would have added to the pacing and anticipation.

What I was hoping to get was more on the female side of the beer world. Maybe a little backstory on her journey into the world of beer. More on blogging and social media and her thoughts on how they work or don’t work when it comes to the business of craft beer.

Sidebars that chart her favorite beers or mini-biographies of female brewers active now would have been great too. In fact I would have been happier if her book wasn’t aimed at me, the white American male at all.

For example, instead of yet another author tackling the very well covered topic on how beer is made, how about using her nom de beer, Saison de Wench as an example of how that particular beer was made by organic brewer Bison to elucidate the process instead. Use her experience to shine light from a new direction. Another tack that could have been taken would be to explore the world of beer cocktails in more depth. I have to believe that Routson has the ideas to have made that chapter much bigger.
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Ultimately, the book is OK. A reader learns about beer for sure. But The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer won’t supplant earlier efforts by other authors on the core subjects and doesn’t add measurably to more specific craft beer subjects because her personality has only lightly touched on the pages.