A Book & A Beer – Tilt by Emma Pattee

Being from Portland, I have heard the warnings about the big one in Cascadia and going through earthquakes in Los Angeles gives me a tiny bit of experience so I was primed to read what Emma Pattee imagined could happen to the City of Roses and to one heavily pregnant woman walking through the aftermath and aftershocks, in Tilt.

Annie is our guide through this landscape and at best she is real, in the sense that she is working through shit now and from the past in messy real-time.  She is no hero, though her stamina is damn impressive throughout. But a lot of the time she is so annoyingly millennial.  

Now I can live with that type of character in a novel but when the other main character is her husband Dom, who if you can’t tell by the name is a selfish ass who would not be as far as he is without Annie.  Which, spoiler, ain’t that far. It makes a reader start looking for anyone to latch onto.  For me, it was Taylor, the Ikea employee who is there at the start and then re-appears later.  She has an arc and emotions to wrestle with. Or I could root for the earthquake.

It is a propulsive read and I liked the alternating chapters and the way the timelines came together and though some may not like the ending, I thought it was kinda inevitable and hit the mark. Overall, I was hoping for at least some revelation but I fear that Annie and Dom are still in Portland and stuck in their lives and in their heads.

For beer, instead of something specific, I would recommend s bit of a crawl through Portland’s Eastside beer haunts that you should check out like Belmont Station or Beermongers both excellent bottle shops and tap rooms that could easily provide an overview of Portland beer or you could swing by Living Haus beer which is right near the bridges that span the Willamette River that Annie is trying so hard to reach.

A Podcast & A Beer – Stakeknife

I do not normally gravitate towards the true crime genre of podcast but if you add in subterfuge and history, then I am listening. Stakeknife from the BBC covers a truly awful series of events that all feature one person, from which the podcast gets its name.

Who is the bigger villain ? Freddie Scappaticci aka Stakeknife who was involved in 35 murders?  The IRA for their raging paranoia that led to innocents killed?  The British, who couldn’t just let Ireland go and instead chose control?  All of the above.

This was a hard listen as the focus was on the victims and the hunt for the truth, two things that governments and police really like to downplay if they are the ones caught in a bad light.

For beer, I do not want to tar a brewery or specific beer with the title of being a great pairing double agents and murder and intimidation, so instead, how about shining a light on history with some light lagers. Practically every brewery has one, so check your local to see what they have.

The Firkin for April 2025

I fully understand and am aware that I have whinged on about events at brewery taprooms that seem divorced from what a brewery does but in the last week I have seen many emails and social media posts about speed puzzling in taprooms.

And, I guess, it is better than having tipsy patrons throwing axes but how many puzzle pieces are found the next day on the floor? I can barely muster the enthusiasm to do a puzzle when my mind has the latest software updates loaded, let alone after a couple 7% hazy IPAs.

Now compare that to this wonderful Pellicle Magazine piece by Anaïs Lecoq about a small pub in France where thought has been put into the brewery that is poured, where the owner has your pour ready when you cross the threshold and the ephemera on the wall is earned and meaningful.

This is not a slam on any modern day brewery trying to survive and expand their beer drinking base but I do worry that the lessons of pubs are not being learned.

Best Beers of April 2025

This month coffee infused beers are ascendant. Starting with Long Beach based Trademark Brewing and their Morning Drive Coffee Cream Ale which I tasted at their new outpost in Torrance. This was followed up by Broken Timbers and their Dublin Dawn Oatmeal Coffee Stout, which had a real nice coffee meets whiskey but without going too far.

But my favorite of the month is a collaboration between Faction Brewing in they Bay Area and Riip Beer. It is Bergs of a Feather, a Hoppy Dark Lager. I complain about Black IPAs rarely striking the hop to dark balance, but this hit all the marks for me.

I also want to mention the Meet Me in the Woods cider from Benny Boy here in Los Angeles. It is pricey for sure, but I found a unique strawberry meets spruce combo to really work. But my drinking buddy, Rich sure thought it was too much tree for his liking.

A Book & A Beer – Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Andy Weir is back in space with Project Hail Mary has the feel of two book ideas jammed into one.  The initial premise of a person waking up to find himself on a spaceship is a great start.  Remembering slowly how he got there is another good bit.  But about halfway through, the hero, the badly named Ryland Grace encounters another ship and the sci-fi novel turns into a buddy film.  

Will keep spoilers to a minimum since this is being made into a film like Weir’s previous book, The Martian which also had a lead character MacGyver’ing.  This time it is two.  Guess the next book will have three.

This is a book that had me spinning possible better book ideas once the Rocky character shows up.  Part of the issue is that, as opposed to the Martian, this plot is stuffed to the gills.  The Martian was simple.  Survive on Mars.  This was the sun going out, earth is in danger and must figure out why but have to figure that out light years away.  And when the stakes are that high the problems become larger and larger and the solutions to those problems become more and more implausible.

How Grace and Rocky can fix all the issues seems way past the grasp of two beings no matter how smart or resourceful.  I wish the book has just stayed with the amnesiac astronaut plot all the way through.

For beer, since the book is about, ostensibly, two different cultures working together.  See if you can find worldwide collaboration beers.  Or barring that, finding an East Coast meets West Coast on a beer style that is not often seen like an altbier or a beer with a strange adjunct.

Sports & A Beer – Tanking in 2025

My beloved Portland Trailblazers had a game in March against the Raptors of Toronto.  It was a close game in the fourth quarter in a game that Portland needed to stat involved in the chase for the tenth and final playoff spot.  Portland got the W but not really due to their play, it was more that the Raptors best players were at the far end of the bench and not on the court.

Ever since the Philadelphia 76ers spent years tanking and getting not so much more than Joel Embid and Tyrese Maxey for their troubles, the NBA has been playin whack-a-mole with teams gunning for a number one pick in the draft.  Fining teams for sitting star players, flattening out lottery odds so losing doesn’t guarantee a top college prospect. Each year teams loophole their way to the end of the season.

This year, the tactic is to start your best players but then come crunch time, they are already on their way out of the arena.  But my favorite sports website the Ringer had a different take on tanking, see HERE.

And I tend to agree, the NBA has done enough short of installing relegation to the G League and does not need to levy more fines.  If the best players are playing at least in the first through third quarters, especially in road games, I am cool with that. Tankers are going to lose their own fans and concession revenue so no need to penalize further.  And besides that, the tank race is kinda fun too.  The draft has been built up to this pivotal NBA event and asking people to not go all in is kind of silly.

For beer, instead of a style, how about a drinking game.  Pick your tanking team and each time they lose, you get a real good craft beer.  But if they win, you get that old skunky beer that you have been avoiding. Fun, right?

A Podcast & A Beer – Setting the Table

There is now a backlog, a big one, of podcasts. I run across or hear about podcasts that are long done. One such podcast is Setting the Table

It is hosted by Deb Freeman, and it “explores the stories and histories of African American cuisine and foodways. From Sunday barbeques to the spirits in your cocktails, African Americans have created the foundation of modern American cuisine, yet African American food is one of the least explored food genres.”

The beer and distilling episode where I suggest you start before moving onto the other topics. 

For beer, look for something, anything from a minority owned brewery.  Or something that uses historical ingredients like yams or paw-paw fruit.  Beers that are influenced by the mash-up of agriculture and culture.

The Firkin for March 2025

Is your social media feed beer driven or activity driven? It is a question that I want to pose to as many brewery media folk as possible. I know that my lens is introverted and geeky and that a new beer with a new hop or a heritage barley will get me into a taproom more than cornhole but I feel like the pendulum has swung a little too far away from the actual liquid.

This is of course also coming from someone who recently posted about thinking outside the box when it comes to activities and who also posted about a book extolling community at taprooms.

Themed nights are an effort to get butts in seats and buying beer from a crowd who is not buying currently. Economics are at play here. A new beer release is probably not going to bring out a line of beer buyers willing to pay a premium as much as a casual drinker who knows not of Dynaboost and Fonio.

But, the casual / weekend drinker is more fickle than a beer geek and losing sight of that in a rush to a cater to a crowd who are not tied to your beer but by karaoke is harder work in my opinion.

A Podcast & A Beer – Good Hang with Amy Poehler

I remember the SNL Weekend updates and, of course, Parks & Rec but like many entertainers and comedians, podcasts are a natural creative outlet.  Amy Poehler already had one podcast and now has her second Good Hang.

This is a celebrity interview show with two points of separation. One is that it is tacking more towards genial and friendly and the second is that Poehler enlists some of her comedy friends to provide questions which I think is a new and neat touch. The show just started so it won’t take long to get caught up for those completists out there.

I would choose a nice session – low ABV beer for these shows, especially since they go about an hour. A nice pub beer while you get a few laughs.

Sports & A Beer – March Madness vs. College Football Playoffs

Here is one of many weird things about me. I do not watch college basketball in the regular season but I enjoy March Madness. I have, before teams moving hither and thither watched college football in the regular season and less so the playoffs.

Why? There are a few reasons. First, I think March Madness does not have the same stink of corporate greed as the college football cash grab. Or at least that initial greed has worn off in my mind.

It is also that due to the lesser amount of games played that the importance of footballs regular season is far more than the college basketball one where the Madness is where the rubber hits the road. You also can’t discount that most college hoopers are done when that final buzzer sounds, whereas gridiron heroes have round after round of the NFL draft to look towards.

I have two beer lanes to choose. First, grab a beer from a college town like a Eugene or Berkeley. Or search a little harder to find a Marzen style beer out there to watch the shining moments from this years games.