Category: Monthly Features

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A Book & A Beer – Less by Andrew Sean Greer

I am not a prolific Facebook poster but what I do post the most about are the books I am reading and the book that has sparked the most feedback has been Less by Andrew Sean Greer.  The Pulitzer Prize winning book follows the travels of Arthur Less as he avoids the wedding of a former flame.

Billed as a comic novel, it is subtly narrated by that former flame in a very effective way that I found the book more inner quest than laugh out loud comedy.  There are moments such as the fruitless attempt at securing a VAT refund that are funny and quite a few one liners that are chuckle inducing but once Less gets a piece of bad news early in the book it starts the gears of his mind rolling and the book becomes poignant.

I found out about the book because a sequel is now out, Less is Lost. So with that in mind, the beer choice is to find a sequel beer.  A new Little Thing from Sierra Nevada, a fruited American Gose from Anderson Valley or a Mind Haze from Firestone Walker to name three California ones.  

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A Podcast & A Beer – Scam Likely

You will get a bit tired hearing that the investigative podcast Scam Likely is a production of Campsite Media and the fourth season of Chameleon but once you get past that, you hear a true tale of how one multi-national scam scared people out of life savings.

Hosted by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee who has a great podcast voice, Scam Likely traces the origins of a scam, how that scam morphed into a much bigger one, the stories of the cops chasing them and the employees doing the shady grunt work that involved so much driving.

To pair with this scary crime procedural, I propose finding a Halloween themed beer to amp up the fright factor.  Something like Evil Dead Red from AleSmith Brewing or whatever spooky season beer is local to your area.

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A Podcast & A Beer – Bourbon Pursuit

This month’s podcast focuses on Bourbon and the business of Bourbon, Bourbon Pursuit hosted by Kenny Coleman, Ryan Cecil, and Fred Minnick. Plus a host of others from bourbon industry and bourbon media.

You get “news, reviews and interviews with people making the bourbon whiskey industry happen.” Three times a week with in depth bourbon talk.

Beer wise, I would suggest that on your next beer shopping trip, that you buy either a style or various styles that you think just might work being aged in bourbon barrels that hasn’t been yet. Maybe it is a dunkel or a red ale or a California Common. Taste each and see if the dominant flavor notes would mesh with oak and vanilla.

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In the Tap Lines for September 2022

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This month I will be making my first ever trip to Kentucky, specifically, the Bourbon Trail from Louisville to Bardstown.  So get a snifter out, there is going to be some bourbon talk this month.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from cities that also distill spirits
~ special featured review of Kentucky
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Bourbon Empire by Reid Mitenbuler
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Bourbon Pursuit
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

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The Firkin for August 2022

This is a tough question because I have changed methodology depending not just on the quality of the beers but on many other factors.

In general, I sip a little of each beer to see first but if beer A is light and really good and the rest of the tasters are darker, I may polish off the light one to not wreck my palate. I also sometimes try to find what exactly a flawed beer has wrong with it and thus finish it, before I go back to the best beer of the bunch.

If all the beers are of equal quality, and one is not a stylistic outsider, then all will be drunk at the same pace. But if all beers selected are not good, and it has happened. I may drink the best one and drink enough of the others to obscure my dislike when I bring the glasses back.

It is not an easy question to answer because of the Choose Your Own Adventure decision tree involved.

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Needed or Not? – Heineken Beer Shoes

I guess walking on water is passe when you can walk on beer? But man these sneakers ain’t pretty to my eyes so I would hope to sink.

Here is the snippet from Adweek, “The company used a specialized surgical injection method to inject Heineken Silver into the soles, aiming to create a ‘smooth’ sensation when walking in the shoes that supposedly mirrors the taste profile of the beer.”

Needed ? – No on the beer inside which is probably skunked and no on the generic Italian flag color scheme.

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Sean Suggests for August 2022

Thanks Climate change!  Time to go a little lighter this month to compensate what we humans have done to this planet.  Let’s drink some lighter beers and also help, just a little while we are drinking.

Arts District Brewing Summer Crush – 4.3% – “Crafted on a bright and tart sour wheat base, our brewers go all out pulverizing Meyer Lemons into our own purée to double down on that acidity, and then toss in heaps of raspberry and blackberry for a mega jammy and sweet tart experience.”

Unsung Wormhole Pale Ale – 5.5% – “Hoppy west coast pale ale with strata & simcoe hops.”

VNBC Hair We Go Hazy IPA – 6% – A mixture of Cascade, Saaz, Calypso and Citra Cryo.  Proceeds from the sales will be donated to Wigs for Kids.

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A Podcast & A Beer – A History of Coffee

Might be more iced coffee time than hot but either way I suggest you check out A History of Coffee podcast.

Hosted by documentary maker James Harper and professional historian Jonathan Morris cover the history of coffee, sustainability, the rise of craft coffee and the future of coffee.

It is a six episode series with nearly as many bonus episodes and the hosts strike a good balance of positive and negative, light and dark.

This is a bit of a no brainer. Look to the stout section of your beer shop cooler and search out their coffee beers. But to throw a twist, look for a golden coffee stout. Or to get even twistier, look for one of the Oregon coffee IPA’s like Java the Hop from Fort George or Cold Brew IPA from Rogue Ales.

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A Book & A Beer – Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

Some books you have to read with a capital R, others just propel you page by page. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby is the latter.

Despite that propulsion, I was left with questions about characters questionable choices throughout the book. As hard as Cosby tries and as hard-headed as main character Beauregard “Bug” Montage is, selling his daddy’s car is so plainly the best course of action that the suffering wife character becomes one dimensional whenever she asks him to sell it.

Damn great name for a lead character though, especially the last name.

Secondly, throwing in with n’er do well or even n’er do the bare minimum Ronnie Sessions is just big stupid.

I can certainly see this as a movie, hopefully a limited series which might be able to flesh characters out more.

Beer wise, the soon-to-open L.A. brewery driven would be a hip choice or head to El Segundo for Upshift Brewing and order either the Usual Suspects Hazy IPA or go bigger to Double Clutch DIPA.

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In the Tap Lines for August 2022

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August is a non travel outside California month so I will take the weekends to play catch-up with L.A. breweries that I haven’t been to in a bit. But if you do travel, maybe layover in NewJersey and show support to their breweries who have been burdened with some truly galling laws.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from New Jersey who have been handcuffed by anti-beer laws
~ special featured review of pilsners and lagers
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to A History of Coffee
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.