A Book & A Beer – Rachel Cusk Triology

Rarely do I talk shit about a book. I know that, at best, I could maybe muster a passable short story so I tread lightly when it comes to my views in the monthly book post.

But despite the positive reviews from the NY Times, I am flummoxed by the praise for this trilogy by Rachel Cusk.

All three books follow our protagonist, a writer, as she travels to various points of the globe talking with, well, mostly just listening to the uninteresting stories of others. She does interviews about her books that seem fake because no real questions are asked. She talks with a contractor about a house. She chats with other writers. But it is all so passive. Nothing happens. No epiphanies small or large.

I kept reading thinking that a payoff was coming. A rant from the writer, something explosive all waiting in the third book. Alas, not to be. It just ends with a whimper.

That leads me to the beer to pair with it. Since the trilogy is missing fireworks, this is where the beer comes in. Find something with Chai or jalapenos or a bracing jolt of lemon to add anything to the experience. Or maybe grab your favorite coffee beer to keep yourself awake.

A Podcast & A Beer – Dolly Parton’s America

There are a few things in life that are universally loved. The recently returned for season 2 Ted Lasso and Dolly Parton. As we learn in episode one, Dolly’s Q Rating is through the roof but the more interesting note is that she gets virtually zero negative comments.

How she can do that while singing about topics like suicide and being pro-vaccine is the through line for the 2019 podcast series, Dolly Parton’s America.

What beers have that everyone admires it quality. Guinness and Orval and Saison Dupont are consistently well thought of but for Dolly, I think we need to find something closer to home. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is an iconic American craft beer but bitter is not Dolly so instead lets find some Kentucky Common styled beers or barring that find another classic like Yuengling or Shiner Bock.

1st Visit – Far Field Beer Co.

Far Field Beer Co. opened on Saturday after months of doing to-go only and here is my report on the beers and the taproom…

Feller Hoppy Pilsner – very toasty and malt forward.  Not much in the way of hoppiniess though. if sold as lager would work better for me.

Home Range IPA – quite dank. heavy bitterness. pine first and foremost. a little one note. many people ordered it but it lacked depth.

All Terrain Cream Ale – my favorite of the three. no head to it at all though. other than that it has a nice taste to it. a little refining and a little more body and it will be solid.

The taproom is a lovely little spot in the middle of a fast moving Rosecrans Avenue.  It is tucked in between auto shops, thankfully they have a nice big sign to guide you in.  big roll up doors to a small outdoor patio.  long reverse shaped L bar with comfy wooden stools.  7 beers on tap on opening day with 3 IPAs, a hoppy pilsner, a cream ale, a California Common and a Berliner Weisse. 10 barrels tucked into the corner might already be in use though I saw no stouts on the menu. Nice metalwork touches on the upstairs that match the design of the logo and merch. Though the second floor seemed empty at present.

Cool Beers and Labels for August 2021

It is hard to keep up with all the new beer releases. Sometimes you just have to filter to style or hop or…

…the color green. It is my wife’s favorite color so it now catches my eye as well and these two LA breweries are using it very well. Crac Brewery has a dramatic two tone look for a Tequila barrel-aged Gose with a clever name. Has a blade like look down the middle which accentuates the font.

Brouwerij West has taken their Popfuji pilsner and brand extended it for the Nelson hop. Replacing the Pop yellow with, again, two-tone green. The slight name change with the color swap is a nice way to create a beer series.

Needed or Not? – Heineken B.O.T.

Summer is prime time for this feature of the blog. Every week seems to bring some wacky new beer idea. Heineken is next with their B.O.T.

The Beer Outdoor Transporter. Obviously the B.O.T. was thought of first. Basically a tiny cooler on wheels that follows you to your party like the Mars Rover.

Now there are plain, old, boring coolers that you have to lift with your actual arms and there are wheeled versions that you have to drag or push but who wants to work.

Verdict – Not Needed. It’s 2021, I want a combination jet pack and cooler.

2021 Mid-Year Stats

Time to look back at the first six months of the drinking year and tease out sone fun statistics about what I have been drinking.

16 breweries were brand new to me.

I still drank more West Coast IPA’s than Hazies 69 to 43

Smog City was the most drunk from brewery with 19 followed closely by Firestone Walker with 17

Firestone Walker leads with best beers of the week with 3. Lagunitas and Radiant each have 2.

Of 327 total beers – 156 were IPA, 24 Pilsner/Lager, 23 Barrel-Aged and 11 Sour

A Book & A Beer – 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

I have been on a classics kick of late. Read some Dickens, Wells and Stevenson and now onto Jules Verne and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. This is going to be a weird admission but I always thought leagues meant depth, when in fact it means length of the voyage.

This book really is light on action and character development and is pretty much just straight up geography and descriptions of underwater life. The lead character of M. Arronax is just about as milquetoast as they come and Captain Nemo just up and disappears for stretches of time. I did like how Verne described the functionality of the boat which was surprisingly close to what a submarine now does (with some exceptions of course). But overall, this screams movie adaptation where the sights could be fully displayed and actors creating more dimensional characters.

Oyster stout would be one choice or a kelp beer if you want to be truly obvious but I would suggest finding beers from around the world and matching that part of the Nautilus voyage with a beer from nearby.

A Podcast & A Beer – Gangster Capitalism

Series Three of Gangster Capitalism has arrived and it is all Falwell all the time. And a boatload of sex.

After tackling the fun topic of the NRA financial situation last time out, now they are following Jerry Falwell Jr. and his escapades and dirty with a capital D deeds at Liberty University. This series starts off with a pool boy in Florida and doesn’t let up after that.

Anchor Brewing Liberty Ale would be a good start or any summer ale that you would normally choose for a by the pool or at the beach day but instead let’s find beers from a women owned/brewed business. Because after hearing about how women are thought of and treated, you will really want to move the needle in the opposite direction.

Featured Review – (3) from Ruse Brewing

Thanks to City Beer Store of San Francisco, I snared a couple beers from Ruse Brewing in Portland.

Static Equation – pours a hazy yellow color.  label claims apricot, grapefruit and dankness from the Citra-Simcoe-Mosaic hop trio.  I get a dank Meyer lemon taste with a pillowy feel to it.  Bit of a hazy burn at the back of the palate.

Ghost Coast – clear and yellow in color.  has a good strong lemony bitterness.  lot of malt chewiness here as well. gettin a bit of grassy character as well.

Thought Frequency with Great Notion – lightly hazed yellow color. quite spicy and herbal driven.  light in texture. pine aroma to me.  a bit of a toasted malt character here that is different from most hazies and not what I expected from a Great Notion collab.

Firkin for June 2021

Here is your next recommendation for helping women during this reckoning on abuse in the craft beer world.

Acknowledge it.

Acknowledge that it has happened, is happening and will happen again. This is an ingrained problem but to many it is either invisible or not “that bad”. You don’t have to throw out innocent until proven guilty but you DO have to allow the case INTO court.

So whatever you can do to acknowledge privately and publicly needs to become second nature. If your favorite bar is considered unsafe by good friends, you would believe them, right? It shouldn’t matter if these good friends are all big burly dudes or petite women.

Once we men acknowledge the problem, we can ALL then tackle the problem. We can’t spend all our time stuck at the beginning of the process, we need to move forward.