Tag: A Book & A Beer

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A Book & A Beer – Watford Forever

Before Welcome to Wrexham, there was the yellow brick to Watford.  Elton John a lifelong Watford fan was owner of Watford back when they were really struggling back in the days before the Premiere League.  The book by John Preston in collaboration with Sir Elton covers the time frame of when the club started a truly meteoric rise under the watchful eye of manager Graham Taylor.

This was such a fun and joyful read.  Obstacles are overcome.  Even truly harrowing ones such as racism and drug addiction.  Players who may have not made a mark are vindicated and a town finds itself back on the rise.  But the moments that really stuck with me are tinier.  The friendship between Elton and the manager’s wife, Elton racking up long distance charges just to listen to a game, the introduction of statistical analysis to football.

This is one of the rare books that you wish did not end.  And now I do want to watch a Watford game from either the Graham Taylor Stand or the Elton John Stand.

For beer, since Watford has a connection to the Bee nickname, let’s look to honey ales as they are usually quite sessionable for when you are watching a 90 minute game.

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In the Tap Lines for March 2025

Spring sprang into summer in February so lighter, crisper beers are already in season as it were. Also in season is basketball and soccer plus….

~ e-visits to (3) breweries that will be pouring at the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

~ special featured reviews

~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 Watford Forever

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Good Hang with Amy Poehler

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Why does March Madness not seem a sell-out but College football does?

~ 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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A Book & A Beer – Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

This is my first real big book in a while. Nearly 600 pages for Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez.

This is a supernatural / horror genre book with locales in South America and England and Africa for a tiny bit too. For a long novel, it moves pretty swiftly snd considering the time jumps from section to section and lead voice changes, is easy to follow along with.

The book is centered on Juan and his son Gaspar in the days and then years following the death of the wife and mother., Rosario who was born into a truly weird cult whose members thinks they can find eternal life from the Darkness. But you do not want to mess with the manifestation of it because it will take fingers, arms or eat you alive.

Juan is the medium from which the Darkness is summoned but being that middle man is killing him and he does not want that for his son which is the main plot driver.

I would give Our Share of Night a mild recommendation. If you can get past the inescapable fact that the father does not communicate to his son anything that would help him against the cult then you will be OK. So many events could have been avoided with a simple five minute conversation. The other big issue for me was the rushed ending. A book this long shouldn’t have to speed through the action at the end and then just abruptly end.

You will need a few different beers for this one and my main choice would be to try a couple things. First, look for a raspberry or cherry chocolate stout. Blood and darkness. You could also do a Guinness blend with the Irish stout with a fruited wheat beer or if you want to get experimental, a fruited sour.

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In the Tap Lines for February 2025

My favorite month is here. Mostly ’cause it is my birthday month and I use all 28 or 29 days that I get to the point of exhausting everyone else. For this blog, I will do my best to exhaust you with beer news.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Oregon

~ special featured reviews

~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 Our Share of Night

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to An Arm and a Leg

~ Sports & A Beer returns with How to Fix the Blazers

~ 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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A Book & A Beer – Knife by Salman Rushdie

Memoirs are not usually my cuppa but after hearing Salman Rushdie talk about his scary new book, Knife about his near fatal stabbing, I added it to my library list and I was quite taken by the thoughtfulness and openness displayed. It could have been easy to be simplistic about such a horrifying attack recounting events in a rote fashion but Rushdie plumbs deeper and looks at the whole picture and not just one victim and one attacker and the medical consequences.

Such a violent and bloody book make for a much harder beer choice. But I will lean into the word meditations in the sub-title and suggest finding comfort beers. Nothing hoppy or bitter because that is not what this book is about. Find a lovely brown ale like Figueroa Mountain’s Davy Brown or look for a nice porter from your local brewery.

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In the Tap Lines for January 2025

Strap in folks, there is gonna be some turbulence in 2025. I have mentioned, just yesterday in fact, that economics are going to be bad and the now annual Dry January will not help the beer world so be kind and helpful to counteract the bad vibes that are sure to be spinning.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Hop Culture’s Best of List

~ special featured reviews

~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 Knife by Salman Rushdie

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

~ Sports & A Beer returns with teams that are easy to hate

~ 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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A Book & A Beer – Everyone This Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

I have read the first two “Everyone” meta murder mysteries and was excited to see a third book pop-up. And it is Christmas themed, Everyone This Christmas has a Secret is the latest from Benjamin Stevenson.

Ernest Cunningham is back to solve a third mysterious case involving a philanthropist and a magician.  And yes, the case is laid out with no fake-outs or last chapter new information like the past two books.

I will keep the rest of the plot for you to discover but I will say that the end reveal of the how done it is quite ingenious.  Which makes it worse that the rest of the quite slim book seems, well, slim.  The author doesn’t bring back characters from the first two books except for Ern and Juliette (briefly and at a distance) when he probably could have to add some extra twist of interpersonal drama.  Also, even though it is set in Australia and the weather is not the chill type, the lack of seasonal festivity is pretty glaring.  It is barely mentioned sans a Secret Santa and a Rudolph costume.  The book could well be called, Everyone at the Magic Show has a Secret.  There is also an arch enemy brought up early in the book that doesn’t pay off at the end for me at least.

It is a fun and super quick read though and the winks and nods and breaks in the fourth wall are good fun but seems a skosh underbaked overall.

For a beer pairing, I want to suggest Australian Summer beers but SoCal does not get much in the way of Aussie craft. I would also like to suggest just Summer beers but that doesn’t fit the current season since we are in holiday mode in 70 degree weather. So the best recommendation would be to stock up on dark lagers since they are en vogue. Urban Roots has some good ones as do many breweries.

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In the Tap Lines for December 2024

Well, 2024 was going along pretty well for 10 months. We will need to really enjoy the living hell out of what may be a final American holiday season. Sorry, not sorry for being so dark but do your best to truly live the sentiment of the season. Christmas is a time for EVERYONE to be happy. I am happy for the great Christmas beers and will be for each of these 31 days.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Best of issue of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine

~ special featured reviews of Christmas Ales

~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 Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Shift Meal on the Ringer Food podcast

~ Sports & A Beer returns with what to do with the excess bowl games

~ 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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A Book & A Beer – Wool by Hugh Howey

Season 2 of Silo is coming out on Apple TV and like many streaming shows, I have yet to view Season 1.  To compensate, I read the first book in the trilogy, Wool (followed by Dust and Shift in one word cryptic book titles).

Hugh Howey, the author, has a great story about the genesis of this series that was a self-published novelette that suddenly gained digital traction to the point where he all but had to embiggen it.

It joins the Fallout series in a post-apocalyptic setting with survivors hiding underground along with a lot of secrets.  I will do my best to not include spoilers in this mini recap.  The heroine of the story, Juliette is part of a mechanical team for the silo who gets the tap on the shoulder to literally go up in the world to become the sheriff.  Factions develop between the mayor, the mechanics, the supply crew and the IT department and there is a lot of going up from floor 100 to 34 to 1 and back down again that will make your legs feel tired just from reading.

For a nearly 600 page book, the pages fly by.  I could see why this was plucked for a TV series.  The trilogy could supply plenty of story for a showrunner.  However I felt it was a bit too fast paced and the silo feels so big just for the sake of being massive.  I felt good about the characters to start but they got a little plastic as the book wore on.  In a weird way, I would say this book could have ended earlier.  Maybe make a foursome of books.

I do not think, I will be picking up books two or three.

For beer, I would suggest pondering what beers you would take into a bunker when the world inevitably ends. And then which ones would be everyday drinkers and which you would save and / or hoard and not share a drop of.

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In the Tap Lines for November 2024

It is peak holiday season with Halloween decor still up (probably) and Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching. As with previous years, the elves, reindeer and I will start highlighting holiday beers, but only AFTER Turkey Day.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries inside airports for those flying this holiday season

~ special featured reviews of two beers from The Rare Beer Club

~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 Wool by Hugh Howey

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to My Unsung Hero

~ Sports & A Beer returns with the coaching carousel

~ 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.