Tag: A Book & A Beer

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A Book & A Beer – The Napoleon of Crime by Ben MacIntyre

Fiction sometimes echoes facts and such is the case with James Moriarty, arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. He was partially based on an American gentleman thief named Adam Worth. And his story is told in The Napoleon of Crime by Ben MacIntyre.

From faking his own death in the Civil War to London, Paris, New York and Johannesburg, Adam Worth live a full life despite not making it to 57 years old. He stole diamonds, money, pickpocketed and ran a gambling den but is most famous for s more spur of the theft of the famous Gainsborough painting, The Duchess of Devonshire.

With each chapter you wonder who else can be stuffed into his man’s adventure. The Pinkertons, Scotland Yard, Pierpont Morgan, criminal nicknames galore and Sherlock Holmes. The face you see on the book jacket provided the idea for Moriarty. Now famous as the ultimate arch nemesis. But he was a gentleman through and through. Barely resorting to violence and always striving and always spending his ill gotten gains as fast as he took them.

It is a fast paced book with a lot of twists and turns, highs and lows and a lot of transatlantic boat travel.

To beer pair with this historical tale, I would suggest selecting beers that say they are on style but really are something else. A good example being Widmee Hefeweizen which is actually a really good wheat beer. Or perhaps there is a DIPA that is a really a Triple IPA.

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In the Tap Lines for July 2024

For me, May Gray and June Gloom are the best time in SoCal but I know that I am in the minority and that most people love the sun. Whichever Angeleno you are, please make July – Visit a brewery month. It is really needed beer fans.

~ e-visits to (3) new breweries in my home state of Oregon

~ special featured reviews of barrel-aged beers from Lough Gill Brewing in Sligo, Ireland

~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 The Napoleon of Crime by Ben MacIntyre

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Finally! A Show About Women That Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Sports and climate change

~ 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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In the Tap Lines for June 2024

June is L.A. Beer Week Time so the BSP blog will be celebrating that all month long.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Sister Cities of Los Angeles

~ special featured reviews of whatever is in the refrigerator throughout the month

~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 There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to The Curious History of Your Home

~ Sports & A Beer returns with NIL thoughts

~ 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 – The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

This one is a recommendation from my Mom and when I went to check it out from the Glendale library, I was a bit startled by how many pages it was.  Around 575.  But there are short books that are slogs and doorstops that breeze by and The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles glides by like a Studebaker on the highway.

It tells the tale of Emmet and Billy Watson.  Two brothers in the middle of the country going on a trip to find their mom who left them many years previously.  Other characters come in and out like the Duchess and Wooly, Sally and 

This was a pleasant enough book but all the characters seemed very soap opera thin. You had the noble leader, the stalwart gal, the wise younger brother, the wild card and the dim but lovable character. The crazy thing that I though of was the book reminded me of the later Back to the Future movies where everything got very broad and you could see where a scene was going to go from miles away. So if a safe needed to be cracked you knew the wild card would fly off the handle, and the preternaturally smart kid would figure out the combination.

But the end of the book threw me for a loop. I did not see that level of casual disregard to happen.

Anyway for beer the obvious way to go would be to Google the Lincoln Highway route and see which breweries are close that route and have those ready. I would add that finding some Bay Area beers would be a good choice too since the end destination is San Francisco. Maybe a Pliny the Elder would do for the wise kid.

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In the Tap Lines for May 2024

With the Craft Brewers Conference in the rear view, it is time to prepare yourself for summer beer festival season. Though not as busy as in past years, there will be plenty to do and plenty of souvenir cups to collect. Below is what is currently planned for the month of May here on the blog.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Central Coast of California in advance of the Firestone Walker Invitational

~ special featured reviews of whatever is in the refrigerator throughout the month

~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 The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Tales from the Tardis

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Drafting for QB1

~ 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 – The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James

If you have the actual Specter of Death in your book, you better make the most of the character and Elizabeth Gonzalez James does in the time sprawling The Bullet Swallower.

There are two tracks in this book, one set in 1895 with Antonio Sonoro a restless bandido and the swallower of a bullet off to rob a train and then in 1964 with descendant Jaime Sonoro, a singing cowboy. And of course, death is along for the ride as well.

I have a hard time deciding if one half was better to me than the other. 1895 was very action-y but Antonio was not a super likable character to me as much as the people he encountered. Whereas 1964 was a slower pace but I truly liked the inquisitiveness of Jaime.

For beer pairing, I would suggest finding a brewery where past brewers have left to start their own breweries and having one from old and new. Or if you know of a brewer that has brewed at multiple stops, find beers from each stop. Then you can track changes and see which you prefer.

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In the Tap Lines for April 2024

Spring sprang a day early this year and SoCal has been getting actual weather with slight variations instead of 80 degrees and dry as hell, so time to celebrate the season and bottom left corner of the country.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from San Diego

~ special featured reviews of Spring beers

~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 The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzales James

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to A Crispr Bite

~ Sports & A Beer returns with

~ 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 – The Trees by Percival Everett

I have been reading a lot of Percival Everett lately. Dr. No, Erasure, So Much Blue, his latest James. But today it is The Trees.

The trees are referencing hangings. Lynching of black men. Right away there is a heaviness and sadness and anger surrounding this tale. Ostensibly, it is a murder mystery set in Money, Mississippi but Everett is extremely skilled in both humor and sarcasm which you can see by the names chosen for various characters (Junior Junior / Red Jetty) and also by the slapstick plot point and buddy cop banter throughout.

When I hear that a book is funny, most of the time, that is an exaggeration to me. But this book is funny, sad and violent and has a history lesson too. I read one synopsis that had Tarantino films as a comp. I agree with that.

One passage (of many) that struck a chord is the following between the two detectives on the case:

Ed said. “Here we are. The Lorraine Motel. There on that corner of that balcony. I was ten. That’s why I’m a cop.”

“It’s a museum now,” Jim said.

“And it shouldn’t be,” Ed said.

“Why not?” Quip asked.

“It’s just a motel. That’s what it is. That’s all it is,” Ed said. “People should rent out that very room and sleep in that very bed and step through that very door and stand on that balcony and realize what happened there. People should know, understand that not all Thursdays are the same.”

excerpt from The Trees

This is a novel that will stick with you and keep you thinking.

For beer, keep your thinking cap on. Get to researching minority owned breweries and buy their most complicated beers. The ones with the most added ingredients. The aged beers. The beers that are decocted. The beers with history about them.

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In the Tap Lines for March 2024

Springtime in SoCal as we move into what I jokingly call “early summer”. Hoping to find some bock beers, either strong or dopple would be nice plus the following features this month….

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the newer cities in the NWSL

~ special featured reviews of a potpourri of beers

~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 The Trees by Percival Everett

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Heritage Mezcal

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Thoughts on March Madness

~ 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 – Black AF History by Michael Harriot

I have said it before and I will probably say it a million more times but there is so much more to history than the boring incantations of specific dates and the cookie cutter history written by the victors.

I wish that Michael Harriot’s book Black AF History had been on my history class reading list because I would have been well entertained while also learning.

Harriot is funny but underneath that funny are some cutting remarks and bringing some well known historical figures down a peg as you can see from the cover of the book. But this history is more about giving time in the spotlight to people from history that you should go and Google right now like Juan Garrido, Musa I and Ida B. Wells. And you need to go over the study questions at the end of each chapter. It is a clever way the author reinforces points made. If you want to study American History, this had better be part of the curriculum.

No weird style or new trendy beer for this book. Go out and buy a 4-pack from a local black-owned brewery. Here in Los Angeles it would be Crowns & Hops but a quick (second) Google search will find one in your local area or one that you can buy from further away.