Tag: A Book & A Beer

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In the Tap Lines for May 2018

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Lots of good stuff on tap for May (now that the blog is back up and viewable). There will be weekly nods to the upcoming Firestone Walker Invitational as well as a report from Oregon where I will be heading back to the alma mater.

~ e-visits to three breweries from the New England area.
~ special featured reviews of two new cans from L.A. Ale Works
~ 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 whatever the library finds for me from my long list!
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your May started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) May 4th – System of a Stout Release at Beachwood
2) May 13th – Mother’s Day at Boomtown Brewery

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In the Tap Lines for March 2018

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Even when L.A. gets cold weather, it isn’t nearly as cold as other parts of the country. But that should not stop you from trying a wide variety of beers

~ e-visits to three breweries from the South.
~ special featured reviews of Special Warehouse Collection beers from Angel City
~ 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 You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your March started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) March 2nd – Dope & Dank & El Segundo IPA Release
2) March 17th – Enegren Irish Fest

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A Book & A Beer – The 12 Lives of Samuel Hawley


I haven’t had a real page turner in a while. That rare book that is exciting and literary at the same time. The type of book that you can picture as a good movie if done right.

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is one such book. The book is located in an East Coast small fishing town. Where a father and a daughter have returned to where the mother grew up.

There have been many moves in the past and lots of guns around the house they move into. In time, we learn of the twelve bullets that landed in Samuel Hawley both before and after the birth of Loo (I do hate girls/women with faux boy names). Poor Hawley as he is called, seems like a magnet for bullets which is bad considering his chosen profession is mostly of the illegal kind where guns seem to be plentiful.

The interaction between Hawley and Loo as well as flashbacks to friends, enemies and more enemies as well as his love, Lily lend an easy poignancy that has you rooting for them and against their foes.

What makes this book is that it sticks the landing. Loo gets a end of movie style moment that closes the adventure but also leaves some strands open. Both Hawley and Loo have grown and learned a bit but they haven’t fake changed, their character arcs remain in motion.

To drink with this book, you could pick from many states since the characters roam from one crime adventure to another but I will pick one from each side of the US. Something bitter for the teenager Loo and something rough and dark for Hawley.

Alaskan Brewing Icy Bay IPA or their Smoked Porter would be perfect for the wayward job in Alaska.

For the East, Harpoon Brewery has Hoppy Adventure IPA or Nana’s Nightcap Porter. (yes, there is a cranky yet worldy grandma in the story)

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In the Tap Lines for February 2018

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We are back around the horn to birthday month! Time to decide what beer I want to imbibe as a special treat to me. While I do that, the blog will keep going with…

~ e-visits to three breweries from Canada
~ special featured reviews of beers NOT IPA’s (except for one)
~ 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 Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your February started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) February 6th – Bruery, Bruery Terruex & Offshoot Beer Co at Tony’s Darts Away
2) February 10th – L.A. Ale Works 1st Anniversary

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A Book & A Beer – Safe by Ryan Gattis


This month I tackled my second L.A. crime novel. Following Split Second, I read Safe from Ryan Gattis. Both travel extensively around the Southland with the hardboiled criminals and cops.

I preferred Safe due to the more downbeat ending. Plus I liked the dual format where Ghost (are titular hero) and Glasses (the adversary) alternate chapters. It makes for a consistent story with more information being provided than you get in a normal mystery or crime thriller. And not to spoil things, but Safe also was the more downbeat and I like that noir thing paired with the City of Angels.

When you have the book in your hands, I suggest grabbing beers at Mumford in the Skidrokyo section of DTLA with the Speakers and Sneakers IPA or the In Other News Belgian Single. Then to pay homage to the end of the book, head to San Pedro and Brouwerij West for Switcheroo Pale Ale or the even more L.A. appropriate Ask the Dust IPA. A nod to Fante.

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A Book & A Beer – All That Man Is


Well, NOT All that Man Is might have been a better title for the book of short stories that are thinly connected by author David Szalay.

There are nine men met in this novel, all white European men, most of privilege, or at least set in privileged striving. None of the nine appealed to me. At best they are sad sack navel gazers like the teenagers on holiday in Germany or the pedantic scholar driving to Poland. At worst they are unaware and quite nearly evil industrialist or muckracking journalist. That is fine. Plenty of novels with unworthy narrators out there but I just could not dive into any of the stories. The Men in each effectively blocked me from enjoyment.

That added to the overall downer quotient of the book wore on me and seemed rather invented. All the portent and doom and gloom seemed obvious to me but profound to the characters in the book. Said Russian industrialist who has to sell off his yacht, named the Europa. Oh, is he selling the concept of the men of Europe? Seemed heavy handed to me. As was the early inner mindset of another character who tells himself early on in his tale, that “Life is not a Joke.” Fine to use that, but that character hadn’t even earned it yet.

The final story at least had some earned pathos to it as an elderly man tries to ponder an inscription seen in a nearby abbey: “Amemus eterna et non peritura.” Let us love what is eternal and not what is transient. It is a slog to get to that point though.

To drink, I would start with Orval. It is old and weathered like the older characters in the book and is a classic European pale ale.

Then I would move onto a Berliner Weisse. You probably have a local that does a good rendition. The Bruery had Hottenroth which is transitioning to Frederick H. or you could go with the more accessible Professor Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse.

And since a Russian is one of the characters and since it is January, a Russian Imperial Stout would be good. Old Rasputin would work or one of the Stone variants.

As a last suggestion, since the characters in the book are all over the map, you could find out which country is the setting for the next story and pick up a beer from that locale indicative of their craft beer scene.

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In the Tap Lines for December 2016

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The holiday beers have been rolling onto the site fast. And it will continue until the Big Day arrives. Enjoy our last holiday season before the dark times

~ e-visits to three breweries from Iceland. Olgerdin, Olvisholt Brugghus & Vifilfell. Don’t forget about Einstock too.
~ special featured reviews of (wait for it) Christmas 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 Valiant Ambition about George Washington & Benedict Arnold
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your December started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) December 7th – Far Bar hosts a ‘retirement’ party for Firestone Walker beers that are being discontinued.
2) December 14th – MacLeod Ales C.U.P. Hearing

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A Book & A Beer – Inside the Apple

It has become a habit for me to bring a history book or a historical novel when I travel on vacation.  So when I celebrated my wedding anniversary in New York, I Kindle’d up, Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.  The history / walking tour book of Manhattan is by Michelle and James Nevius.
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The book covers a lot of historical ground. Literally. You go from street to street and building to building through the Isle of Manhattan learning about Peter Stuyvesant, Alexander Hamilton and even a bit on Lady Liberty.

The book comes in bite sized chapters that focus in on an area and an era. So you can easily and quickly read a chapter on the subway while heading towards it. Or read it as you are walking through Central Park, like we did. Learning that they had to kick my wife’s kind (the Irish) out of what would become the most iconic park in the country.

The other part of the book are turn by turn tours of areas covered in the history section of the book.

The writing is crisp and clear and imparts loads of knowledge. Did you know the term “The Great White Way” was coined after a snowstorm and only took on more meaning later.

To read this book whilst in Los Angeles, I would first suggest decamping to one of the new Shake Shacks in town and ordering up a burger and a Brooklyn Brewery beer.

Then mix-six some SixPoint Ales and look at the clever Statue hidden in the grocery scan.

As a nod to the nickname, I might also find a hard cider, maybe something from Reverend Nat’s like his Winter Abbey Cider.

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In the Tap Lines for November 2016

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We now begin the holiday season. Of course, we still have to get past the election but then we can be merry with holiday ales and big beers by the fireside. So be thankful for our bounty of beer.

~ e-visits to three breweries from the Southern Oregon coast – Defeat River in Reedsport then to Devils Brewing in Coos Bay and finally Chetco Brewing in Brookings.
~ special featured reviews of beers that can pair well with Thanksgiving meals.
~ 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 Inside the Apple
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your November started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) November 16th – Bruery Share This Dinner at Sausal in El Segundo
2) November 20th – Lutefisk & Lefse Dinner at Brouwerij West

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A Book & A Beer – The Maintenance of Headway

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The Maintenance of Headway is slight book is the London bus driver equivalent of The Office (take your pick of British or US versions).  Droll, quiet and quietly funny on each and every page.  Anybody who has worked with weirdos and the rules from above will be bookmarking pages to talk about.  Our narrator takes us through some sorta eventful days in the life of a bus driver in London.  The ending is a quiet (again with that word) shocker but really in tune with what has happened before.  A gem of a book.

So this is set in London, so for us Angeleno’s when we talk British, that means MacLeod’s from Van Nuys and since the theme of the Underground is “Mind the Gap”, I would start with The Session Gap. An Ordinary Bitter at 3.5% that would not be out of place in the hand of one of the gents from the book.

And since tea is a big part of the book, my second pick would be from Noble Ale Works.  Earl Grey Dinghy.  Now I know that is a seasonal but Evan Price has been doing some cool British inspired beers so maybe check out The Londoner, a fun English Porter.

Or, you could just randomly choose a British beer (preferably from a shoppe that has a good turnover, because foreign beer suffers getting here).  I would look for something from Meantime like their London Lager.