Tag: A Book & A Beer

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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.