Tag: A Book & A Beer

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A Book & A Beer – The Sullivanians by Alexander Stille

This world is weird. People have an innate desire to control. Both occur page after page and all over The Sullivanians by Alexander Stille.

First have to mention that this is not fiction. This happened in New York City in the not so distant past of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Saul Newton and Jane Pearce taking bits and bobs of psychology from their mentor, Harry Sullivan started their own group which was part commune, part social experiment but mostly ill thought out and misguided.

It is wacky stuff. I am no prude but damn the partner swapping was out of control with special couples rooms that I would not have crossed the threshold of until they had been hosed down. Kids were taken away from parents and raised by others or simply shipped off to schools far away. Your therapist might be drunk and still charge you for their time even though you were paying dues. Then it became a theatrical troupe and then as the pattern with cults. It ended up being a restrictive, paranoid and violent group.

Since it is New York based and by the end bitter with accusations and counter accusations, your obvious brewery to find is Other Half and their hazy IPA’s with swirling colorful label designs.

Here in L.A., no stranger to cults, I would pick a brewery and have one of their pale ales, then and IPA, then a hazy and finally a DIPA and see if you might be someone easily swayed into evangelizing or if you are more wary, like me.

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In the Tap Lines for August 2023

August is filled with lots of, shall we say, interesting posts coming from me. Stay tuned in for the two daily posts for monthly features like where I pair beer with books, podcasts and eve sports stories.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from around the United States

~ special featured reviews of beers from around the country

~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 Sullivanians by Alexander Stille

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Who Shat at the Wedding

~ Sports & A Beer returns with bad Womens World Cup vibes

~ 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 Trackers by Charles Frazier

Charles Frazier is best known for the hit Cold Mountain, his latest book is also set in a rugged past with a bit of a plain name to it, The Trackers.

The plot centers on a muralist for the Works Progress Administration sent to Wyoming to add art to the post office in the small town of Dawes.

That artist, Valentine Welch, has a rich benefactor in John Long who has recently married and is pondering politics as a next move. That wife, Eve, is mysterious and fresh off being a singer that travels the country. Another mysterious Eastwoodian character is Faro, the head ranch hand.

This was a bit of a split book. The front half is about the various people and the town and the mural. Then Eve disappears and it becomes a Chandler / Hammett mystery. Neither really worked for me because the lead, Val, is plain and uncomplicated so the others have to raise the interest level. And they do so in a very rote way. The troubled singer, the world wise ranch hand and the land baron who seems upright but is hiding a certain rot underneath. The Trackers has a written for the screen feel to it.

I would have Ranch Water as the first pick even though I have only had 2nd generation not really a Ranch Water. Since this is a beer and a book post, I would select an often overlooked pair of styles. The brown ale and the amber ale. This book is kind of pedestrian and you need a beer with some heft and malt to it.

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In the Tap Lines for July 2023

Climate change has weirded out the weather here in Los Angeles and in many other spots on the globe but this month is the time for lighter beers as we get higher temperatures. Plus the other fun stuff below….

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Australia for the Women’s World Cup

~ special featured reviews of beers from around the country

~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 Trackers by Charles Frazier

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Drifting Off with Joe Pera

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Bad Owners

~ 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 – Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

Old West and secrets, Victor Lavalle has found a good combination in his new book, Lone Women.

Lavalle is a Stephen King fan but this book is completely unlike anything King would write. Setting is one reason. This is post gold rush time in Montana when our protagonist, Adelaide Henry leaving California and a burning family home for a new homestead. She is carrying a large and heavy box which contains multiple secrets that will get you sitting upright real quickly. The book moves along and shows how different people react to Henry. Surprising all the way through and that is all I can really say without spoilers.

I would pair this with either an Anchor Steam or California Common or maybe just a straight up German-styled lager. But for the last few chapters, you might want to find a real hoppy and bitter red ale to get you to the final pages.

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In the Tap Lines for June 2023

June is a special month on the calendar. You have the Firestone Walker Invitational, you have L.A. Beer Week and the weather ain’t like a pizza oven yet here in Los Angeles. This month plenty of posts about the festivals and less about the weather.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Central Coast

~ special featured reviews of beers to and back from Paso Robles

~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 Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Vinfamous

~ Sports & A Beer returns with the transfer portal

~ 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 – Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

I am a bit of a completist but I also do not like being told what to do, so when Cormac McCarthy wrote a duo of novels with one being a clear addendum to the main book, I was attracted more to that addendum than the main book.

The books in question are The Passenger and Stella Maris. The latter being the name of a psychiatric hospital that a woman named Alicia turns herself into for care. She is a mathmetician with a complicated past with her brother who headlines Passenger.

The year is 1972 and twenty year old Alicia starts talking to her therapist. The book is basically just the conversations between the therapist and Alicia. It is a testing set of exchanges as they verbally circle each other. Her life is slowly teased out over the pages.

At first it worked for me but the reveals were slow for me and a little drastic especially at the end but it was enough for me to grab the other book to read in backwards order.

For beer, I would look to finding beers thar you can blend. Maybe a Radler or a Black and Tan or whatever half and half pairing that you think would work. Experiment a bit like a scientist, test your math as well with what percentages work well.

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In the Tap Lines for May 2023

It has been a colder than usual spring here in L.A., heck the whole West Coast. No joke but it snowed in Portland on April 1st. Let’s dive into a month of beer fun with shorts on.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the upcoming Firestone Walker Invitational

~ special featured reviews of whatever is new in my ‘fridge

~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 Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Doctor Dante

~ Sports & A Beer returns with the proliferation of team jerseys

~ 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 – Dr. No by Percival Everett

The book for April is not by Ian Fleming, it is by Percival Everett, and it is a clever modern day re-imagining of the old take over the world plot.

Dr. No introduces us to three main characters, Wala Kitu, Eigen Vector and villain John Sill) plus a very important dog named Trigo. And it is a rollicking read about nothing. More specifically, finding nothing and the power of nothing.

Now I am no philosopher nor do I like math but Everett makes both really interesting and thought provoking. And his dive into the character of Wala is fascinating because you don’t get a lead who is on the spectrum get to be both broad but also deep.

The elevator pitch for this book would be Bond meets Dr. Strangelove with a hearty dose of metaphysics. And I highly recommend it.

This would be the perfect time to break out the N/A beers since they are both beer and not beer at the same time. I would suggest finding the weirdest beer you could like a glitter N/A beer.

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In the Tap Lines for April 2023

We just have to get few the April Beer Fool’s Day and then we can re-focus on the search for great beers here in Los Angeles and beyond, along with the following…

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the State of Washington

~ special featured reviews of whatever is new in my ‘fridge

~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 Dr. No by Percival Everett

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Ringer Food News

~ Sports & A Beer returns for month three with Tanking talk

~ 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.