Tag: A Book & A Beer

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In the Tap Lines for November 2020

header_attractionsOnly two months left in this dreadful year and maybe the twin holidays of a Thanksgiving and Christmas will raise the spirits.  Speaking of the latter, as per BSP tradition, I will begin posting Christmas beer labels after Turkey Day.  Have a great month!

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from GABF medal winning breweries
~ special featured reviews of the (3) Black Tuesday variants in their virtual tasting box. 
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events (Far in the future events)
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to You’re Wrong About
~ Great Beer names 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 – Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

2020 is a bubble year in many different aspects. NBA players live in one in Florida, I live in a modified one herein Glendale and Deborah Feldman lived in an even more restrictive one growing up in a Jewish sect in Williamsburg in New York City.

This book had so many moments where I would not have survived. My brain is not wired to “behave” just because some dude says so. And for women, well the situation was much worse. Unless of course, you are one who is wired to follow a particular course.

Unorthodox has become a Netflix show quite different from the book. If you have binged that show, the book will be a good companion piece with additional information that will stagger the mind.

It would be an easy reach to say the He’Brew range of beers would be a good choice to be drinking. Especially considering that beer is not part of the ceremonial aspect of the religion. Instead I would look for wine/beer hybrids since that libation is more associated with the church. Firestone Walker makes a good many grape must beers as does Homage and Smog City.

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In the Tap Lines for August 2020

header_attractionsI keep saying each month that the next month will be better.  And I see no reason to stop now, right?  August has to be better.  Anyhoo, let’s see the good beer news coming over the next 31 days.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Garden State of New Jersey – Alementary, Fort Nonsense and Chimney Rustic Ales
~ special featured reviews of beers of Black is Beautiful beers and one Take Action IPA
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events (Far in the future events)
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Creating Cashflow
~ Great Beer names 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 May 2020

header_attractionsWell April was not a fun month either  maybe May will break this bad streak that we are on.  Remember, do not drink bleach or Tide Pods, drink local

~ e-visits to (3)  breweries that have done Quarantine themed beers
~ special featured reviews of beers from Cerveceria del Pueblo and others
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events (Far in the future events)
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Deciding Westworld
~ Great Beer names 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 April 2020

header_attractionsMarch was not a good month.  I wish I had my receipt so that I could get my money back on those 31 days.  Hopefully April will be full of washed hands and six feet of distance and less bad posts on social media.  I will keep up the parade of good beer news while talking about what will happen when the virus dust has settled

~ e-visits to (3)  breweries from states hit hard from CoronaVirus
~ special featured reviews of canned IPAs from Strand Brewing
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events (Far in the future events)
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Gangster Capitalism
~ Great Beer names 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 February 2020

header_attractionsFebruary will find me back in Astoria for the second time in as many years.  This time to visit during Stout month.  Reports from the Oregon Coast as well as birthday beers are to be expected but first there will be a little bowl of Super…

~ e-visits to (3)  off the beaten path breweries like Everybody’s Brewing in Washington State, Taos Mesa Brewing in New Mexico and Zillicoah Beer Company in Asheville.
~ special featured reviews of beers that are low alcohol and/or low calorie
~ 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 Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to The City – Season 2 – Reno
~ Great Beer names and Best Beers of the Month
~ 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 3rd – Brew Lab at Dry River Brewing
2) February 15th – Los Angeles Ale Works 3rd Anniversary

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A Book & A Beer – Night Boat to Tangier

Two men sitting around a dock waiting for a relative to arrive (or maybe depart) by boat may make some think of the famous play Waiting for Godot and you would be right to think that the slim Night Boat to Tangier treads that territory. Two aging Irishman with a past of misdeeds and sexual dalliances are looking for the daughter of one (or is it the others) who left three years ago and hasn’t been heard of since.

The book made the New York Times Best of the Year list but it was a little too cold and calculating and left chunks of the two leads lives open to interpretation. There were repetitive lines as well that I understand were part of a poetic musicality, keeping up a pace but it did not work for me. Overall, I was more interested in the daughter character and her arc and with an interlude at a haunted housing development in Ireland than in Tangier.

To drink with this book, I would recommend finding a flight of Witbiers that utilize different spices. Eagle Rock Brewery has their Manifesto as well as variants (one with lemongrass) that would mimic some of the spices used in the food that you might find in Tangier.

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In the Tap Lines for December 2019

header_attractionsNow we get into the meat of the holiday ales.  Each day until Christmas there will be a new holiday beer to learn about along with other beer-y tidbits from both Los Angeles and the world.

~ e-visits to (3) from the Craft Beer and Brewing magazine Best Of Lists
~ special featured reviews of Christmas beers of course!
~ 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 Night Boat to Tangier
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to The Battle of 187
~ 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 – Brewyard’s 4th Anniversary Pajama Jammy Jam
2) December 8th – El Segundo Christmas Parade

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In the Tap Lines for November 2019

header_attractionsWe are close to the end of the decade but we have two big holidays left on the calendar.  So some holiday beers will be seen popping up plus a bunch of other fun stuff.

~ e-visits to three breweries from Portland, Oregon to honor the start of the Portland Trailblazers 50th season in the NBA
~ special featured reviews of Saison Dupont matched against other Saisons
~ 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 Full Throttle by Joe Hill
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Startup to Storefront
~ 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 2nd – Field of Drafts Festival in Lancaster
2) November 16th – Highpoint Brewing 1st Anniversary

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A Book & A Beer – Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

I am not a big memoir reader (except for this year it seems) but as the author of Hillbilly Elegy states at the beginning of his book, this isn’t really a memoir.

It is a hybrid memoir with scattered bits of social policy thrown in. To me, the history of the J.D. Vance’s growing up is fascinating with one of the key take-aways being that the skills that he needed to survive childhood are not the same ones that he needed as an adult. I found the political and how to help the poor (aka hillbillies) to be a bit simplistic at times though Vance does go out of his way to say that the problem doesn’t have a one size fits all solution. Those thinking that he is some staunch Republican would find little in common with the current powermongers in DC or with most Republicans. He is basically right-center on the spectrum.

I will be highlighting breweries in Ohio and Kentucky where the book was primarily set this month, so for my recommendation, I would suggest (if still made) have a beer that was around when you were growing up. For me, I would find some Widmer or McMenamin’s to take me back to my past and the places that made me who I am.