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I don’t know if this is the first of many but The Post Brewing has made their Democratic choice out of the very crowded primary field. I for one would be over the moon if the former Colorado governor would make the move to DC. And I expect this will be a popular beer.
To be upfront, I was 100% more interested in the beer portion of The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics by Governor John Hickenlooper.
By the end though, I found myself much more interested in his childhood and his mother and how that affected his personality and choices throughout his life.
Maybe that was because both the beer and the politics really get short shrifted in this telling. Wynkoop Brewing was one of the pioneers of craft beer in Colorado, and I didn’t really get to read much about it other than an anecdote about cleaning toilets and fundraising through friends and families. There wasn’t mention of his favorite beers or much about the customers and the growing beer scene or even the Great American Beer Festival for that matter.
The tenure as Mayor of Denver got some coverage but his first term as Governor is just blitzed through with just a laundry list of accomplishments and personnel who helped him.
It is probably too early for a thorough accounting of his political career but I would have hoped to learn more about the craft beer part of his life. But maybe that is for another book. There were many hints dropped as to buried stories underneath the polite line of history that just were not picked up.
But the section up until he got to Denver is really interesting stuff from the point of view of how people are affected by those in their lives and how you can keep pushing and learning all through life. Just following his geographic route through life is remarkable.
Overall, this memoir suffers from what many do. The initial pages are full of content but as the pages go by, the coverage gets thinner until the end, whole years are barely even sketched. There is interesting stuff here but not enough for the beer fan.
It is good to see more and more craft beer books on the shelves. Here are three that you should peruse online or, heavens forbid, in an actual bookstore.
Wood & Beer – combine Peter Bouckaert from New Belgium with Dick Cantwell, the quality ambassador for the Brewer’s Association and you will get some seriously in depth knowledge about wood an what happens when beer comes into contact with it. Just bought it and will review later.
The Beer Geek Handbook – I really enjoyed the slim cellaring book from Patrick Dawson, Vintage Beer. His latest seems heavy on illustrations and is more jokey in tone. Might be better as a gift to those outside the craft scene to help them understand why beer ignites such passion.
The Opposite of Woe – For this political season, combine one Denver craft beer entrepreneur with the mayor’s office and the governorship and see how brewing a beer is similar to getting a bill passed. From two-time Mayor of Denver and Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper.