Looking for some book and beer recommendations? Every day between now and Christmas, I’ll be offering up one of my favorite books and a favorite brew. Whether for a holiday gift or for yourself, I’ll be giving you plenty of options.
The book: The Whore of Akron by Scott RaabSpendiness: $25.99 (hardcover)
Buy it for… anyone in search of a good rant
Last weekend, Patrick Brown wrote about The Whole of Akron for The Millions, and it served as a timely reminder of how much I loved this book. On it’s surface, the book looks like it’s just about Lebron - probably enough to turn away readers who aren’t fans of the Cavs, or even those that aren’t sports fans. The Whore of Akron, however, is about so much more than James. It’s about fandom, obsession and strangely touching about being a husband and father. It’s also the purest distillation of rage I’ve read. As I said on the Bookrageous podcast, the author cuts open a boiling, fetid vein and sprays it on the page. It would be easy for a rant to burn up in short order, but Raab sustains and manages to entertain for 300 pages.
The beer: Oxbow Brewing Saison NoelSpendiness: $15.00 (half-gallon growler, $10 for refill)
Buy it for… sharing with the family on Christmas Eve
Another winner from the Newcastle farmhouse brewery. With a bit of smoke behind figs, fruit and earthy malt, you’re basically getting a Christmas Eve fireplace in a glass. In a good way. A beautiful fusion of an estery Belgian Dark Ale and a crisp saison.
What I’m saying is, you need to try this beer.
This wheat based farmhouse-style Christmas Ale is smooth and cloudy. Deeply kilned Belgian malts and our rustic farmhouse yeast come together to provide a bone-dry, warming richness with notes of dark fruit, wet stone, leather, and tobacco. In Season when ‘tis the Season.
Tags: oxbow brewing, saison noel, scott raab, whore of akron
Looking for some book and beer recommendations? Every day between now and Christmas, I’ll be offering up one of my favorite books and a favorite brew. Whether for a holiday gift or for yourself, I’ll be giving you plenty of options.
The book: Great American Craft Beer by Andy CrouchSpendiness: $24.95 (hardcover)
Buy it for… the craft beer aficionado
On the first page of his beer guide Great American Craft Beer, Andy Crouch writes “with the bounty of amazing beers available in every corner of America, never before has there been a better time or place to be a beer drinker.” Thus begins one of the best cases for American exceptionalism that I’ve read in years – not in the traditional political or social sense, but in the realm of brewing and beer. Great American Craft Beer isn’t just a new book to add to the increasingly crowded family of “beer guides.” The compendium is a love letter to craft beer in the US of A, and that there’s enough to fill a 300+ page book is a testament to a brewing movement that’s barely thirty years old.
The bulk of Great American Craft Beer - about 2/3rds of it’s considerable girth - is devoted to profiling nearly 350 American beers across dozens of styles. This guide to great beers is bookended by chapters titled “Exploring Beer” (an overview of the history of beer and brewing in the US and abroad) and “Enjoying Beer” (which covers proper glassware, beer tasting, pairing beer with food and great American bars). Taken together, the book becomes a comprehensive guidebook like The Naked Pint or Tasting Beer instead of another endless list of beers. It’s worth mentioning that the foreword to Great American Craft Beer was written by Sam Calagione, which is always a treat.
The beer: Full Sail Session Black LagerSpendiness: $11.99 (12-pack, 11oz bottles)
Buy it for… anyone who likes more than a few pints in the evening
For the last few years, “session” is a term that’s been on the minds of many American beer brewers and drinkers. While it’s a kick to have the high-octane, high-alcohol extreme beers that many US craft brewers pump out, there’s something to be said for a flavorful beer that’s light enough (on the tastebuds and the liver) to have quite a few in one evening. Full Sail’s Session Black Lager fills that niche perfectly. While the Black is a dark schwarzbier with toffee and coffee notes, along with a dry finish. It’s easy to drink, and at only 5.4% alcohol it won’t immediately knock you over.
Session Black carries the mantra of drinkability into new territory. Most beers this dark are so heavy-duty, you could eat them with a fork. Session Black, on the other hand, lets you have your dark beer and drink it, too. With just a hint of roasty chocolate character, Session Black is short, dark, and totally drinkable. At long last, a dark beer that doesn’t drink like a meal. - fullsailbrewing.com
Tags: andy crouch, full sail, great american craft beer, session black lager
Looking for some book and beer recommendations? Every day between now and Christmas, I’ll be offering up one of my favorite books and a favorite brew. Whether for a holiday gift or for yourself, I’ll be giving you plenty of options.
The book: Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis GillSpendiness: $16.99 (hardcover)
Buy it for… the reluctant young reader
If there were ever a young adult book with teen boys squarely in it’s sights, Black Hole Sun is it. Take the space merc combat of Mass Effect, throw in a bit of Mad Max vehicular combat, add a dash of Red Faction Guerrilla and stir in some Iron Man tech, and you’ve baked a cake pretty close to Gill’s book. In a rare bit of teen dystopian fiction that’s true sci-fi, we follow Mars-based teen mercenary Durango and his crew of Regulators into the mines of the red planet, where they set up to protect the miners from a vicious and cannibalistic horde bent on their destruction. The characters are great - particularly Durango, who reads like a young Han Solo-meets-Mal Reynolds - and the dialogue is crackling and at times brilliant. Violent and imaginative, unique and well-paced, Black Hole Sun evokes the best of sci-fi movies, games and books.
The beer: AHS Chocolate RyeSpendiness: $28.99 (5 gallon kit)
Buy it for… the homebrewer
I’ve ordered homebrew kits from a bunch of local and online shops, and my favorite remains Austin Homebrew. Great selection, great prices, great service, great everything. The best beer I’ve brewed from their extensive catalog of original and clone recipes is the Chocolate Rye. A mix of dark roasted malt and spicy rye, the Chocolate Rye is an amped-up rye version of New Belgium’s 1554.
Tags: austin homebrew, black hole sun, chocolate rye, david macinnis gill
Looking for some book and beer recommendations? Every day between now and Christmas, I’ll be offering up one of my favorite books and a favorite brew. Whether for a holiday gift or for yourself, I’ll be giving you plenty of options.
The book: Packing for Mars by Mary RoachSpendiness: $15.95 (paperback)
Buy it for… the family space case
If you like good science writing, funny nonfiction, or Roach’s previous books Spook, Stiff and Bonk, you can stop reading this blurb and go buy the book. Roach is very good at what she does, and she’s in top form writing about the ins and outs of space travel and exploration. Mary talks about all kinds of interesting aspects of space travel I’d never thought of (Does leaving the Earth make people more likely to go crazy? How do you test everything to make sure it’ll work in zero gravity?), along with the dirtier topics like sex and bodily functions that she seems to relish. Funny, funny, laugh out loud stuff all the way through - and plenty educational to boot.
The beer: Rising Tide DaymarkSpendiness: $4.99 (22oz bottle)
Buy it for… someone looking for a bit of spice in their life
Finally, a great rye beer from Maine! I absolutely love the robust spiciness that rye malt gives to a pale ale, and it cranks Daymark up from another (admittedly well-brewed) pale ale to a bready, citrusy treat.
Chart a new course with Daymark as your guide. We start with a classic, clean and crisp American pale ale brewed with spicy Columbus and Centennial hops. Then we accent the grain bill with rye grown on small local family farms right here in Maine and malted to our specifications at Valley Malts, an artisanal malt house. Finally we dry hop the finished beer for a bright floral aroma. - risingtidebrewing.com
Tags: daymark, mary roach, Packing for Mars, rising tide
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