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 Sexy Book of Sexy Sex by Kristen Schaal and Rich BlomquistSpendiness: $24.95 (hardcover)
Buy it for… sexy fans of sexy sex
If you’re a fan of books like America The Book and I Am America And So Can You, move this book to the top of your bedside stack. In the same way that those books astutely skewered history textbooks and political pundits, Daily Show writers Schaal and Blomquist parody the steamy sex guide. The authors promise that all the techniques in the book have been tested - every erogenous zone has been “erogenated” - and that after reading the book “you may easily spend the rest of your life orgasming your brains out.” Open to any page in the book and you’re almost guaranteed a laugh, as The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex is packed with infographics, illustrations, charts and graphs, along with the occasional short story of slash-fic-level ridiculousness. Hilarious and ridiculously filthy. Just, uh, don’t expect to pick up too much actual technique from it.
The beer: Bruery Saison RueSpendiness: $10.99 (750ml bottle)
Buy it for… the fan of the funk
I know I use the word complex a lot when I’m describing beers I like, but the Saison Rue definitely deserves the descriptor. The beer starts out sweet, with some citrus and apple flavors playing off the sweet bread malt taste. This morphs into a spicier flavor as the rye asserts itself, and tarter green apple flavors follow. The beer takes a right turn from spicy to sour, with some serious funk (think leather or hay) that leads into a dry finish. These flavors, however disparate, all blend together really well - there isn’t one flavor strong enough to overpower the others, although the intense rye does come close to being a bit too much. Despite the dryness of the finish, the mouthfeel is luxuriously creamy and smooth.
Really drinkable, especially for a beer that clocks in just shy of 9% ABV. Definitely another beer that challenges the idea of just what beer should taste like - especially if you’re used to lighter fare.
Tags: bruery, saison rue, sexy book of sexy sex
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: Extra Lives by Tom BissellSpendiness: $14.95 (paperback)
Buy it for… the intellectual gamer
For someone who grew up in a world saturated with video games (I was born the same year that the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in the US), Extra Lives was crucial reading, and in a lot of ways is the first book of it’s kind. Sure, books like Smartbomb, Rules of Play and Replay have covered the game industry and gaming history, but this book is the first I’ve read to offer a real critical look at the entertainment form known as video games. Bissell explores just what games can and can’t accomplish as entertainment, and holds the successes and failures of the form up to other narrative media like film and literature. Bissell writes intelligently, self-deprecating when he needs to be and honest about the high and low art in his favorite hobby. I’m not sure if I’d rank Extra Lives up with Bazin’s film criticism in terms of impact (or with Anatomy of Criticism in terms of creating a critical framework), but it’s certainly the best book on games - and why they matter - that I’ve read.
The beer: Stockyard Oatmeal StoutSpendiness: $5.99 (6-pack, 12oz bottles)
Buy it for… the thrifty stout fan
This is a beer I could buy every week. Stockyard is a freakin’ fantastic oatmeal stout. Dark as motor oil and with flavors of roasted malt, smoke, and chocolate, you get some serious craft beer bang for your buck in this one.
If you like stouts - or if you’ve had dark brews like Guinness and want to try something a bit more complex - buy this beer.
Tags: Extra Lives, stockyard oatmeal stout, tom bissell, trader joe's
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: Good Eggs by Phoebe PottsSpendiness: $23.99 (hardcover)
Buy it for… the expectant parents
I LOVED this book. In Good Eggs, Phoebe Potts writes (and draws) candidly about her life - and specifically about her struggles to conceive and start a family with the husband Jeff. It’s now among my favorite graphic memoirs, right up there with the work of Jeffrey Brown and Alison Bechdel. Potts manages to be personal, honest and touching, yet possesses a great sense of humor that a lot of memoirs lack. Where other books are droll, Good Eggs is lively. A story about fertility and trying to conceive isn’t something I’d necessarily think of for a 25-year-old guy like me, but this one proved me wrong.
The beer: Dieu Du Ciel AphroditeSpendiness: $5.99 (12oz bottle)
Buy it for… the chocoholic
In a snifter, the Aphrodite is a beautiful beer. Nearly pitch black in the body, the stout has a creamy tan head that fills a few fingers above the beer. The nose is a powerful blast of vanilla, not unlike high-quality vanilla extract. Still, it’s far from one-dimensional, as chocolate - specifically dark, bitter chocolate - coffee, and some roasted barley round things out.
The taste? Heaven. Aphrodite is the beer version of a chocolate and vanilla milkshake. The taste is a flip of the nose - chocolate dominates, with vanilla taking the back seat. There’s a bit of coffee in the background, too. The full, round flavor, which leans a little on the sweet with a bit of bitter cocoa, isn’t far off from a mocha latte. Seriously, this is close to the perfect damn beer. Imagine your favorite coffee, chocolate or vanilla drink, and you’ll have notes of it in the Aphrodite. At 6.5% and packed full of flavor, the beer is almost a sipper - but tastes so good you might find yourself gulping it down.
Tags: aphrodite, dieu du ciel, good eggs, phoebe potts
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 Great American Ale Trail by Christian DeBenedettiSpendiness: $20.00 (paperback)
Buy it for… the cross-country road tripper
I’m pretty sure I’m obligated to include any good beer book that comes out, right?
When I first read about DeBenedetti’s book, I thought the premise sounded a bit familiar - a beer-soaked road trip across America was covered in Brian Yaeger’s excellent Red, White and Brew. Fortunately, closer examination reveals thatThe Great American Ale Trail takes a different tack, acting as more of a travel guide than travelogue. Christian is a hell of a beer writer (and has written for a ton of outlets), and I can’t wait to see a) what he says about my favorite beer spots, and b) where to hit that I haven’t yet.
The beer: Wells Banana Bread BeerSpendiness: $3.49 (16.9oz bottle)
Buy it for… the skeptic - “what do you mean ‘banana bread’ beer?”
Wells Banana Bread Beer looks the part of a traditional English bitter. The body of the brew is a intense copper colour (yay Britishness!), capped with a light tan head. It isn’t quite still, but other than the occasional lazy bubble there isn’t much carbonation. On the nose, the ale is wicked strong in banana without much to back it up. I’m not talking some banana-like esters like in a hefeweizen, but straight-up ‘nanners. As the Banana Bread Beer warms up a bit, just a hint of bready nuttiness starts to peek through.
The taste is all, y’know, banana bread. Seriously. I don’t know what the ad man from Wells was drinking when he described a “subtle flavour of banana”, but it wasn’t this ale. This beer is banana bread put through a blender ’til it hit the consistency of beer. This is my girlfriend’s banana lip gloss. This is my mom’s banana bread. The flavor is a mix of overripe banana and nutty bread and malts, with the only beeriness coming from a hop bite at the end. Other reviews suggest that the draft version of the ale has some more assertive hops, but from the bottle they are hardly noticeable.
Tags: banana bread beer, christian debenedetti, the great american ale trail, wells
Subscribe by RSS
Subscribe by Email
