Yesterday we posted about sharing a page of New York magazine with Woody Harrelson and Marilyn Monroe, and picturing Vonnegut pulled up to the bar with Woody and Marilyn.
So what better topic to write about today than the wonderful kinship of beer and books?
We'll start with a poem called "Lines on Ale" by the third baseman for the American Canons, Edgar Allan Poe.
"Lines on Ale"
Fill with mingled cream and amber
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain -
Quaintest thoughts - queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.
But for a delve a little deeper into this keg of kinship, Dogfish Head's generous and ingenious brewmaster Sam Calagione has done us the solid of throwing together a wonderful list of great pairs of novels and bottles.
So pull up a stool and crack open a classic with these recommendations of Sam's:
Moby Dick – Leviathan Series Stout from Harpoon Brewery – deep, dark, and bold…call me Ishm-Ale.
The Encyclopedia of Herbs – Saison du Buff – a collaboration between Dogfish Head, Victory, and Stone breweries that is made with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
The Book of Genesis as illustrated by R. Crumb – A little more off-centered than the King James version – R. Crumb’s illustrations bring the good book to life – I recommend pairing this with a vintage Sierra Nevada Bigfoot barley – I like to think Jesus actually turned water into BARLEY wine.
Lolita – a Belgian White Beer or German hefe - something enjoyed really young and fresh by the half-gallon jug from your most local brewpub. “Oh Wheat beer, light of my life, fire of my loins.”
Brave New World – Sam Adams' Utopias
The Heart of Darkness - Heart of Darkness Stout, Bell’s Brewery.
The Call of the Wild – Cantillion Kriek – a Belgian ale made with cherries and spontaneously fermented with wild yeast.
Moby Dick – Leviathan Series Stout from Harpoon Brewery – deep, dark, and bold…call me Ishm-Ale.Thanks, Sam, and cheers!
Omg! I’m Totally all over this at the beerbelly@tumblr.com
Some favorites: Brooklyn lager with a tree grows in Brooklyn
DFH Namaste with Eat, Pray,Love
Pretty things St.Boltoph’s with Ted Hughes Birthday Letters
<3
A Christmas Carol with Old Curmudgeon ale.
Gone with the Wind and Stoudt’s Scarlett Lady. I would have to pair Lolita with something dark and delightful, like DFH’s Raison D’Etre.
Here’s three:
Camus’ The Stranger — Left Hand Brewing’s Stranger pale ale
Watership Down – Clown Shoes’ Hoppy Feet
The Exorcist — Bell’s Hell Hath No Fury ale
New Holland – Dragon’s Milk Ale while reading the latest Game of Thrones book.
(well, it sounds like a great combo, and it IS, until the high gravity of the ale catches up with you within a few pages and you get lost in the spiderweb of plot and characters)