Gene Wolfe and Jack O’Connell Paired with Awesome Beer
I finally made a decision on what books go best with Stone’s amazing 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale. Go take a look.
At base, I was reminded of Guinness, in that the foundation has that kind of firm, comforting flatness. But over top of that, there’s a slow-motion carnival going on. There’s a definite disappearing horizon of spice in there–it’s just a hint but emphatic–and then as your taste buds encounter the beer fully there’s an energy and a uniqueness that’s difficult to describe. The taste tends to gather and grow, until you go from something that has a friendly broad flavor to something that would make a Pinback song or Frank Zappa solo look simple–without descending into chaos. There’s a definite analogy to tasting a good wine, in that there’s such a confluence of different grace notes and things to experience. Again, difficult to describe, but if I had to sum it up, it’s like a great orchestra piece, with many different instruments coming into play, that starts out slowly and simply, and then builds to a crescendo that’s never overwrought or melodramatic.
If you were to describe your favorite 2009 book as a wine, beer, type of liquor, or mixed drink, what would that description be?
October 8, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I’ve been a total slacker this year and hardly read a damn thing (though I’m currently reading/listening to Nick Cave’s excellent new book as an iPod application — I am digging the combination of Cave reading and having the text in front of me).
The last book I read was also one I really enjoyed — The City and the City — but it’s tough to describe as a drink, isn’t it?
I would say that The City and the City is like a rusty nail (the drink). Except that the base is an independent bottling of Highland Park, still young and fiery, but aged in barrels that may have housed murder victims, so their charring was less a matter of aesthetics and more one of necessity. The flavor of death is muted and hidden, but if you know about it its impossible to ignore. Its sweet, slightly phenolic and very peaty. Then, instead of Drambuie, the Highland Park is poured in extra measure and honey is added directly. Forest honey. The kind that tastes like the woods smell in early summer.
The two are vigorously stirred, but there’s no ice. The drink, once assembled should be familiar, and in fact you can taste all the regular notes you’d get from a rusty nail — an undistinguished drink, really — but sneaking around is an unusual wildness. The pleasure of it isn’t that you don’t expect that strange but seeing just how much it permeates the whole affair.
Also, holy damn hell the Vertical Epic 09 is tasty — and I’m not much of a beer guy.
You know that Stone is going to put all their Vertical Epics on tap in 2012, right? Of course you do. It says so on the bottle…
Are you going to come out to San Diego for the tasting?