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Table of Contents; My Favorite Posts From the Last Week

The guys from Tasty Dude Films, who were kind enough to review beer for Brews and Books earlier this month, just release part one of their new film. Be a buddy and check it out.

Lots of interesting stuff in the worlds of ink and barley in the last week, including a great win for amateur brewers in Utah, a look at the science behind Red Riding Hood, and an examination of the many appearances of Sherlock Holmes. Check out all the links after the jump.

Quick Take – Love, Mom by Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose

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If your mom has a sense of humor, Love, Mom by Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose may be the perfect Mother’s Day gift for this year. Collecting hundreds of never-before-seen submissions to the wonderful PostcardsFromYoMomma.com, the book is a compendium of notes, emails and IM conversations from moms to their college-aged and twenty-something children.

The messages cover every classic mother-child topic of conversation, including (but not limited to) sex, relationships, weddings, shopping, sickness, health, drugs, dressing right for cold weather, calling home once and a while and, of course, Dad. Perhaps the funniest chapter is the first, “Your Blob is So Funny and Clever”, which is all messages about blogs, IM slang, Facebook and all things computer-related that mom just can’t seem to get a handle on. Happily, the remaining chapters are just as strong and gut-bustingly funny. You can’t help but giggle at a mom passing along “the best article” she’s read about the risks of oral sex (y’know, just FYI), or recounting the digestive dilemmas of the cat. Sprinkled among the notes is commentary from the authors, “advice for moms”, and messages from celebrity moms and daughters.

Orkney Brewery Dragonhead Stout

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A beer “5,000 years in the making!”

I’ll admit, that line on the bottle is one of the things that made me stop and take a second look at this beer. Just as people in a bookstore will often judge a book by it’s cover, we beer geeks are susceptible to great art and clever design in our purchases. On only those grounds, the Orkney Brewery Dragonhead Stout is a sure winner. The bottle design screams class, with a beautifully-done front label that has a short description of the beer and brewery. On the back – in a move I wish more breweries would make – the brewers offer notes on the beer’s look, taste, smell and mouthfeel.

At the end of the day, however, design on the bottle isn’t nearly as important as it’s contents. Does the Dragonhead live up to the (apparently) 5,000 years of hype?

Maine Festival of the Book

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What do David Sedaris, graphic novels, the Salt Institute and champagne have in common?

Give up? All are part of next week’s Maine Festival of the Book in Portland, Maine. From April 2-5 2009, the city of Portland is celebrating the written word with author signings, presentations, panels, readings and other events. The festival, put on by Maine Reads (in collaboration with organizations statewide), is in it’s third year.

While the bulk of the events are taking place at USM Abromson Center on Saturday, there are plenty of things to entertain and educate on Thursday, Friday and Sunday all over town. Another plus – other than Sedaris’ sold-out performance, all the events are free!

Summer Seasonals Ahoy! Victory Sunrise Weissbier

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After a long Maine winter, spring has finally sprung. Luckily, the arrival of a new season means loads of new seasonal beer!

Pennsylvania-based Victory Brewing Company opened in the mid-nineties, and has steadily expanded to become a large regional brewery. Victory beers, brewed with whole leaf hops and mostly based on traditional German styles, have won a number of awards at American beer festivals. With distribution through the Midwest as well as along the east and west coasts, the brewery is certainly one of the better-represented craft breweries nationwide.

Along with a regular rotation of beer 9 styles deep, Victory brews about a dozen limited release and seasonal beers. Their summer seasonal, an unfiltered wheat beer, is the Sunrise Weiss.

Table of Contents; My Favorite Posts From the Last Week

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the results of this study, considering my degree is on the higher end of things. (from Geekologie)

Lots of interesting stuff this week in the news and blogs, including some great new beer releases, a Twitter book, and the real story behind Harry Potter. Check it all out below, in this week’s Table of Contents.

Brews

- Another good one from Ashley the Beer Wench, looking at the myth of Beer Calories. [from The Beer Wench]

- Denver favorites Great Divide and Pablo’s Coffee are collaborating to release an Espresso Oak Aged Imperial Stout. [from The Full Pint Dot Com]

- A Good Beer Blog takes a look at the fella at Guinness who helped create beer QA.

- Andy Crouch (author of the awesome Good Beer Guide to New England) encourages us to evangelize about craft beer. Preach, brother! [from BeerScribe]

- This May, Shipyard debuts the next brew in the Pugsley’s Signature Series. [from Beernews.org]

- A few notes about the Canadian craft beer industry from “Kasper on Tap.”

- Maine hopheads will have another local IPA to drink very soon, reports Luke at Blog About Beer.

- Want to improve your beer vocabulary? Check out Randy Mosher’s Tasting Beer. [from Appellation Beer]

Books

- If you absolutely NEED to read in 140 character or less bursts, James Brindle has put out the first Twitter hardcover anthology. [from GalleyCat]

- It ain’t all tweets and blogs – this week, Bookseller’s Blog covered how booksellers can use Facebook to develop community and target advertising.

- In case you missed the fireworks, here’s some video and reaction to the publishing panel at SXSW this week. [from GalleyCat]

- Ann encourages us to break our own “rules” and read genres and books we might write off initially. [from Books on the Nightstand]

- The real story behind the publication of Harry Potter. [from vidtronic's YouTube channel]

- Jeff Howe, author of Crowdsourcing, wonders if NPR will save the news biz. [from Harper Studio]

- How to David Foster Wallace-ize a sentence – because the world needs more 1,000-page, meticulously endnoted novels. [from kottke.org]

- The Twilight series inspires teens to pick up Wuthering Heights. This gives me hope for the future. [from parentdish]

Have a great weekend!

Dirty Words – A Few Great Books About Life Between the Sheets

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photo by flickr user wakest

People who live and work in the world of books – folks like librarians and indie booksellers – tend to pride themselves as huge supporters of free speech.  No matter where you fall on the political, religious or philosophical spectrum, we can usually find something to recommend to you.  In the world of the written word, pretty much nothing is taboo.

Except getting it on.

Granted, the difficulty selling books about sex almost always comes from squeamishness on the part of a customer, not a bookseller.  The culture around sex in the US isn’t exactly a welcoming or celebratory one.  It is all too easy to offend someone by suggesting a book about s-e-x, but there are so many good books on the topic that it would be unfair to write them off as a whole.

These titles are certainly engaging enough to attract even a casual reader, and are all well-written, well-researched, interesting and entertaining.  So snuggle up with someone and get reading!

Brooklyn Brewery and Rogue Featured at the Great Lost Bear

As always, Thursday night means “showcase” night at the Great Lost Bear.  This week is one of my absolute favorite breweries – Brooklyn Brewery!  From 5 p.m. to 9  p.m., the GLB will be pouring $2.50 pints of Brooklyn Lager, Blunderbuss Old Ale and the Brooklynator Doppelbock.  Additionally, the high-alcohol (and delicious, ‘natch) Black Chocolate Stout will go for 3.50 per 13 oz pour.  As always, fun, prizes and giveaways are part of the evening.  Also, skiers take note – Josh from Shawnee Peak will be in the house, giving out free lift tickets!

Come next week, the taps and “showcase” price will be switched out for Rogue Ales, hailing from Newport, Oregon.  So far, we know that Yellow Snow IPA, Dead Guy Ale and Rogue Chocolate Stout will be on tap on the 26th for 2.50 a pint.  As the event draws closer, expect the showcase list to grow.

If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to go to the Great Lost Bear or sample some new beer, find a way to get down to Forest Avenue this or next week.  Rogue and Brooklyn brew some of the best craft beer on the market, and you won’t be able to try their beer for any cheaper than these showcases.

A New Beer Festival Approaches…

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If you can’t wait for the Maine Brewer’s Festival in November (or even the American Craft Beer Fest in June), Maine’s capitol is offering another beer-tasting option just next month.

The first ever Central Maine Brew Fest is scheduled for April 18th at the Augusta Civic Center.  Most of the myriad brewers and brewpubs usually at the Maine Brewer’s Festival will be slinging samples, along with local heroes The Liberal Cup and brewing supplier Kennebec Home Brew Supplies.

Tickets are still available, and go for $25 a pop – not a bad price for the number of breweries that will be at the festival.  As is the norm with beer festivals, there are both afternoon (2 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and evening (7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.) sessions.  Along with food and prizes, both sessions will feature live music from the State Street Traditional Jazz Band and Strause & Company.  As a bonus for people not from the Augusta area, both the Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn in the capitol are offering reduced room rates for the night of the festival.

I’m certainly excited to see what kind of festival comes from the large venue and central location of the Central Maine Brew Fest.  Time will tell if this will be a viable Spring companion to the Maine Brewers Festival, and I hope the event offers another annual chance for Mainers and the folks of northern New England to sample all the great craft beer from Maine.  Make a weekend of it – get jazzed about the world of good beer on the 16th when Beer Wars premieres, and then sample some on Saturday.

Check after the jump for a full list of brewers, accommodations and ticket information from CentralMaineBrews.com and Central Maine Festivals, LLC.