Travels with Barley: A Journey Through Beer Culture in America

Rating:
Summary: More fun than a barrel of beer
Review: As an avid reader and homebrewer I enjoyed this book on two levels. It's a fun read, plus Wells does a great service to the American beer community, and especially craft brewers, by shining a discerning and entertaining light on the New American Beer and the creative energy that drives it. And mercifullly, it's NOT yet another beer geek tome bogged down in terminology. Wells takes a very Big Tent approach to American beer and comes off as an honest broker between the camps of big beer and craft brewers. (Yet, he's clearly a seeker and comes away impressed by the craft brew revolution.) As a homebrewer, I loved his chapter on the Dixie Cup homebrew contest. And though I consider myself to be beer savvy, it's the first beer book in awhile that's taught me something new about beer (the chapter on beer-yeast rustling is one example.) For those interested in another beer geek take on this book, I'd recommend Lew Bryson's recent review in Ale Street News or orline a lewbryson.com.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I'm not much of a beer drinker but this is a terrific book. Wells is an entertaining writer and also a good reporter and observer of human nature. You learn tons about the beer industry but he is clearly most interested in beer people, the quirkier the better. By the time you finish the chapter on Extreme Beer, you will understand practically all you need to know about the microbrew business but also why it attracts the kind of people who could be running companies in Silicon Valley. I had no idea I would want to read an entire chapter about beer yeast but I couldn't put it down. The trip down the River of Beer meanwhile is fun and a nicely paced travelogue. He ends up in one of my favorite cities New Orleans and his essay about its drinking proclivities is very, very funny (and true.) I highly recommend this book. It will make a great stocking stuffer this Christmas.

Rating:
Summary: How Do I Get This Kind of Job?
Review: Some years back it seemed like the country was being taken over by wine and fern joints. While wine's OK, a good beer is so much better. Then I visited California and wonder of wonders the brew-pub idea had gotten started. Life has been much better since.

Now there are thousands of beers where once only MilCoorWeiser was available. I can't say that they are all good, but I'd sure liked to have travelled with Ken Wells while he was collecting the data for this book. I'd even have just carried his baggage just to get the left overs. Not only did he investigate beers all around the US, but he investigated beer joints. How did this fellow possibly get a job like that?

Not only that, but I grew up about 30 miles from his home town in south Louisiana swamps. Boy are there some beer joints down there! I think I'm even going to have to go order some of his novels, if they are written as well as this book....

Rating:
Summary: A fun read with lots of neat info
Review: This book is pretty much an interesting nonsequitur. Although, I was strongly tempted to give this book a three star rating, it was interesting and I plowed through it in about four days.

Although the book claims to be about a voyage down the river of beer alongside the Mississippi river, just about every other chapter takes place somewhere else. Which is pretty good considering that the Mississippi is relatively dry when it comes to beer. I also thought all the talk about mullet throughing was lame. Thinking about all the pages wasted on mullets, I want to drop the rating, but oddly this book really interesting, so it keeps the four star rating.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, But Uneven
Review: This book reads like most papers I wrote in college...I tried to learn as much about the subject as possible, but hadn't quite mastered the material, even though I'd made great strides toward doing so. This would've been a much more interesting book if Wells had discarded the details of his trip down the Mississippi...if his background was travel writing, then perhaps the average encounters in random bars could've been spun in such a way as to make them compelling. The rest of the book touches upon aspects of the brewing industry and the homebrewing hobby that are quite fascinating, though...perhaps the author could've continued along these lines if he'd had more time to digest the material?

For those interested in beer but not necessarily looking for a travel narrative, Michael Jackson's New World Guide to Beer and Garrett Oliver's Brewmaster's Table are both excellent. The Beer Lover's Guide to the USA is also a great resource for those, like Wells, who are searching for the perfect beer joint.

Rating:
Summary: A Charming Book
Review: This is the book that Bill Bryson would have written had he picked beer as a subject. Wells tells great stories and he writes with an agreeable and pleasing voice. He never patronizes his subjects, whether they are beer barons or beer sippers. As a result, it's fun to travel down the River of Beer with him. By the way, I'm not a beer drinker. I bought this book for my husband, who is a homebrewer, but I ended up reading it first.

Rating:
Summary: A Smooth Ride on the River of Beer
Review: Wells is smooth writer with a good sense of humor and a talent for telling a good story. I'll admit I'm what he calls a beer geek but you don't have to be a beer geek to enjoy this book. He ambles down the Mississippi River searching for The Perfect Beer Joint but he finds some nice slices of the real America along the way. His encounters with various "Beer Goddesses" are pretty hilarious. He peels off the river and discovers a place called Beervana and people who spend their free time poaching beer yeast. The book is full of good travel writing. And if you do like beer and are interested in the subject, this is a great book to get up to speed on beer in America as it stands today. Wells is a real reporter and the book is filled with stats and observations but never in a dull way. You'll learn about the evolution of the beer joint, why Budweiser rules American beer and why the Mayflower REALLY landed at Plymouth Rock.

Rating:
Summary: Not Even Close
Review: What can you say about an author who tells the reader he's a "beer guy at heart" and who sets out to write a definitive book about American brewing - yet shows up on page 185 (of a 285 page book) ordering yet another in a long line of Heinekens?

Of course, he's from New York and what those folks don't know about beer could fill more than a single volume.

The book's first 26 pages are a bewildering series of observations (sans any noticeable editor's touch) about some jerk-off "event" called a "Mullet Toss" in Perdido (Lost) Key, Florida. Of course, the author is tossing back Heinekens here, too.

The author then embarks on further beer travels, beating the heck out of reference books to offer a few facts of historical interest but rarely laying a glove on what beer is and means.

This is a book with a meta-message. Most Americans' knowledge of and appreciation for beer still remains with those 95% who don't know squat about craft beer. Sure, they tippy-toe in and sniff around the edges, but they are like maiden aunts at an orgy, all polite interest and little else.

The book leads off with happy memories on the Bayou where the author and his pappy drank Falstaff together. At book's end, those happy times are hauled back into the narrative. Sigh.