Portland Beer & Book Blog

Hi. Here's the premise: I read books in bars in Portland, OR. I pair books with beer, and vice-versa. Sometimes books are rated, sometimes beers are rated, and sometimes both are rated. Ideally, books are rated while giving consideration to how drinking a specific beer improves, impacts, or otherwise affects the enjoyability of the book, though we'll see that's easier said than done.

Initially, both the book and beer get a rating of 1-10. I might return to give the book a final rating, as I will almost never finish a book in one reading and drinking session. Beer ratings will simply be given at the time and not rated again unless I drink more of the same beer.

Scale considerations and beer philosophy:

I have just graduated from interesting micro- and craft beer 6 packs to almost exclusively purchasing serious single bottles. As such, my beer palate is in development and about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. In short, if you're a ratebeer.com snob, I can't teach you a thing. But, if you're like me, and find beer a somewhat daunting pleasure to quantify in terms of the range, variety, and multitude of flavors, maybe we can explore together this vastness, and teach ourselves something about beer. In terms of books, I honestly can't think of anyone that knows more about literature than I do and you'll find me completely insufferable.

Beer ratings sample:

1 Milwaukee Light, Bud Light, Rainer, Weinhard's, etc.

2 Miller High Life, Pabst, Budweiser, Rolling Rock

3 Fat Tire, Corona, Cristal

4 Widmer Hef, Mirror Pond, Pacifico, Sapporo, Full Sail Amber

5 Bridgeport IPA, Walking Man Homo Erectus IPA, Rogue Dead Guy, Anchor Bock

6 Spateen Optimator, Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre, Pelican Bay IPA, Anchor Steam Liberty Ale, Gouden Carolus Grand Cru 06, Snipes Barleywine

7 Full Sail Barleywine 05, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Celebrator, Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA, Anchor Holiday 2006

8 Chimay Grande Reserve

9 Hair of the Dog Fred

10 None yet