Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
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Author: Zach Stinehour
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN:
978-1-4787-6843-2
“More than anything, I don’t think of
the beer so much, but more, the moments I spent reflecting,” Zach
Stinehour writes in his book, An American Beer Trail.
This
one-hundred-forty-page paperback targets those who enjoy taking road
trips and tasting beer. Using a third to the full page, colored
photographs of the author’s trip grace approximately every other
page.
The book covers almost
eleven-thousand miles of riding on a motorcycle from Upstate New York
and the South, through Texas, to the West Coast and returning via the
Upper Midwest.
Tasting two-hundred-forty-four beers from
forty-four breweries, Stinehour not only explains the pub or locale’s
beers but the scenery on the way.
After an introduction and
history, method, and beer styles information, there are usually one
to two pages about the state/area, followed by one to six places to
drink beer. Style and historical notes are included in the chapters,
and the book ends with the author’s thoughts, references, and
addresses visited.
With a son who makes beer and is a PhD
chemist, I got this book for him. I like the history of each
location, its ambiance explained, and the style notes that offer
eclectic information about the beer.
With only one brewery
visited in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming, over five are from New York and
California. As the road trip is mentioned often, there are many
photographs of the author’s motorcycle resting on the side of the
road with landscape backdrops.
Living in Upstate New York,
Stinehour has a degree in BioChemistry and BioPhysics and works in
the brewing industry.
I wish the pubs chosen were more thought
out, and there were more photographs of the exterior or interior of
locations visited. Being biased, I was surprised no microbreweries
were mentioned from Oregon (I live in Salem). Also it should be noted
that McMenamis has over seventy locations with the majority in Oregon
yet the one of seven in Washington was visited.
If you are
looking for a book that mainly catalogues a motorcycle trip around
the United States and several beer stops, this may be interesting. I
found it missed the mark regarding the area I live in that is second
in producing hops in America.
Thanks to Bookpleasures and Outskirts Press for furnishing this complimentary book to read and review.