Hi, all! Welcome to back to our new feature called PUB DATE where Estelle from Rather Be Reading, Andi from Andi’s ABCs, and Maggie from Just a Couple More Pages and I all team up to pair books + beers in harmony! Each week, one of us will features a beer and a book of our choice, each with a different theme for that month!
This month’s theme: Hearing from other beer-lovers!
It’s been a year since we started posting our book and beer posts with Pub Date and we’ve been having SO much fun! We were brainstorming about what other themes we could come up with for future posts and we decided to bring in some other people to share in the fun! This month, each of us asked another beer-lover to take part in Pub Date with whatever books & beer they chose to feature! I asked Asheley from Into the Hall of books because she was one of the first bloggers I started to talk to about beer once we both realized how much we loved it and I was so excited to find another book blogger who had that passion as well! She’s also just a lovely person and a very sweet friend (plus, she got me this post super quickly after I told her the wrong date, so thanks again Ash)!
BOOKS AND BEER FROM NORTH CAROLINA
from Asheley (Into the Hall of Books)
Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be here at The Book Addict’s Guide today talking about books and beer, two of my favorite things! Brittany said that I can talk about what I choose today, so I’m choosing my own theme: the connection I have with my state’s books + beer. It sounds dorky, but I promise, I’M SO LUCKY because North Carolina has exceedingly great taste in brew and in books.
I moved across the state last summer and one of my favorite things about my new place is the two local breweries that we have here! I’m so excited about this because before, at my old place, it took a huge day-trip or maybe a weekend mini-vacation to visit breweries — now I can drive just 10-15 minutes and BOOM! I have fresh beer in my hands right away.
It’s amazing.
Actually, being closer to the middle of North Carolina has placed me much closer to a ton of breweries now, which is great for my visiting and growler-collecting habit.
Today, I’ve chosen to highlight my favorite of the two local-to-me breweries: Huske Hardware House. I love all of their brews, but I just happen to have a growler of the Saison de Huske here at the house and it is so great — such a delicious, fresh, summery-tasting brew. I love this beer — it has this really great citrus-y taste with a little bite on the back end, and it really isn’t that hoppy at all. I think it pairs well with almost anything, which is why I love having it on hand. It tastes so great cold, straight from the growler — small sips, eyes closed.
I’ve paired the Saison de Huske with my small collection of Sarah Dessen books! Did you guys know that Sarah Dessen is from North Carolina and that she writes great North Carolina settings? OF COURSE you probably do! Her books are are summer-y and lovely, and I love the towns of Colby and Lakeview. I haven’t read all of the titles from my photo, but I’m working on it!
Outside of my summer-y choice of Sarah Dessen and Saison de Huske, I’ve been stuck on brown ales. In keeping with my NC theme, I’m highlighting two of my favorites: Lonerider Sweet Josie Brown Ale and Natty Greene Old Town Brown Ale. Both have a subtle, smooth almost-but-not-quite chocolate taste that I think goes perfectly with reading. I’ve paired both of these drinks with a few random books from my shelves — authors that live in North Carolina or have North Carolina ties.
Sidenote: I have a thing about matching my pint glasses with my beers. The way Lonerider has recently changed their marketing reminds me of when book covers get redesigned mid-series, and then we sometimes want to buy the new ones so they’ll all match. The can is the new design and my glass is the older design. And I don’t have a glass to go with Natty Greene’s beers yet, which is a shame because their Brown Ale and their Buckshot Amber Ale is almost always in my refrigerator these days. Beer lovers are just as quirky about beer sometimes as bookish people.
I’m not a NC-snob, I promise. The thing is that I’m very proud of my state, of craft brewing in North Carolina, and of the amazing talent we have here in the way of authors and story settings. I will absolutely drink beer from anywhere, but when I look at my Untappd app, it is clear that I love beer from my state. The same thing goes with books — I love books in general, but I have a different kind of love for the authors from my own state and for any author that chooses to use North Carolina as a setting.
What about you, friends? Do you drink beer when you read? Or do you prefer coffee or Diet Coke?
If you’re a beer drinker, do you have a favorite?
Thank you again, Asheley! I LOVE that you paired up books and beers from your state! I feel like I’m fairly proud of our local brews too! I would love to try some local NC brews sometime! I feel like I haven’t had very many from your state!
If you want to say hello to Asheley, feel free to leave her a comment below (please do!) or find her on Untappd, her blog, or Twitter!
4 thoughts on “Pub Date [12] – Guest Post | Asheley from Into the Hall of Books”
I love the theme for this post, we should steal Asheley’s idea and do local-to-us beers. (Although I kind of do that a lot already, haha.) It sounds like North Carolina has some great beers and as a fan of Sarah Dessen and Ron Rash it’s nice to know they match up well with NC books 🙂
Some of those beer cans and bottles are gorgeous! I always love trying something unique. I’ve been just craving a cold beer lately with my book since it’s so hot out, but I’m pregnant, so it’s just water and tea over here. 🙁 That first beer will taste so good! And you’re not a snob for loving local beer. I love to seek out local breweries! Sometimes they make the best brews!