Pub Date [1] – Summer

Pub Date

Hi, all! Welcome to a brand-new feature called PUB DATE! A while back, I was toying with the idea of making a specific feature just to pair up beers with books. In fact, this was how Book and a Beverage was born but I knew if I wanted it to be a regular feature, I couldn’t just limit it to beers so I adapted Book and a Beverage for everyone of all ages and drink preferences… but even over a year later, I still had the desire to make a feature just to feature beers + books! After talking it out with some of my fellow beer lovers, I knew I couldn’t do it myself Estelle from Rather Be Reading, Andi from Andi’s ABCs, and Maggie from Just a Couple More Pages and I all teamed up to bring you PUB DATE!

Each week, one of us will be featuring a beer and a book of our choice, each with a different theme for that month! For our first theme, it’s only fitting that we start with SUMMER! Summer is a great time for beer (okay, any season is a great time for beer) so it should be pretty easy to come up with some fantastic pairings!

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I got a little fancy this week. On our way home from work, Shane and I stopped at a liquor store that seemed like it had a lot of good craft beers. WHOA, was that an understatement! They had a LOT of beer selections which was really great! I’m always up for trying new beers and I got a little carried away with picking fancy beers this week and I ended up with Mischief from The Bruery (Placentia, CA). It’s a Belgian Strong Pale Ale and upon first opening the bottle, it smelled super hoppy but doesn’t really have an incredibly strong hop taste like IPAs do. It’s definitely present but I’d say the Belgian taste is a bit more prominent and I’m gonna go ahead and say the strong part for me was the alcohol content. HOO BOY, this beer comes in at 8.50% ABV. It doesn’t have too much of an alcoholic taste (the last fancy beer I tried TASTED like alcohol) and when I first tried it, I actually felt like it was a taste that I hadn’t tasted before! I really enjoyed this combination of flavors and it was a strong beer but very delicious!

The beer was called Mischief so naturally I had to choose a book with a mischievous character and who better to fill that role than Jason Lippencott from Lauren Morrill’s MEANT TO BE. When I read MEANT TO BE back in 2012, I immediately fell in love with it. I really enjoyed Julia’s character and how much I related to her nerdy side but I also really loved her interactions with Jason. Jason is ALL mischief. And I loved it. He’s the class clown and full of slap stick comedy so who better to choose for a mischievous theme?

Tying it all back into summer, I think BOTH of these are wonderful for summer time! The beer is light and crisp despite the higher alcohol content and ultimately refreshing. MEANT TO BE is a great summer read too! I love fun and light contemporary books for summer reads (even though technically MEANT TO BE takes place over spring break and not summer). I think this is a great pairing for a light and refreshing summer!

Review: MEANT TO BE by Lauren Morrill


Thanks for joining us for the launch of Pub Date! Don’t forget — each week, one of us will be pairing a book with a beer and next week, Estelle will be picking her pairing of book & brew for summer! Hope you enjoy this new feature! We can’t wait to hear what you think!

This Week’s Beers

Not a big beer drinker? Maybe Mischief was a bit ambitious to start with! Here’s a list of the other beers I’ve had this week and my current thoughts if you’re looking for a good summer beer! 

  • SKINNY DIP from New Belgium. American Blonde Ale // 4.20% ABV. Skinny Dip is a revival beer which has been incorporated into this year’s Folly Packs for New Belgium’s summer sampler cases. I really enjoy it! It’s light, crisp, and a really nice beer for summer. Great hops flavor but really not overpowering.
  • COORS LIGHT SUMMER BREW from Coors Brewing Company. Fruit Beer // 3.90% ABV. I know Andi hated Coor’s Light Summer Brew but I found it surprisingly not terribly offensive! I really enjoy fruit beers and although I much prefer Leinekugel’s for a shandy or a citrus beer, I though this one was just okay.
  • SNAPSHOT from New Belgium. American Pale Wheat Ale // 5.00% ABV. I generally love everything from New Belgium and Snapshot is a nice, easy drinker if you’re looking for a nice pale ale. It’s not too hoppy but it does have that nice pale ale taste. Nothing too overwhelming.
  • 80-ACRE HOPPY WHEAT BEER from Boulevard Brewing Co. American Pale Wheat Ale // 5.50% ABV. 80-Acre is surprisingly fantastic. We actually picked this one up because we saw a Boulevard truck on our way to work and wanted to try it. We found out in the liquor store that many Boulevard beers have really high ratings and after drinking 80-Acre, I can easily see why! The name says hoppy but it’s the perfect balance of hops and wheat flavors and they blend together really nicely! It’s such an easy drinker and I really, really enjoyed it.

** Beer styles and alcohol content from Beer Advocate **

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Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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19 thoughts on “Pub Date [1] – Summer

  1. Nicole @ The Quiet Concert

    So I hate beer (womp womp) but I love what you are doing with this feature and I can’t wait to see what pairings you come up with in the future despite me probably never trying them haha. I just love to read your descriptions of the beers and how that matches your feeling for a book! So neat!

    Reply
  2. Christina @ My Life In Books

    Blue Moon or Sam’s Summer Ale are always my go to summer brews but I recently picked up Grey Lady by Cisco Brewers and it’s so refreshing! I’ve also been dying to get my hands on White Gold by Ithaca Brewing Co. but I can’t seem to find it outside upstate NY 🙁

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      I definitely always love a good Blue Moon! It’s one of my favorite beers and so great for summer too.
      Thanks so much for commenting! Too bad.. White Gold sounds like it would be delicious!! I’m nowhere near upstate NY lol!

      Reply
  3. Elizabeth

    I love this idea! I’m not as into beer as I used to be, but my current favorite is a local brew- Lakewood Rock Ryder, it’s a rye wheat and so good. Even better a friend of a friend owns the brewery.

    Reply
  4. Estelle

    Hooray! Hello! 🙂 Love this, it sounds great and maybe something I would drink for a special occasion. I love the name. That alone would sell me! P.S. These are going to be just about the only reading posts I can send to James and he will be interested in. Go team!

    Reply
  5. Katie @ Polished Page-Turner

    THIS IS AWESOME. I will definitely have to try this one. I have such a love hate relationship with IPAs because I enjoy some but others are way too hoppy for me so this one sounds just right. I just recently tried the Coors Light Summer brew and I will start by saying Coors is my favorite “cheap light beer” and I really enjoyed the Summer brew! It was nothing amazing but it was really refreshing and perfect for a summer afternoon.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thanks, Katie! This one was so good. It was label as a pale ale but really didn’t taste too hoppy at all!! It’s also hard for me to drink a lot of IPAs … I’ve been searching for American Pale Ales if I’m in the mood for pale but not TOO hoppy 🙂
      And THANK YOU. Estelle and Andi think I’m crazy haha!! Coors Summer Brew wasn’t fantastic but I didn’t think it was terrible! Andi couldn’t even finish one can, she said LOL. I thought it was refreshing and it was super low in alcohol content too so it’s just like, for easy drinking on a hot summer day! Coors is my favorite “cheap light beer” too! 🙂 I think it’s the most refreshing!

      Reply
  6. Morgan

    Love this idea!! I’m not a very adventurous beer drinker but I’d like to be.. I usually stick with Corona! Maybe this will help 🙂 Light and crisp sounds good to me, I’m not a huge fan of hoppy beers. Meant to Be was one of my favorites and really the book that started my current love of YA contemporary romance! Jason was such a pill (a cute pill!) so Mischief is definitely perfect for him. I’ll have to look around for some of these beers! If you ever visit LA, my sister’s boyfriend runs Progress Brewery. They have some good stuff, still a new business though 🙂

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      YAY thank you!! Yes, I love recommending beers! The hoppy beers are hard, especially for non-beer drinkers! I love recommending light wheats or some fruity beers 🙂
      Ohhhh very neat! My fiancé and I would LOVE to run a brewery someday but that’s a BIG dream haha!! We would years worth of work before we got there. So cool that your sister’s boyfriend runs a brewery!!

      Reply
  7. Amanda

    Super cute idea! I just had 80 Acre recommended to me when I couldn’t find Gumball Head in the store-because sadly when can one find Gumball Head? I thought it was a pretty good replacement!

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thanks, Amanda!! Yessss another fan of 80-Acre! I haven’t even heard of Gumball Head! What brewery is that from?

      Reply
      1. Brittany Post author

        Ahhh yes, Three Floyds! You know… Someone gave us a bottle of Zombie Dust (because isn’t that like a really coveted beer, I think? I can’t remember if that was one of their super special releases…) and it was good but I wasn’t crazy over it. I think maybe it was too intense for my tastes? I can’t remember 🙁
        I will totally look into Gumball Head! Checking out the link right now 🙂

  8. Ginger @ GReads!

    What a fun new feature! As someone who enjoys beers too, I’ll definitely be checking these posts out. Summertime is a great time for tasting. For some reason I always fall back on my go-to for summer beer refreshment and that happens to be my Mexican beers! Maybe it’s because I’m from Texas? but we drink a lot of those down here. Dos Equis with a lime has been a favorite for years. It reminds me of my summer vacays to Mexico, sipping pool side with my friends 🙂

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thanks, Ginger! Books get paired with wine and coffee too often… We need more beer promotion haha! 🙂
      I do enjoy Dos Equis! I think that’s one of my favorite Mexican beers! 🙂 I love beers with citrus twists for summer too!

      Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Yay!!! I’m so excited that all of us are doing this feature! It’s going to be a blast 😀

      Reply

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