Paul R. Kan is back with another book review. He has recently written for us with his story about Alexander Gates moving from Central Pennsylvania to Hawai’i and his craft beer journey. (You can find that article here: From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates.) Paul has written two book reviews for the site now (so far), all beer related, you can find them here:

• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)

For more information on Paul R. Kan, please check to the end of the article.

Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever

Odds are good that you’ve either bought someone a beer, or someone has bought a beer for you.  Odds are still good that you’ve brought beer to a party.  Beer has a type of social power that other alcohol doesn’t.  When there’s a get together and someone says they’ll bring the beer, they’re a hero.  It’s not the same with other types of alcohol.  If someone says they’re bringing tequila, it’s like, “so it’s gonna be THAT kind of party.”    

In 1967, John “Chick” Donohue used beer’s power to boost the morale of his neighborhood’s friends who were serving in Vietnam during the war.  This real-life story started with a bar owner’s outburst in his Manhattan bar one night.  Upset by the news coverage of people disparaging the troops fighting the war, the owner exclaimed, “Somebody ought to go over to ‘Nam, track down our boys from the neighborhood, and bring them each a beer!”  The outburst turned into a dare that soon became a mission for Chick. 

Grabbing as many cans of Pabst and Miller as he could carry, Chick used his merchant marine credentials to hitch a ride on a supply ship heading Vietnam.  It would be a spoiler to mention whether Chick found all his friends and gave them a beer.  Let’s just say that it was easier to get beer into Vietnam than it was for him to leave and get home.  A series of events, often violent, hampered Chick’s ability to find a way to get back to his neighborhood and tell the folks at the bar about how their friends serving in Vietnam were doing. 

The book is also about how beer can transcend national divisions.  As you read the book, the political divisions over the Vietnam War are clear…but you’ll keep reading because you want to know about the beer run and not the politics. 

The book is a page-turner; it can be read in one day.  Apple+ has also turned the book into a movie, if you’d prefer watching the story rather than reading it.  Whether you read the book or watch the movie the story has an underlying message—using the social power of beer to do something positive.  Not all of us would be willing to go to an active war zone with a few beers to hand out to the troops.  But, supporting veteran owned breweries or just buying someone a beer when they really need a boost are also ways to use beer for good. Thinking about how to pay it forward with a cold one could potentially turn into your own greatest beer run ever.

Paul R. Kan Biography

Paul grew up in Hawai’i and knows its unique culture, traditions, and history. He is the author of Hawai’i Beer: A History of Brewing in Paradise, which the North American Guild of Beer Writers awarded second place for Best New Book of 2021. He currently lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

For more articles written by Paul R. Kan:

• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates

Thank You For Reading

The clock is ticking on The Battle of the Breweries (2023). The Finals Fatal Four Way is nearing its end (this Sunday – April 16th, 2023 – at 11:59:59 PM EST), so make sure to get your daily votes in.

You can vote here:

• The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way (Voting Page)
• The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Finals (Results Page)

We have also completed the first two Maps of Breweries – Maine and New Hampshire. You can see those here:

• Map of Maine Breweries
• Map of New Hampshire Breweries

Next up is the Map of Vermont Breweries, I should hopefully have that done by end of Wednesday (fingers crossed).

Today we will start the articles detailing the four breweries left in the Finals Fatal Four Way. Starting with Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery today, then tomorrow we’ll cover Allusion Brewing Company, and then on Thursday we’ll cover AleCraft Brewing Company, and then on Friday we’ll wrap things up with Mad Chef Brewing. The tournament ends Sunday (April 16th, 2023) at 11:59:59 PM EST.

Thank you everyone for reading and please like, share, follow, subscribe, all that good stuff you see at the end of every YouTube video.

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Well, I certainly had a “busy” day yesterday. …Not really, but it felt like it with ‘all that driving around’ I did. I capitalized on some great deals local breweries were doing, and supporting small businesses and local businesses, I ventured forth, with mask, and while practicing social distancing, and stopped at several breweries (Pizza Boy, Ever Grain, and Tattered Flag). With mask, and hand sanitizer, I was like a gunslinger in the Wild West venturing forth and collecting my wares.

Since I can’t visit as many breweries / or even really check out new breweries, I thought up a way to do both. In a win-win kind of situation for myself, and local breweries here and afar. Using some of the beer groups online, I have set-up a few ‘local for local’ trade boxes. (My first two deals are with South Florida and Fort Worth Texas). What it is, is simple. 40-50$ worth per box (so roughly 9-10 16oz cans) from ONLY local smaller breweries (Boneshire Brew Works, Tattered Flag, Ever Grain Brewing, ZeroDay Brewing, etc. Troegs Brewing is kind of the cap due to their distribution). So while I gather my goods, the guys I’m trading with are doing the same in their areas. So we are still buying local, (both them and myself), and we’re trading, so we get to try out new stuff in the process, most likely from places we won’t get to visit (or not likely anytime soon at any rate). Plus, as a bonus, it helps get the various breweries exposure in areas they don’t normally get seen. Like I said, this is a win-win for everyone. Win for me, win for the traders, win for the breweries.

As the picture above shows, I stopped at a few places – three to be exact – Pizza Boy, Ever Grain, and Tattered Flag. In these ‘troubling’ and ‘unprecedented’ and ‘uncertain times’ we need to do all that we can to help support local businesses, support local breweries, the small mom and pop shops, those struggling during these rough times. Many are just like us, struggling and eeking out an existence as best as they can, just like us. And if we don’t step up and help them now, they won’t be here afterwards, after the dust (and virus) settles.

Many are doing deals. Al’s of Hampden / Pizza Boy is doing a “3 for 30$ Before 3PM” daily deal. Your choice of any three things for 30$ total. Medium cheese pizza, dozen wings, or six-packs of Pizza Boy beer. I used it to get pizza for the girls and a six pack for myself. A mix six pack of Pizza Boy (2 Mango River, 2 Printemptuous, and 2 Blue Collar Lager), and two medium cheese pizzas for 30$ is one hell of a deal. At Tattered Flag, Sunday through Thursday (so no Fridays or Saturdays) they are doing crowlers – 3 for 15$. Anything on their tap list is available. Thats an amazing deal! Thats 5$ for a 32oz crowler, three times over. You definitely can’t beat that. My first time going I got the Blackberry Gose, the BA Mint Chocolate Stout, and the Rye Peppercorn Saison. This time I got the Oat Lager, Double TMI IPA, and the Rye Peppercorn Saison again (sadly they were out of the Teutonic Hefeweizen Peanut Butter). At Ever Grain I grabbed a four-pack of their newest beer – Peanut Budder One.

Which leads me to the actual beer review….. Peanut Budder One!

Beer: Peanut Budder One
Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 6%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: The Udder One Milk Stout finished with peanut butter, cocoa nibs, and vanilla.

This is a variant of their Udder One Milk Stout, so if you enjoyed this, most likely this will be up your alley, especially if you love peanut butter. (Which I am a massive sucker for! The Molly Pitcher Peanut Butter Porter is one of my all-time favorite beers.)

Appearance for this gem is just as a stout is meant to look. Razor Ramon dark black hair. Carbonation was spot on, leaving this with a wonderful pillowy and creamy looking brown foamy frothy head. Diverse bubbles in the foam as well as good lacing always shows you the quality and craftsmanship that went into the beer.

Aroma is like a melted Reese’s Peanut Butter cup in stout form. Its peanut butter goodness from as soon as the can is cracked, with a nice good, roasted malt backbone to it. You get the notes of the vanilla, some caramel malt, but its dominated by the lustrous and delicious smelling peanut butter. There is a slight bready smell, but its extremely subtle and just the barest hint of it. The cocoa nibs gives it that bit of chocolaty smell that completes its ‘Reese’s Cup’ aroma.

And to further that analogy…. it tastes just like drinking a Reese’s Cup too. Even more so on the taste than on the aroma. This is a wonderful and well made stout (just like the original – Udder One Milk Stout). Ever Grain is one of the best local breweries, and they put so much skill and craft into each of their beers, and it shows with beers like this, their passion and dedication to their craft – on full display in a beer like this. This tastes just like a sweet, milk, stout should taste. Its got the creamy vanilla smoothness that goes so well with the dark malts, and it has a tremendous mouth feel. It is a good sipping beer but its also a good quick drinker too, and at 6% either is fine. It might be a bit ‘too rich’ to be fully crushable, but at 6% its not going to kill the brain cells too quickly. There’s a lot of really wonderful flavors with this beer that all accompanies and works well with each other that it works really great. This has strong notes of peanut butter, vanilla, coca nibs, and a hint of malt, caramel malt, and even a slight bready note. It has a good mouthfeel that gets a bit watery but not too bad as it drains out of your glass and down your throat, its not cloying, not too sweet, but has a creamy rich smooth taste, and its an easy flowing beer. There is no off flavors and no lingering bad after-taste. This is just simply a really well done and tasty beer all around.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.06 (as of 4.17.20).

I will be sending out my packages to Texas and Florida on Monday and Wednesday and should be receiving mine then about two-three days later. I will be sure to post what I get in response. Beer trading is definitely one of the fun things to do with these beer groups. I know I love seeing the beer mail (porch bombs) on groups like the Whalerz, etc.

Thanks for checking out the blog and reading the review. In the upcoming week I should have a lot of interesting news for everyone (including new writers, and potentially the [slow roll-out of a] new website for the blog). So be sure to stay tuned for all of that! We’re always trying to grow, do new things, innovate, and provide you all with the latest interesting content to read. Potential future things also include podcasts and videos, so we will definitely be having much more in store in the year to come. So be sure to click FOLLOW and SUBSCRIBE here, as well as check out our Facebook and Twitter pages and like us and follow us on those as well. And don’t forget our Instagram page as well. (So much to keep up with!)

Cheers everyone and please stay healthy, can’t wait to see all of you again after this is all over! Please continue to support your local breweries and businesses! Cheers!

-B. Kline

(PS Note: Books behind the beer are: You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney and When the Earth Had Two Moons by Erik Asphaug)