Reading and Drinking

Here is an article from AbeBooks:



The Best Book and Booze Pairings
by Richard Davies


Books and alcohol have been bedfellows for centuries.  Many readers love to curl up with a good book and a drop of their favorite tipple. But what are the finest pairings of literature and beer, or wine or liquor?


It would be great to match Douglas Adams’ Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, a cocktail of galactic power, with a challenging read like Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, but that’s never going to happen.


There is a bevy of drinks that are ideal companions for books, and many brewers and winemakers have been inspired by literary culture.  There’s Hercule Stout, a Belgian beer, featuring the mustachioed face of Agatha Christie’s detective on the label.  The Thomas Hardy Ale, brewed by Eldridge Pope until 2009, has almost mythical status among real ale aficionados. And we’d love to sample the wonderfully named Grains of Wrath Double IPA produced by the Ontario microbrewery of Church-Key.


This list is designed to wet your whistle and boost your bookshelf. But please remember to drink responsibly (and we are kidding about absinthe).


Selected works from the list (you'll have to go to AbeBooks for the rest and Booze listings):




A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway

Last Bus to Woodstock
by Colin Dexter

Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram
Iain Banks

English Passengers
by Matthew Kneale

The Long Goodbye
by Raymond Chandler

The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde

The Red Room
by August Strindberg