What’s Brewing This Spring?
What’s better than enjoying a book on a beautiful spring day? Enjoying a good book and a good beer! As the weather warms up and local breweries announce their seasonal offerings, it’s the perfect time to couple a cold brew with a new read. Here are a few suggested pairings, created by Jessica Rose, senior editor at the Hamilton Review of Books, to get you started.
We all need to escape from time to time — especially right now. Imagine you’re seeking a retreat from it all. You steep an Earl Grey tea and light a citrus candle. Now imagine you can get the same flavours and aromas from a locally brewed beer!
The Beer: Earl Grey Wheat by Collective Arts
“Belgian Wits are traditionally brewed with orange peel and coriander, so to add a flavourful and modern twist on a classic we enlisted the help of our pals at Genuine Tea. We replaced the orange peel with another classic — Earl Grey. Made with the oil of Bergamot Orange citrus, the tea gives this beer a unique flavour while honouring the classic beer style.”
The Book: In Praise of Retreat: Finding Sanctuary in the Modern World by Kirsteen MacLeod, ECW Press, March 2021
“An utterly engaging dive into our modern ways of retreat — where we go, why we’re drawn, and how it’s urgent.
From pilgrim paths to forest cabins, and from rented hermitages to arts temples and quiet havens for yoga and meditation, In Praise of Retreat explores the pleasures and powers of this ancient practice for modern people. Kirsteen MacLeod draws on the history of retreat and personal experiences to reveal the many ways readers can step back from society to reconnect with their deepest selves — and to their loftiest aspirations in life.
In the 21st century, disengaging, even briefly, is seen by many as self-indulgent, unproductive, and antisocial. Yet to retreat is as basic a human need as being social, and everyone can benefit, whether it’s for a weekend, a month, or a lifetime. Retreat is an uncertain adventure with as many peaks and valleys as any mountain expedition, except we head inward, to recharge and find fresh energy and brave new ideas to bring back into our everyday lives.”
Pillow talk is that intimate conversation you have after you … you know. So, what kind of book do you pair with a beer called Pillow Talk? Erotica, of course!
The Beer: Pillow Talk (Dry-Hopped Pils) by Fairweather Brewing Company
On Instagram, Fairweather says, “Pillow Talk has a simple pale base of European pilsner malt, Czech Saaz and is fermented hella cool to suppress ester production. It's kissed with a light dry-hop of Motueka from New Zealand, which gives a gentle floral/lime character. Now that's all well and good, and the plan was to lay it down for a couple of months, but at five weeks this little thing is not messing around. It is tasting so lively, yet delicate. … It’s a little hazy, a little hoppy, still on a journey, but hey, aren't we all.”
The Book: The Lover, the Lake by Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau; translated by Susan Ouriou, Freehand Books, May 2021
“When it was first published in Quebec, The Lover, The Lake was heralded as the first erotic novel written by an Indigenous woman in French. Today, as it is translated into English for the first time, author Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau would rather call it a celebration of sensuality, another first. At a time when Indigenous peoples were being dispossessed of their land and history as well as their relationship to the body, the love explored by Wabougouni and Gabriel is an act of defiance. Their intimate connection plays out on the shores of Lake Abitibi in an affair as turbulent and unfathomable as the lake itself.”
We’re all missing concerts right now. While we can’t completely recreate that exhilarating feeling of being pressed against a stage, beer in hand, while your favourite band plays a favourite song, we can at least read about it.
The Beer: Bandshell (IPA) by Merit Brewing
“Bandshell IPA hits the stage with Amarillo, Citra, Mandarina Bavaria and Simcoe hops conjuring pillowy soft cloud juice finishing with a velvety smooth shag carpet mouthfeel. Orange sherbet, stone fruit and citrus careen sonically across your palate as Bandshell transports you to the sounds echoing from the George R. Robinson bandshell — located in the middle of Hamilton’s Gage Park when park concerts were still a thing.”
The Book: Bootleg Stardust by Glenn Dixon Simon and Schuster, April 2021
“Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom on your way to the top.
It’s 1974. The music world is rocking with bellbottoms, platform shoes, and lots and lots of drugs. This year’s sensation is an American band called Downtown Exit and their latest album has just gone gold.
For high school dropout Levi Jaxon, things aren’t so great. After bouncing around foster homes for years, he’s living in his best friend’s basement. His dream is to someday be a rock star, but he has a problem—his own band has just broken up.
In an uncanny stroke of luck, Levi lands an audition for Downtown Exit, who are now recording their second album at Abbey Road Studios. He arrives in London and aces his audition, only to learn he’s not really in the band. No, Levi’s job is to sit in the wings and cover for the band’s real guitarist when he inevitably starts tripping on stage.
Levi sticks with it, hoping to step into the role he’s always dreamed of. But he must first navigate egos, jealousies, and deceptions. Frankie, the band’s front man, has it out for him. And Levi has fallen for Ariadne, the band’s photographer. All of them have their secrets, Levi included. And as the band tours through Europe and struggles to finish their new album, Levi comes face to face with unanswered questions from his past and the impossible price that fame demands.
Utterly magical and transporting, Bootleg Stardust is a one-of-a-kind joyride about the power of music to bring people together — and break them apart — and the courage it takes to find your own voice.”
Sweet and sour at the same time, you can think of Collective Arts’ Waking Rainbows Sour as a modern-day cordial, a word that might immediately make you think of Anne of Green Gables.
In Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery wrote, “Everything is made new in the spring. Springs themselves are always so new, too. No spring is ever just like any other spring. It always has something of its own to be its peculiar sweetness.” Speaking of sweetness, Waking Rainbows has hints of key lime, pineapple, orange, and raspberry.
The Beer: Waking Rainbows (Sour) by Collective Arts
“Feel that? Spring is in the air. So, we thought we'd celebrate with our take on a classic warm-weather treat! Waking Rainbows is a Rainbow Sherbet Sour packed full of key lime, pineapple, orange and raspberry. Celebrate spring and get ready for summer nice and early (it'll be here before we know it!) with this bright, fruity sour!”
The Book: Marilla Before Anne by Louise Michalos
Nimbus Publishing, May 2021
“A heart-rending work of historical fiction telling the story of Marilla Cuthbert, long before Anne came to Green Gables farm.
Marilla Cuthbert was fifty-two years old when the plucky red-headed Anne Shirley came to live with her and her brother, Matthew, at Green Gables farm on Prince Edward Island. A seemingly cold and dour spinster, her heart eventually softens to the loveable orphan girl. But for over a century readers have wondered, who was Marilla before Anne?
In Louise Michalos's remarkable debut novel, readers are introduced to a spirited eighteen-year-old Marilla Cuthbert—a girl not unlike Anne herself—who is desperately in love, and whose whole life is spread before her. But when a moment of defiance brings life-changing consequences, a new Marilla begins to take shape, one who would learn to bear tragedy like a birthright, and loss as an inevitability, and who would hold steadfast to the secrets that could shatter the lives of everyone around her.
Weaving its way from Marilla's early life in Avonlea to her coming-of-age in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and back, Marilla Before Anne is the story readers of Anne of Green Gables have longed for. Told with a refreshingly original East Coast voice, this exquisite, heartbreaking work of historical fiction takes readers on a journey back in time, to the Green Gables where Marilla Cuthbert lived, loved, and learned, long before Anne.”
Is there ever a bad time to read a book about a free-spirited woman who “comes to terms with what it means to stand on one’s own two feet in an uncertain world”? We don’t think so!
The Beer: Free Spirit Wheat with Mango by Grain & Grit
“Free Spirit is an easy-drinking wheat beer brewed with mango. Aromas of ripe, freshly cut mango, lemon and a hint of banana, with subtle flavours of mango, lemon and orange. Finishes dry with hints of clove, banana and orange. Free Spirit is super refreshing and crushable!”
The Book: Book of Wings by Tawhida Tanya Evanson Esplanade Books (Vehicule) March 2021
“In this sweeping, allusive novel, the celebrated poet, dervish, and oral storyteller Tawhida Tanya Evanson comes to terms with what it means to stand on one’s own two feet in an uncertain world. The acclaimed Antiguan-Canadian artist traces a global journey from Vancouver to the United States, Caribbean, Paris, and Morocco as a relationship with her lover and travel partner disintegrates and she finds herself on a path toward personal discovery and spiritual fulfillment that leads her deep into the North African landscape.”
Speaking of strong women: How about pairing a book about a strong woman with a strong, complex beer? Don’t let people tell you that dark beers, like stouts and porters, can only be enjoyed in the winter. A well-balanced one, like the Clifford Porter, can be enjoyed year-round.
The Beer: Clifford Porter by Clifford Brewing
“The first offering from Clifford Brewing is the award-winning Clifford Porter. A dark and complex robust porter, with flavours of chocolate and coffee, combined with rich roasted malts. A balanced bitterness with the subtle earthiness of Fuggle hops in the aroma. A signature beer of brewer, Brad Clifford—this porter has won multiple awards.”
The Book: Dominion of Mercy by Danial Neil, Newest Press, April 2021
“Edinburgh, 1917: Headstrong Highland lass Mary Stewart is a vibrant woman forced into the world’s oldest profession in order to provide for her ailing father and younger sister in the city’s Old Town. When her uncle, a well-to-do solicitor with political aspirations, thinks that her presence might impede his lofty ambitions he gives her a way out with dignity: a one-way ticket to the frontier town of Anyox, British Columbia, where nurses are needed to care for injured soldiers returning from the war.
Mary agrees to depart Scotland and leaves her sister in the care of her uncle, but finds that a past like hers is not easy to escape, and that living on the frontier has more challenges than even the darkest streets of Old Town. She must survive by her quick intelligence, but that is a quality that few women were allowed to reveal.
In his historical epic Dominion of Mercy, Danial Neil gives vivid life to the gritty world of an early twentieth-century mining town and a radiant protagonist who illuminates its dark corners with her insight, empathy, and bold spirit.”
If you’re going to read a dark, deep, complex book about hope, love, and sacrifice, you’ll be best equipped with a dark, deep, complex beer that’s equally as bold. And if the book is about how so many of life’s circumstances are out of one’s control, a beer called Divine Intervention will seem apt, too. Both beer and book are robust with welcomed and refreshing hints of sweetness.
The Beer: Divine Intervention (Stout) by Collective Arts
“When we teamed up with our friends at Indie Ale House to make a chocolate Imperial Stout we were NOT going to hold back. Divine Intervention is a big, beautiful beer that's absolutely loaded with real cacao, sourced from Toronto's own SOMA Chocolatemaker, with chocolate fudge adding a rich sweetness. Chocolate lovers: get ready to treat yourself with this smooth, decadent brew.”
The Book: Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson, HarperCollins, January 2021
“To survive the Holocaust, a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer’s wife in this unforgettable novel from USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Robson—a story of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice, inspired by true events, that vividly evokes the most perilous days of World War II.
It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met.
Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love.
But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge.
As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart …”
Who isn’t dreaming of a faraway place right now? For many people, that dream goes beyond simply missing a vacation. It means missing home.
The Beer: Faraway Places (IPA) by Collective Arts
Travelling isn't exactly in the cards for most of us right now. So, we made an IPA to help take your mind to some far-off destinations! We brewed Faraway Places IPA with two South African hops known for their fruit-forward profiles. Expect big notes of tropical fruit, green strawberry and melon from the flavourful combo of Southern Star and Southern Passion hops — a well-deserved break from an Ontario winter.
The Book: What You Are: Short Stories by M.G. Vassanji, Doubleday Canada, May 2021
“From M.G. Vassanji, two-time Giller Prize winner and winner of the Governor General's Literary Award, comes a finely crafted collection of short fiction that explores the tensions between remembering past homes and belonging in new ones.
Weaving between wistful memories of youthful ambition and the compromises and comforts of age, travelling between the streets of Dar es Salaam and Toronto, the characters in these stories must negotiate distance--between here and there; between lives imagined and lives lived; between expectation and disappointment; between inclusion and exclusion.
Throughout, Vassanji engages passionately with the intellectual and political questions that inspire him as a writer and a citizen, while always matching the energy of his ideas with the empathy and emotional depth he invests in his characters. As with all Vassanji's finest work, What You Are stands as a model of artistic integrity and clarity of vision.”
Jessica Rose is a writer, editor, and reviewer who has written for publications across Canada. Her book reviews have been appeared in magazines, including Quill and Quire, Room, Ricepaper, This, and the Humber Literary Review. She formerly covered Hamilton's literary scene in Hamilton Magazine. Jessica is a senior editor at the Hamilton Review of Books and a founding editor of The Inlet. She has close to ten years of experience in educational publishing and is a former board and committee member of gritLIT: Hamilton’s Readers and Writers Festival. She recently took over the role of books editor at This magazine.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @notmytypewriter and on Instagram @jesrose1