Liber

The enthusiasm we bring to our beer exploration encourages us to try all varieties of beer from a seemingly endless source of breweries. In the beginning we come across flavors we do not enjoy but having just begun our journey, and being honest about our ignorance, cannot easily tell if our lack of appreciation has to do with us or the beer. If others are enjoying the beer perhaps it is our palate that is at fault. With time... [Read More]

As exciting a time as it is to be a beer drinker today, it is also one of the most confusing times. The number of breweries and variety of styles available can easily overwhelm the casual drinker, let alone a neophyte. It would be a shame to allow all of those good to great flavors pass you by simply due to a little confusion and a touch of intimidation. Titles such as Joshua M. Bernstein’s The Complete Beer Course... [Read More]

Most things are better when shared, including beer. If you have to imagine drinking buddies so be it. William Bostwick suggests eight such pals to help us better understand beer and ourselves. These eight avatars explain human history through the lens of beer making. In our modern times it is easy to dismiss the particularity of created products, something which was only recently done away with by way of the assembly line, mass production and, more recently, mass marketing. Humans... [Read More]

I appreciate any book that can show the familiar as new, or vice versa. Helping to explain how and why things came to pass, that their creation was a contingent event provides a refreshing and sobering reminder of things need not be accepted as they appear. Grounding extant objects in historical context helps to enliven their meaning and meaningfulness. We are given an opportunity to appreciate items on multiple levels, contextualize the aesthetic or functional aspects, even of a... [Read More]

What is it to know? How can we say with any certainty that we know what we assert? These and related questions run through much of (Western) philosophy, certainly playing a major role in modern philosophy, specifically. It is worth noting that these kinds of questions run deep when considering our own claims of knowledge and when being frank about the limits of same. We do not need to delve into ideas about the world as representation or whether or not we, as humans, have access and direct knowledge of... [Read More]

If you thought a comic book would be an appropriate medium for chronicling beer history due to pairing trivial interests you would be right about the effectiveness of the match but sorely overlooking the richness of either topic. Beer’s eclectic, long and rich history is done justice by the use of another prehistory human invention, visual representation. Ostensibly about beer, the book provides compelling examples of lives, cultures, histories, and biological material intertwining with one another to create a rich and complex canvas.... [Read More]

… and how’re you spending your mind? The ladies will have to enlighten or mislead us further regarding the things they talk about when amongst themselves, I can at least speak to topics covered in the company of men. Naturally, camaraderie and enthusiasm will influence which subject is picked out at any one moment among sports, money, politics, women (and what the heck they are talking about in the bathroom together), tech and consumer goods, other friends and acquaintances, work, and entertainment. Under the final category fall... [Read More]

I am a boxing fan, someone who appreciates beer, and a lover of books. I could not tell you why it has taken me such an inexcusably long time to do a piece on books. Maybe I’m just fashionably late, even to my own party. This comes as no surprise to myself or anyone who knows me. ‘Better late than never’ will be my next tattoo, if i ever get around to it. Be that as it may we are here now. An intuitive approach to analyzing books might deal... [Read More]