Charles Gramlich: Days of Beer

Now armed with a trusty Kindle Fire, I can much more easily expand my reading selections and embrace more digital texts -- yayssss!~ The very second item that I purchased via this device was a Kindle edition of Days of Beer: The Memoirs of a Beer Drinkin' Man by Charles Gramlich (Razored Zen Press, 2011). 

I loved the double experience -- reading Days of Beer and reading via mobile device. The combination led to some weird synchronicities. For example, while waiting for a haircut recently, the text was revealing a true story set in and around Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, and then the dude who was about to cut my hair asked what I was reading. Turned out that he was certified for his profession at -- Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. And, to boot, his father was an officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers, stationed at Fort Chaffee for many years. That calls for a beer, I'd say! 

Days of Beer focuses on the macho activity of drinking beer, with many connected stories and a well-described milieu. Though the activity itself is indeed a macho one, Charles Gramlich relates these interconnected beer-drinking tales in a generous and good-natured way.

Days of Beer is set mostly within an arc of time starting in the 1970s and proceeding through the 1980s, with several Arkansas place settings like Charleston, Russellville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Fort (formerly Camp) Chaffee and Mill Creek Mountain, and with additional attention also paid to drinking experiences set in New Orleans and somewhere in Canada -- more or less near Lake Erie.  

Via Days of Beer, the new reader will be treated to memorable glimpses of friends and family, funny and sometimes wild situations in equal portion -- and lots of different "tastes" of beer. Occasionally, trans-beer delivered alcohol stealthily works its way into the equation. It's all fun reading: life and the zen of drinking beer, as it were. Wise observations are peppered throughout, including this one: "Never trust your friends where beer is concerned" -- especially when it comes to poaching!

With this memoir, Charles' writing has for me triggered a bunch of memories of somewhat comparable experiences -- as it very well may for you, too -- both of drinking beer and other, correspondingly engaging pursuits.

In a future post, I'd like to consider some of the types of beverages discussed by Charles, for example certain beers ranging from Schlitz Malt Liquor to Abita Purple Haze (a tasty treat, indeed, the latter). And, yeah, too, changes over time in attitudes and approach. 

Until then, cheers and bottoms up! -- Mud in your eye!

Here's a link to purchase Days of Beer: The Memoirs of a Beer Drinkin' Man, and here's another one. Can you dig?

Today's Rune: Harvest.