Saturday, August 04, 2018

Books read in 2018: No. 41 -- The Robert E. Howard Bar Guide

by Robert Derie

Started: August 3
Finished: August 4

Notes: This is another one I picked up at Howard Days in Texas this past summer. I had a good chuckle when I first saw it with its photo of Howard quaffing what appears to be a rather large beer, especially as I had not known this book existed. It seems to be a short book about Howard's favorite drinking holes and his favorite drinks, so this might be fun.

Mini review: This was a fun book, based mostly upon Howard's private letters to friends and other writers and editors, him opining about various alcoholic drinks while ruminating about various adventures and drunks he had. There were also some snippets taken from his fictional works, mentions of various drinks and the link. My favorite part of this book was a letter Howard wrote while drunk, and it's quite obvious he was drunk. This book is made up of two parts, the first section sort of a history of Howard and the liquors available to him where he lived, and the second portion providing information about drinks Howard had tried or he had mentioned in one letter or another. Hardcore Howard fans will want this one, and maybe fans of alcohol too. Did Howard have a favorite drink? A favorite beer? Hard to say. He sort of named off several as favorites, including Schlitz beer, but one thing to keep in mind is that it's been a long time since Howard's day, so many of the drinks then are not the same as they are today even if they have the same name. Also, keep in mind Howard grew up during the era of Prohibition, so that affected the alcoholic drinks available to him much of his life, which is more than you might think, actually, though the quality of the drinks often would have been lacking.

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