Whiskey and You

Been a long while since I've done a Quotes post, but fellow Kentuckian Chris Stapleton can't be missed by me. This is for his song "Whiskey and You." This isn't the whole song, but my favorite parts of it.

There's a bottle

On the dresser by your ring

And it's empty

So right now I don't feel a thing

I'll be hurting

When I wake up on the floor

But I'll be over it by noon

That's the difference between whiskey and you.

I've got a problem

But it ain't like what you think

I drink because I'm lonesome

And I'm lonesome 'cause I drink

But if I don't break down

And bring it on myself

It'll hit out of the blue

That's the difference between whiskey and you.

Beer of the Week: Augustiner Brau Munchen Maximator

Beer score: 5.4

Company: Augustiner Brau
ABV: 7.5
IBU: NA

Pours a very dark color, like a cola or dark tea, while giving off sweet scents of maple.

Way too much sweetness in drinking this one, at least for me. Definitely has strong flavors of caramel and toffee with a bit of woody and nutty flavoring. Unfortunately, the depths of all that malty sweetness overpowers the complex flavors, lessening my enjoyment of this one.

Still, not the worst beer in the world, and it's worth tasting at least once so you'll know about it and won't have to try it again unless you want to.

Books read in 2023: No. 11 -- Lizzie: A Novel

by Evan Hunter

Started: March 22

Finished: April 2

Notes: Evan Hunter is one of my favorite authors (especially under his Ed McBain name), so I'm interested in reading his take (though fictional) on the Lizzie Borden case. I'm pretty well read on Lizzie Borden and know the case pretty well, so I'm expecting this to be a good read.

Mini review: This one was a mixed bag for me, mainly because it was told in two different timelines and I generally find that approach annoying. The one timeline was basically the trial of Lizzie Borden, and this was written directly from the transcripts, so this part of the book was less fiction and could be of interest to those who want to study the case. The other timeline was almost completely fiction and took place a few years earlier during a trip Lizzie took to Europe. As far as who did the crimes, I don't have a problem with the author's narrative, or even the how, but his conclusions for the why I find rather fanciful.

Beer of the Week Blast from the Past: JW Dundee's Honey Brown Lager

Beer score: 6.7

I didn't have time to try a new beer this week, but here are some notes from a beer I tried years ago, a beer that's no longer with us.

This nice brew was a fine, sweet beer that went down smooth, proof that a good beer doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, since at the time it cost about as much as many premium beers in the bottle.

This was a good drinking beer and somewhat reminded me of Newcastle Brown Ale except this beer was sweeter. It will be missed.

On the plus side, the Genesee Brewery bought out this beer and still makes a version of it called Genesee Specialty Honey Brown, which I've yet to try but perhaps uses the same recipe.

Books read in 2023: No. 10 - The Book of Obadiah

published by Zondervan

Started: March 22
Finished: March 22

Notes: As this is one of the shortest books in the Bible, I thought I'd go ahead and read it before moving on to other material.

Mini review: This short book focuses upon God's punishment of the kingdom of Edom and his promise to restore Israel.

Books read in 2023: No. 9 -- The Book of Amos

published by Zondervan

Started: March 21
Finished: March 22

Notes: Here's the next of the prophetic works from the latter part of the Old Testament. Doing a little digging, I discovered that scholars generally believe this to have been the first written of the prophetic works of the Old Testament.

Mini review: Speaking through the prophet Amos, God basically tells of how He will punish various nations including Israel for their sins against Him, though at least Israel will eventually be revived.

Books read in 2023: No. 8 -- Lightning

by Ed McBain

Started: March 16

Finished: March 21

Notes: I've been reading so much literary and/or serious material of late, I decided to take a break and just read something for fun. Since I love 87th Precinct novels so much, I turn to one of them.

Mini review: A serial rapist and a murderer of young running athletes are loose in the city and the detectives of the 87th Precinct must discover the identities of these perpetrators and bring them to justice. But this novel is a lot more complicated than that, getting quite personal in the lives of a number of the detectives here. For a decade now I've held that the 87th Precinct novel titles Ghosts has been my favorite, and it still is, but Lightning comes darn close ... darn close.