Cleveland Book + Beer Match Up

If you had to pair your favorite book with a beer, what brew would you pick?

Off the top of my head, I would pair The Picture of Dorian Gray with Deep Ellum Brewery's Coffee Ale - a brew I've been dreaming of since a summer trip to Dallas.

The ale is (as most coffee beers are) dark and deep... a trait I typically HATE in beers. But, to my surprise, when I sipped it it went down easy and I got a really nice ale taste from it, nothing like a porter or a stout. So... I guess it came to mind because (to me) it looks really ugly on the outside, but tastes incredible. Similar to how the picture of Dorian looked terrible, but his physical appearance remained immaculate.

I got to thinking of all of this after leaving the Cleveland Public Library Foundation's Book-Beer Match Up at Happy Dog Tavern. The event was a cheeky, quirky event for book and library lovers across the city.

The objective was simple: taste six beers and pair them with the six books selected by librarians. Each participant was given a tasting sheet, where we had to write what beer we thought paired with what book and why.

Now, friends, (we are all friends now... right, I mean... you're reading my blog!) I've read a lot of books. However; I hadn't read a single book that was on the pairing list! We had to pair Astrophysics for People In a Hurry, The Cruise of the 'Gipsy', Game of Thrones, Al Capone's Beer War, Lewis and Clark on the Trail of Discovery, and Real Wolfmen.

Lining the bar were:

• Thirsty Dog's Labrador Lager

• Left Hand Brewing's Milk Stout Nitro

• Revolution Brewing's Anti-Hero

• 21st Amendment Brewery's Back to Black

• Bell's Brewery's Two Hearted Ale

• North Coast Brewing Co.'s Scrimshaw

The librarians were gracious enough to provide a description sheet for each book, but after that we were on our own.

Some of my guesses came from a cheekiness of my own... matching the Labrador Lager with Real Wolfmen because... well, wolves and dogs seemed close enough. I matched Two Hearted with Lewis and Clark because there were two of those dudes. The rest... I want to hear from you!

What brews do you think matched with what books? What cocktails or brews would you match with your favorite book?

I'm going go pour a drink and think about it.

Hey, that could be a really fun post... :)