Boozin’ Blog

It might not be the most obvious combination. When a lot of people think of jazz they think of the bebop era in the ’50’s or the swing period of the ’40’s, a low point for American beer. In these decades the beer industry was dominated by just a few companies and one would have trouble finding any but one style of beer, light lager. The craft beer renaissance was still years away. Looking back it seems like everyone was drinking martinis and elegantly puffing cigarettes.

Okay, so perhaps my image of mid-Twentieth century American culture may be a little off. I’m no sociologist.

But I dig jazz and I really dig beer. So I tend to take note with the two come together as they have recently on both coasts.

On the west coast we have Brother Thelonious, a Belgian style abbey ale. If you don’t know Thelonious Monk’s music then there’s a big piece of your soul missing. Stop reading this blog right now, go to the nearest record store and buy the first Thelonious Monk album you can find. Don’t download one song from Itunes, you have to get the whole album.

Anyway, back to the beer. North Coast Brewing has produced a really nice beer here. It’s big and chewy - very nice. When you buy a bottle of BT you are not only getting an excellent beer but you’re helping out the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. The Institute offers free jazz training to young musicians and a portion of the sales of BT go to it.

Then on the east coast we have the Harlem Brewing Company and Celeste Beatty. She’s been brewing her Sugar Hill Ale for a long time now and listening to jazz even longer. She says that she named her beer Sugar Hill Ale because it “was the neighborhood where my family lived and it was also where a lot of musicians and personalities came from that defined Harlem.”

Now she’s joining forces with World Market, which is opening a store in Harlem, for a free jazz series on Friday nights. The events will feature local musicians as well as beer tastings and food pairings. Sounds like a great way to spend a Friday night.

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