- Beer: Maisel & Friends IPA
- Brewery: Brauerei Gebr
- Style: IPA
- Strength: 6.3%
Tasty tasty tasty. Beautifully crisp beer to have at the end of a busy day. Strong and bold, it was one to sip and swirl around in the mouth while unwinding. It has Intense Pure Awesome written on the bottle for a reason. The only downside was that it wasn’t a full pint, but oh well.
Beautiful hazy, copper colour as well.
- Book: The Heroes
- Author: Joe Abercrombie
- Publisher: Gollancz
- Published: 2011
I am a big fan of Joe Abercrombie and have been ever since I read The Blade Itself way back in 2006. Everything about his sardonic, sarcastic and, for me, quintessentially English writing style vibes heavily with me. So, to have a favourite of his books is a big deal for me because they are all 10/10 reads to my mind. If you put a gun to my head (or an axe to my neck might be more appropriate) I would pick the Heroes as the best of a brilliant bunch.
Like the beer I’ve paired it with, this book is intense and awesome but unlike the beer it is very far from pure. It is the story of a battle, told over 3 days, and following (in the main) 3 of its combatants. That’s as much plot detail as you really need. Of course, that doesn’t mean it lacks depth, quite the opposite. What it does superbly though is get into the heads of the combatants, both the POV characters and those they interact with.
The other thing which I think is classic Abercrombie is that there is no real attempt to railroad you into siding with any particular faction. Everyone is a villain to someone in this book and the only definite Heroes are the eponymous Stone Henge-like obelisks. I’m not going to name characters as to do so might be considered spoilers for the First Law trilogy, but be advised that if you have read it you will be meeting some familiar faces in The Heroes. Perhaps not the ones you were expecting.
Abercrombie fans, agree or disagree with The Heroes being your favourite?
Burch's Books and Beers 