I agree with the other reviewers that have rated this book low (3 stars or less) - the supposed mission that the author was on is completely blown by his choice of territory to cover and his personal schedule. This is like reading about the authors vacation - driving from small town to small town and going out for a beer each day. Let me tell you, this gets repetitive very quickly.

The only thing I learned from this book are some towns to avoid if I am looking for a flavorful craft-brewed beer.

TRAVELS WITH BARLEY - A JOURNEY THROUGH BEER CULTURE IN AMERICA chronicles an industry that has undergone explosive growth through the renaissance of US craft beer that began some thirty years ago.

A long-time career journalist originally hailing from Louisiana's Cajun Bayou, Ken Wells is a Wall Street Journal Pulitzer Prize finalist with a gift for weaving a masterpiece. His "River of Beer" explores beer cities along the Mississippi, from the heart of Minnesota to the delta of Louisiana. Along the way, he displays a tapestry of the finest hops and malts, accented with exuberance for the complexity that is the heart of the brewing world.

Wells satisfies the thirst of beer lovers - from the social drinker to the aficionado - with tales of gangsters, extreme beer brewers, power giants and designer ingredients - while subsequently searching for exemplary examples of the "perfect beer joint" in an industry that boasts of creative entrepreneurs and cordial camaraderie.

He breaks from the limits of the Mississippi to areas of the country molded by beer - Seattle, California, Delaware, Boston, and the hop farms of Idaho. As a self-proclaimed, incurable hophead, Wells explores the ultimate in triple zymurgy and designer beer, speaks with experts like Garrett Oliver and the relationship of beer to food, and explores the accomplishments of the contemporary capital of the brewing world, also known as "Brewvana." With Wells by our side, we peer into the shrouded world of California's beer-yeast rustlers. "Among the Yeast People, there is nothing simple or ordinary about beer yeast. It is beautiful, glorious, mysterious, magical, sexy, and, of course, to them, the single most important ingredient in beer," writes Wells.

This is a must-read for all beer lovers throughout North America.

Wells is the first person to attempt this kind of beer book and I think he succeeds wonderfully. Neophites can learn a lot about beer and the craft brew movement (not to mention a nicely delivered short history of beer in the world and America) and the beer savvy will like his chapters on Extreme Beer, yeast rustlers and a home brewing contest. Meanwhile, if you like travelogue there's lot of tasty stuff in there. The first chapter on a "beer spill" at a legendary Florida beach bar is funny and informative and Wells' trip down the Mississippi River in search of the perfect beer joint is a nice ride. Perusing the reviewer before me who declared the book "awful" I can't help but think: it's not that Wells can't write. It's that some reviewers can't read!

Simply awful. Though author Ken Wells may not have succeeded in finding "the perfect beer joint" (as the "premise" of this book seems to have been), he certainly succeeded in writing an awful book about a delightful subject.

Travels with Barley is uninspired, aimless, uninteresting, and and pointless. I gave the book a very generous 2 stars only because I found the chapter on "yeast rustling" very interesting -- it would have made a very good newpaper feature article, as very few of the chapters in the books might have. This collection of mediocre newspaper articles is mashed up into one barely readable book.

If you know little to absolutely nothing about beer but would like to learn a little or buy a nice gift for a beer lover, then DO NOT buy Travels with Barley (stick with one of Michael Jackson's books [not the King of P--, the Beer Writer]).

Simply awful. Though author Ken Wells may not have succeeded in finding "the perfect beer joint" (as the "premise" of this book seems to have been), he certainly succeeded in writing an awful book about a delightful subject.

Travels with Barley is uninspired, aimless, uninteresting, and and pointless. I gave the book a very generous 2 stars only because I found the chapter on "yeast rustling" very interesting -- it would have made a very good newpaper feature article, as very few of the chapters in the books might have. This collection of mediocre newspaper articles is mashed up into one barely readable book.

If you know little to absolutely nothing about beer but would like to learn a little or buy a nice gift for a beer lover, then DO NOT buy Travels with Barley (stick with one of Michael Jackson's books [not the King of P--, the Beer Writer]).

Even though it was stated that a goal of this book was to find a perfect beer joint, the true essence of this book (as the TITLE depicts) is to show Beer Culture in America.
It is an entertaining read spotted with humor. I don't think Ken demonizes the American Lager Style and, in fact, drinks his share of those industrial beers along his journey. But he does prove that there's far more being brewed in the US than tasteless yellow beer.
This book is great for anyone who enjoys beer, whether you're a beer geek, brewer, beer judge, or just occasional sipper.

Even though it was stated that a goal of this book was to find a perfect beer joint, the true essence of this book (as the TITLE depicts) is to show Beer Culture in America.
It is an entertaining read spotted with humor. I don't think Ken demonizes the American Lager Style and, in fact, drinks his share of those industrial beers along his journey. But he does prove that there's far more being brewed in the US than tasteless yellow beer.
This book is great for anyone who enjoys beer, whether you're a beer geek, brewer, beer judge, or just occasional sipper.

This is not a perfect effort but Wells has written a damned fine book that I think will go down as a beer classic. First of all, he's obviously a good reporter and an honest broker and he does a remarkable job of synthesizng beer's place in both contemporary and historical America. Second, contrary to a statement or two by some reviewers below, Wells is NOT a beer snob and in fact takes pains to explain why Bud got to be so popular and lager came to rule the beer world; he does both without being dismissive of lager or lager drinkers. As a beer geek myself I probably would have liked to have seen a little less travel writing and a little more attention paid to craft beer. But his chapters on yeast and yeast smuggling, home brew competitions and what he calls Extreme Beer are excellent and, by the way, first-class magazine journalism.

This is not a perfect effort but Wells has written a damned fine book that I think will go down as a beer classic. First of all, he's obviously a good reporter and an honest broker and he does a remarkable job of synthesizng beer's place in both contemporary and historical America. Second, contrary to a statement or two by some reviewers below, Wells is NOT a beer snob and in fact takes pains to explain why Bud got to be so popular and lager came to rule the beer world; he does both without being dismissive of lager or lager drinkers. As a beer geek myself I probably would have liked to have seen a little less travel writing and a little more attention paid to craft beer. But his chapters on yeast and yeast smuggling, home brew competitions and what he calls Extreme Beer are excellent and, by the way, first-class magazine journalism.

Although this book is occasionally informative and interesting, Ken Wells devotes way too way much ink expressing contempt for anyone who dares to like American lagers. There is more than enough room in the beer world for lager fans and Hopheads to coexist.

Although this book is occasionally informative and interesting, Ken Wells devotes way too way much ink expressing contempt for anyone who dares to like American lagers. There is more than enough room in the beer world for lager fans and Hopheads to coexist.

I heard Wells speak in April at the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. He was hilarious and I bought his book afterward and definitely got my money's worth. He tells a good story (often with humor) and though I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about beer, I learned a great deal. It's pretty evident he cares about the subject. Wells is a nice writer and the book never slows down. You come away with a good sense of beer's place at the American table.

I heard Wells speak in April at the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. He was hilarious and I bought his book afterward and definitely got my money's worth. He tells a good story (often with humor) and though I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about beer, I learned a great deal. It's pretty evident he cares about the subject. Wells is a nice writer and the book never slows down. You come away with a good sense of beer's place at the American table.

I have borrowed the title for this review from another reviewer, who I completely agree with.

First, the book is fairly entertaining and has a lot of info about beer, the beer industry, the popularity of home-brewing, etc.

That said, the book suffered from the following major flaws:

1) the author was supposedly seeking to find the "perfect beer joint" and drove down the Mississippi from Minnesota to New Orleans to conduct this search. Actually this "search" was totally perfunctory and uninspired--he essentially drove to a new town every day, stopped in one or two bars, usually in the middle of the day when no one was around, asked the same question ("what is the perfect beer joint?" to whoever he happened to bump into there, and then moved on to the next town. Often the people he met said things like "you have to come back tomorrow to go to bar x or meet person y", but no matter, he was on an expense-account determined schedule and would leave the next morning for the next day's tedious "adventure". I didn't count, but it sounds like in the course of this "search" he went into maybe half a dozen bars at night, on a weekend, where you might have any expectation of finding something interesting to write about.

2) While I can't say that the book is dry or overly boring, it is almost completely devoid of actual humour, which I found difficult to believe. When you're writing about beer, bars, and drunks, it seems inevitable that some pretty funny stuff would creep in, but such is not the case.

CONCLUSION: This book was evidently conceived and executed as a quicky, check-the-box type of exercise rather than a true labor of love. This is a book that begs to be written by someone like Bill Bryson.

TMR

______________________________________________
Just a quick heads-up for this first-rate book on beer in the USA. "Any
author who can talk his publisher into paying for him to drink his way
across America deserves to be taken seriously..." -- Michael Jackson,
cover blurb. Wells searches for Beervana, the perfect beer joint, and
Beer Goddesses from coast to coast, and border to border. Very amusing
and entertaining, if you're a beer drinker, or even a Beer Geek. Highly
recommended: A/A+.

Happy reading--
Pete Tillman

Overall feeling of the book: Great idea, mediocre execution.

Good Things:
Very interesting, page turner, easy read.

Beer history/trivia, and brewing info was cool.


Bad things:
Too much politics, not enough beer drinking or bar hopping.

Author frequently sidetracks a cool story idea with chapters full of uncool filler that is outside the scope of his stated misson.

Penny loafers in "the perfect beer joint"? come on... and the early morning jogging the day after... pah-leese!

The book would have been better if they had a funny blue collar type like Larry the Cable Guy boning up on his beer knowledge and doing the beer lecturing and getting a travel writer to log this amazingly cool idea for a road trip.

This book is pretty much an interesting nonsequitur. Although, I was strongly tempted to give this book a three star rating, it was interesting and I plowed through it in about four days.

Although the book claims to be about a voyage down the river of beer alongside the Mississippi river, just about every other chapter takes place somewhere else. Which is pretty good considering that the Mississippi is relatively dry when it comes to beer. I also thought all the talk about mullet throughing was lame. Thinking about all the pages wasted on mullets, I want to drop the rating, but oddly this book really interesting, so it keeps the four star rating.

What can you say about an author who tells the reader he's a "beer guy at heart" and who sets out to write a definitive book about American brewing - yet shows up on page 185 (of a 285 page book) ordering yet another in a long line of Heinekens?

Of course, he's from New York and what those folks don't know about beer could fill more than a single volume.

The book's first 26 pages are a bewildering series of observations (sans any noticeable editor's touch) about some jerk-off "event" called a "Mullet Toss" in Perdido (Lost) Key, Florida. Of course, the author is tossing back Heinekens here, too.

The author then embarks on further beer travels, beating the heck out of reference books to offer a few facts of historical interest but rarely laying a glove on what beer is and means.

This is a book with a meta-message. Most Americans' knowledge of and appreciation for beer still remains with those 95% who don't know squat about craft beer. Sure, they tippy-toe in and sniff around the edges, but they are like maiden aunts at an orgy, all polite interest and little else.

The book leads off with happy memories on the Bayou where the author and his pappy drank Falstaff together. At book's end, those happy times are hauled back into the narrative. Sigh.