Tomorrow: Beer and Booksigning at Four Peaks

By Michele Laudig

What a great idea for a book: Traveling around the country, visiting 14 different breweries, hanging out behind the scenes with the folks who make the beer, and searching for liquid inspiration under the guise of research. Writer Brian Yaeger has it all figured out.

His new book, Red, White and Brew: A Beer Odyssey, is a fun, wanderlust-y read, not only because of its sudsy subject matter, but because of its personal slant. Yaeger's out there meeting all kinds of characters in the beer industry, and he brings the reader along to such varied stops as D.G. Yuengling & Sons in Pottstown, PA (it's the country's oldest brewery; I spent my formative drinking years consuming plenty of Yuengling Lager), Dixie Brewing in New Orleans, and Electric Brewing in Bisbee, AZ.

Yaeger will be in town tomorrow night courtesy of Changing Hands Bookstore, but in the spirit of the book, the event will be held at Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe. Call 480-730-0205 to prepay and make a reservation. $27 gets you admission, a book, and two drink tickets. Bottoms up!