virtualDavis

It’s no mystery that the folks at Just Beer at Buzzard’s Bay Brewing are a slightly quirky bunch, so it should be no surprise that their newest version of India Pale Ale is served up with a novel idea: A hard-boiled detective tale in twelve chapters, one on each of the 22-ounce bottles in a 12-bottle case.

The Case of the IPA, the name of the beer and the story, is a result of the melding of the minds of brewer Harry Smith, author Paul Goodchild and owner Bill Russell. The noir-style tale, reminiscent of “The Maltese Falcon” author Dashiell Hammett’s gritty detective novels and his serial magazine stories of the 1920s and ’30s starts off with the main character, “a two-bit shamus in a dirty, gritty, bluesy, and cool city of some renown” who is summoned to a wealthy businessman’s “swank starter mansion in the ‘burbs” and wraps up 264 ounces later. And Russell has one suggestion for readers: “Please don’t drink Chapter 12 first.”

Goodchild, who described himself as an artist who doesn’t count on royalties, said he came up with the idea of writing a story on Buzzard’s Bay beers about five years ago, but it didn’t fly until the Just Beer brand started making the 22-ouncer, just the right size for each chapter. “At first I thought about writing a science fiction serial because I love that genre, but I didn’t want people to think we were pandering to kids. This serial is decidedly adult — not XXX — but a hard-boiled detective, noiry serial; it’s perfectly oriented to the IPA. I’m a big fan of Dashiell Hammett,” said Goodchild. (Herald News)

Is it too late to pretend I invented this? This may be one of the most compelling reasons yet to focus on print publishing versus digital publishing. I mean, how often do folks offer up virtual cocktails on Twitter, etc? And how disapointing are they when you toss them down the hatch?!?! But this is the real deal. Analog literature for the mind and soul…

Related articles

• Hoppy, I Mean Happy, IPA Day! by Lauren Buzzeo (winemag.com)
• Should You Serialize a Novel on Kindle? (janefriedman.com)
• Now available: “Breaking the Page” preview edition (radar.oreilly.com)

Flaneur by macfred64 (Flickr)

Flanerie can, after Baudelaire, be understood as the activity of the sovereign spectator going about the city in order to find the things which will occupy his gaze and thus complete his otherwise incomplete identity… [The flaneur] emerges as a new sort of hero, the product of modernity. He is the spectator of the modern world. (Cat’s Cradle:Flanerie 1)

This idea captured my attention. Briefly. There are some intriguing parallels to be explored between the activities of a flaneur and a detective. Unfortunately this blogger only glances on the topic. And in a second related post he actually muddles the concept a bit when he explains that a flaneur intends to be observed by the crowd, his/her audience. Hmmm. This idea may run true in Baudelaire, but it strikes me as problematic with the figure of a detective who endeavors to be discrete, virtually invisible to gather essential data.

The figure of the “flaneur” prefigures that of the detective…It suits him perfectly to see his indolence presented as a facade behind which the sustained attention of an observer never letting his eyes off the unsuspecting criminal… The Flaneur is out to be seen.The crowd is the audience. Flanerie is a “crowd practice”…The “flaneur” is like a detective seeking clues who read peoples characters not only from the physiognomy of their faces but via a social physiognomy of the streets. The image and activity of a ” flanerie ” is tied to the emergence of the popular genre of the detective novel and also the literary practice and social justification of labour time of journalists who, like the “flaneur”, put their observations both for sale on the market and wish to pursue their own purposes…(Cat’s Cradle: Flaneur 2)

I’m interested in (and ill informed about) this relationship between flanerie and the emergence of the detective novel. It’s an intriguing premise, and perhaps Cat’s Cradle author, Alphie, will return to the theme soon. Or others? I look forward to discovering more!