Throwback Brewery’s new book club brings together beers, books,
and people who love them
Words and photo by J.L. Stevens
The first rule of Throwback Brewery’s new book club is: order your beer first. The second rule of Throwback’s book club is make sure you’ve got a plate of snacks — homemade bread pudding; chicken, basil, and sundried tomato sausage; and pretzels dipped in mustard. And the third rule of book club is that you don’t necessarily have to talk about the book (though that does help).
The North Hampton brewery hosted the inaugural meeting of its new book club on Feb. 15, when five brave and hearty readers managed to dig themselves out of the 20 inches of snow that fell the previous day for a discussion of Dashiell Hammett’s classic hardboiled detective novel, “The Maltese Falcon.” Though there are plenty of book clubs on the Seacoast, and though you can go to, say, Portsmouth Book & Bar and drink a beer and read a book, Throwback is currently the only brewery pouring beers and talking prose.
How’d it get started? A friend of Throwback’s owners, Nicole Carrier and Annette Lee, invited Lee to a beer and book club at someone’s house near Boston. But Carrier didn’t want to keep making the trek, and so they created their own.
Lee and Carrier announced the club’s formation in January with a blog post. It seemed innocuous enough. You had one month to obtain and read “The Maltese Falcon.” And who had actually read that book? At 217 pages, it wasn’t too daunting. A whopping 35 people said they’d be there on Feb. 15 to discuss the book.
But then the storm happened. Of the heady crew of 35 who RSVP’d, only four made it through the storm, bringing the initial club count to five, including Carrier, who only had to slide across the street from her house at Hobbs Farm. The crew: Carrier, two writers from Rye, Cat (who was visiting Carrier) and Terri, who trekked from Portsmouth.
It was the pairing of books and beer that intrigued Terri; it always seemed the book clubs she belonged to involved wine. “I’m happy to see a club that has beer and I love Throwback,” she said.
Why wasn’t Lee sitting at the book club table with the tiny crew?
“Annette doesn’t like to read,” joked Carrier. “Let’s just say Annette’s bookshelf has books such as ‘Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening.’” Books about canning and mushrooms didn’t fly with this group. Plus, Lee was busy helping customers coming in to the brewery.
“Should we talk about the book?” Carrier asked at the meeting. “Did anyone like it?”
All did, and Terri added, “It’s not something I would normally pick up,” which she said made it special in itself.
How did “The Maltese Falcon” come to be the first book? Carrier said two of her friends generated a spreadsheet of possible titles. She’d watch and occasionally type “NO” to suggestions like James Joyce and Tolstoy.
“‘Ulysses?’ Forget about it. Do you actually want people to show up?” Carrier said.
Back to the book on the table: How did everyone envision lead character Sam Spade’s appearance? Hammett repeatedly referred to his yellow-gray eyes and smiles that showed his eye-teeth. All at once, as if on cue, everyone tried to smile that big.
One of the readers from Rye said he really liked the old-fashionedness of the book, especially the toasts. “Here’s to plain speaking and clear understanding,” he said, raising a glass.
Carrier said this was the first book she’d read in a long time that wasn’t on an iPad or a Kindle. She thought she read it more slowly and appreciated it more.
“And how many cigarettes did Sam Spade roll?” the gentleman said to the laughing group.
Should we — could we — make a beer connection with this book choice, asked Terri, (clearly an A student)? “Not unless we call it ‘The Maltose Falcon,’” said Carrier, alluding to the malt sugar used in brewing.
Settling up tabs at the bar before heading back out into the snow, Lee had the last word. “I actually like to read, despite what they say. But, really, this falls in line with what we strive to be as a community brewery. We aspire to be a community of beer drinkers. This is a great way to bring together people who want to read.”
The Throwback Brewery Book Club next meets on Sunday, March 22 at 1 p.m. at the brewery, located at 121 Lafayette Road, Unit #3, North Hampton. The book selection will be Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.” Call 603-379-2317 or email info@throwbackbrewery.com.