Three Sheets To The Wind: One Man's Quest For The Meaning Of Beer - Softcover

Brown, Pete

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405049871 ISBN 13: 9781405049870

Publisher: Macmillan, 2006

Synopsis

Having written Man Walks Into A Pub, an irreverent book about beer drinking in Britain, Pete Brown thought he deserved a holiday. Leaving Britain was one thing, but getting away from beer proved impossible. For while the British believe beer is, well, British, it seems a few others have cottoned on to the fact its damn fine drink. In fact it turns out there are seven countries that make more beer than Britain and - hard though it is to believe - there are at least five countries that drink more beer per-head of the population than we do. The Germans claim beer as their own; the Czechs, it turns out, invented lager; the Chinese like their beer made from rice and the Spanish see it as trendy new drink, far more fashionable than wine. What's going on? After a great deal of thought (about 15 seconds), Peter Brown decided the only way to find out was to go on the biggest pub crawl ever. Drinking in more than three hundred bars and pubs in twenty-seven towns in thirteen different countries on four different continents, Pete puts on a stone in weight and does irrecoverable damage to his liver in the pursuit of saloon bar enlightenment. On his way he meets a wild cast of bleary eyed eccentrics and samples legendary local brews in legendary quantities, from Dublin to Tokyo. It's an epic challenge, a hilarious, life-changing, globe-trotting adventure to the heart of Beer.

About this title

Review:

It's a much repeated refrain for many of us: where's the pub? Pete Brown's Three Sheets to the Wind is subtitled One Man's Quest for the Meaning of Beer -- and that subtitle alone will mean that many women will be buying it for the men in their lives (or even, of course, for themselves!) Pete Brown is a beer journalist, and has written a much-loved tome on the subject, Man Walks Into A Pub. It was, he says, a revelation to him when he discovered that many countries produce, drink and pay homage to beer more than the British. He noted that the Australians, Germans and other nations consider that they have the best beer in the world, and he was similarly bemused by other beer-related topics (such as the fact that the Japanese constructed a building in the shape of a glass of beer with a foaming head, and that the Spanish have very different ideas from the British about what social classes drink beer.) As all this beer-related information rushed in, Brown wondered why the national drink of the UK appeared to be losing its favoured status. The answer – for him – was to set out on the biggest pub crawl that the UK had ever seen (a dirty job, but someone had to do it). Putting both his health (and waistline) at risk, Brown has put together the definitive book on subject. And while the tone and title may be tongue in cheek, Three Sheets to the Wind is actually a fascinating piece social history that tells us as much about ourselves as it does about a certain refreshing drink. And, let's face it, it is no mean achievement to impart so much useful information as Pete Brown does -- while still making us laugh. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

'Beer-loving Pete Brown staggers off on the largest pub crawl in history in Three Sheets To The Wind. -- Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror

'Brown, one guesses, would make a fine drinking companion. In his
absence, the book is a fine substitute.'
-- Sunday Express

'Carlsberg don't publish books. But if they did, they would probably come up with Three Sheets to the Wind...' -- Metro

'Over 300 bars on four different continents later and the man still manages to make you laugh.' -- Daily Mirror

'a merry trawl through international mores and insights into drinking that make our crude bingeing look depressing' -- Metro

'good-humoured, flush-faced kind of book, which grabs you firmly
by the coat lapels and will not let you go' -- Guardian

‘The life of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman is chronicled in an
unorthodox and refreshing way.' -- Daily Express

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1405049871
• ISBN 13: 9781405049870
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304