November 27, 2001 -- (The first in a series of reviews of items suitable for the beer lover on your list this year.)

Nick Pashley likes bars. I like bars. So it stands to figure that I would like Pashley's new book, a paean to bars and bar culture called 'Notes on a Beermat.' And sure enough, I do.

But there is much more to recommend 'Notes' than simply the fact that its author enjoys a pint in a good pub. This is a book that speaks to the pleasures of public drinking in all its many forms, from a solo beer sipped while indulging in a good book at a corner table - one of Pashley's apparent pleasures - to the more raucous joys of a spirited pub crawl. Pashley has done it all, and has the style and wit and playful irreverence to make his recollections most pleasurable.

'Notes on a Beermat' reads like an afternoon in a most interesting bar. Opinion, snippets of overheard conversation, digressions, humour and beery insight flow through the book like Belgian ale at a gathering of beer geeks. Pick a page, any page, and you are almost guaranteed to find delightful observations like:

- "The best you can say about (Canadian lager) is that it's cold. If it isn't cold, you're in trouble."

- "When it comes to vice, some people are generalists. I'm a specialist."

- "Beer is just as worthy of flowery talk as wine. Beer came first, after all, and brewing is a more sophisticated process, not to mention that beer doesn't need a bunch of peasants trampling the barley in their bare feet."

(All the above pulled from randomly selected pages.)

It deserves mention that owing to the fact that it's a Canadian book, much of the material is Toronto- and Canada-centric. This should not, however, dissuade the non-Canadian reader. No matter where you come from or where you reside, if you've ever spent a delicious afternoon at a pub or bar, you will enjoy this book.

Perhaps the greatest endorsement I can give 'Notes n a Beermat' is that after reading only a few pages, I was overcome by a powerful urge to run up the road to the local pub and finish the book there. I'm betting you will be, too.

Notes on a Beermat by Nicholas Pashley, Polar Bear Press, 2001, C$19.95

Available at www.uoftbookstore.com

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