The Book

Naomi Alderman's The Power isn't exactly a dystopia - though the prologue does take place far in the future. Society has changed fundamentally: the entire world is now a matriarchy in which today's holiday, Equal Pay Day, would exist only in the inverse. In the prologue, a male writer grovels to his female editor, "Anyway, sorry, I'll shut up now. I don't want to influence you, just read it and tell me what you think. I hope your own book's going well. I can't wait to read it, when it's ready to be seen. Thank you so much for this. I am so grateful you could spare the time." In response, she muses, "I think I'd rather enjoy this 'world run by men' you've been talking about. Surely a kinder, more caring and - dare I say it? - more sexy world than the one we live in." By the way that Alderman handles this brief exchange, you can tell she has an ear for the nuances of tone, but the premise of her novel is anything but subtle.

Nor is The Power sci-fi, though it does have to do with humans evolving a trait found in another species, electric eels. It's jacket copy calls it "speculative fiction," which sounds about right. It spins on a kernel of an evolutionary shift: one day, pubescent girls discover that they can create and control an electric current, skeining it out from their collarbones and through their hands. And the young girls can activate the power in older woman by taking their hands and giving them a jolt.

I still have 100 pages to a read, so I can't spoil too much for you, but just ruminate on how the world would slip and shift if women had such a power. The chapters alternate locales and heroines, giving us glimpses of how different societies around the world adapt to this change in women's nature. They range in impact: one girl uses her trick to light cigarettes by arcing a current between her thumb and fore-finger, another uses it to liberate victims of sex-trafficking in Moldova. They also range in beneficence: ending sex-trafficking is undoubtedly good, but the Moldovan president also suffers an unexpected and suspicious heart attack shortly after, after which his wife seize power. A runaway foster kid, Allie, becomes "Mother Eve" and thereby gives thousands of women hope; she's also probably a schizophrenic with ulterior motives. 

Some people like to think that a world run by women would be kinder and gentler; Alderman argues that this is not the case. The Mayor of a Wisconsin city institutes a state-sponsored program to teach the young girls to control their power - which she then cashes in on with huge bonuses and publicity for her presidential campaign. The daughter of a British mob boss, Roxy, forcefully usurps her father's empire. "Mother Eve" can actually heal people with carefully placed electrical pulses - but her public healings are also something of a sham meant to raise funds. Her healing is only temporary.

I can't wait to see where all this ends up.

The Beer

At first, I thought to pair this book with a beer that had such a zippy mouthfeel that it was almost electric. Then I wondered if there were any beers named after electricity, currents, Tesla... Or at least had bottle or can art that suggested lightning? 

I'm glad that none of these pairings panned out, because the answer is much more obvious: The Power needs to be read while drinking a beer crafted by women. 

You'd be surprised how tricky that is to come by. (In 2014, women accounted for 32% of craft-beer drinkers but only 4% of craft-beer brewers.) You wouldn't know that women accounted for a third of the market given beers such as Flying Dog's tone-deaf "Raging Bitch."

Please DO NOT drink Raging Bitch (or any of these dumbly sexist beers) while reading The Power. I fear that you will be zapped by lightning if you do so.

Raging Bitch is infamous because the Michigan Liquor Control Commission banned it in 2009, saying that Raging Bitch was “detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the general public.” Flying Dog sued and won on free-speech grounds. They are very proud of this. Okay, okay: adults drink beer and adults hear the epithet "bitch" all the time. It's nothing shocking. And many Flying Dog fans will tell you that this beer doesn't even really refer to women but rather, as Ralph Steadman's can art suggests, to the correct term for a female dog. 

But then again... There's this "Flying Dog Brewery Official Video" for the beer, which features a busty woman chained up alongside junkyard dogs: 

So maybe a little something to do with a reference to women who are ever so slightly sexualized. (Or as Ralph Steadman (Hunter S. Thompson's illustrator) phrases it on the can: "Remember, enjoying a RAGING BITCH, unleashed, untamed, unbridled and in heat is pure GONZO!!!" Unless Flying Dog fans are into bestiality, I don't know why the addition of "in heat" would be necessary if this didn't have something to do with women?)

Anyway, I'm obviously already too biased against the beer to give it an objective review, but: really, it's nothing to write home about. Sure, it lives up to the expectations of a Belgian Pale Ale with an alcohol content that kicks it up to the IPA-range (Belgian Pale Ale ABV: 4.8-5.5%; Raging Bitch ABV: 8.3%). Amber to copper in color with good clarity. Significant white head. Low hop flavor, moderate malty sweetness, some peppery phenols. But would I rather have an actual Belgian Pale Ale, like Orval? Any day of the week. 

So, again, please do not drink Raging Bitch while you read The Power. (And definitely don't replace it with Flying Dog's other beer marketed towards the Peter Pan who has yet to grow out of his Fear and Loathing stage: their "Pearl Necklace" oyster stout. Though if you have to choose between that and Raging Bitch, at least Pearl Necklace respects oysters, if not women).

How about enjoying something from 21st Amendment or New Belgium, instead? Women play key roles at both of these breweries.

As soon as I asked my bottle-shop about beers made by women, everyone suggested New Belgium. I was hoping for something more local, but I knew, too, that New Belgium would be a good bet. Kim Jordan, famously, co-founded the company and acted as its "first bottler, sales rep, distributor, marketer, and financial planner, as well as the company's longtime CEO." Her co-founder, Jeff, has moved on, but Jordan still manages the company. Word.

New Belgium's Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA lives up to its new category, the "Juicy or Hazy" IPA. It pours a lovely light orange (don't some NEIPAs look like frothy OJ?). And look at that haze! Its juicy aroma and taste make me miss those Southern-California beers that I fell for when I lived in LA. Lots of citrus here - I get grapefruit the most. Piles of my favorite juicy hops: Citra, Cascade, Centennial, and Simcoe. I tasted something a little earthy in there, too, and found that New Belgium also throws some Nugget hops into the mix. (Interestingly, they also use an American Hefeweizen yeast. I wonder why there's no banana or bubblegum on the nose. Maybe American Hefeweizen yeast is different from classic Hefeweizen yeast? Something to research.)

Anything from 21st Amendment would also work. I recently read about 21st Amendment's Jocelyn Havel here, in an article on female brewers. Since that article was published in 2016, Havel has gone on to win a scholarship in quality control from the Pink Boots Society and is now the Quality Supervisor for 21st Amendment Brewery. The women of The Power would approve. (And then probably decide to murder someone to make sure that Havel one day owns the whole brewery. Again, Alderman is not optimistic that a matriarchy will be any more benevolent or less prone to corrupting power. So it goes.) 

Tonight, I'm going to enjoy Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA while I read The Power. As I finish it tomorrow, I'll crack open 21st Amendment's saison, Sneak Attack. (Its name is oddly apt for the book, to boot, where victims of the titular power often don't know what hit them until it's too late.) 

The Power has an intriguing, if metaphorical, premise. If you pick it up, leave the Raging Bitch in the bottle shop and get yourself any beer from 21st Amendment or New Belgium. Doing so will keep you on the right side of history in Alderman's fictional future ;) Cheers!

P.S. Another apt pairing would be any beer from Drake's, which seems to be doing a kick-ass job hiring women - see the photo of their rockstar female employees about halfway down that link. I took Drake's for granted as omnipresent when I lived in Southern California but can't find it in Pittsburgh, alas. But we do have not one but two female brewers at Pittsburgh's Rock Bottom brewery. Nicely done, head brewer Meg Evans! Rock Bottom: you're next on my list of Pittsburgh breweries to visit.