Customer Reviews

Drinking with George: A Barstool Professional's Guide to Beer

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I am NOT a reader. that is why I video blog everything, I don't like to read and I don't read fast, it isn't my gig. I was very eager to read this book because seeing "Norm" brings me back to the days in the late 80's and early 90's watching Cheers, a show I never missed.

If you are looking for a book written by "Norm" about Cheers, this book is for you (but may I also recommend "Toasting Cheers"), if you are looking for a book that is about the lives and times of George Wendt, this book is also for you.

This book is an easy read, broken down into very simple sections (not paragraphs) and isn't so much "Drinking with George" but "Georges life and how drinking has always made it fun". From growing up as a kid, to the reasons he went to Notre Dame (tailgate parties baby!) to ocean adventures with Woody Harrelson, this book entertains at every turn (if you don't find yourself lauhging out loud with nobody around, something could be wrong with you, see a doctor)

This is an excellent coffee table piece or one to have next to your dad's recliner. I am buying a handful of them for family for Christmas. Highly recommended.

Erik Boles
[...]

This is a thoroughly "imbibing"...oops! Enjoyable memoir mixed with beer... of George Wendt... whom I and most of the world know as *NORM PETERSON* of "Cheers" fame. In fact when I went to pick this book up from the bookstore reserved desk I literally kept asking the clerk for "DRINKING WITH NORM"... and after a delay in finding the book... I had to laugh at myself because of the "Budweisian/Freudian" slip I un-sub-consciously made. As George/Norm shares his life story he intersperses real-life trivia regarding beers of all types... from all parts of the world. This is in addition to his actual life story which is truly more than interspersed with his own real-life experiences with beer. As George/Norm makes clear throughout this beer drinkers version of "On The Road"... he didn't have to do much acting to nail his character Norm on "Cheers".

After sharing with the readers all his pre-college drinking escapades which included finding a bar where he and a buddy could drink while still in high school... it so happened the bartender was blind... to fulfilling his Notre Dame graduate Father's dream of his son attending Notre Dame... in which his Father's graduation got him in... not his grades. Well... he sort of fulfilled his Dad's dream... he got into Notre Dame but was asked not to return after a "perfect" junior semester with a "O.O G.P.A. UNBLEMISHED BY EVEN THE SMALLEST SPECK OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVMENT." If they would have had a grade for pre-graduation beer consumption George/Norm would have had a 4.5 G.P.A.

What follows are multiple trips to Europe with enough beer consumed to offset any potential debt in foreign trade for centuries to come. He becomes part of the "Second City" acting group where along with meeting his future wife he consumed keg after keg of beer... and at intervals throughout are helpful tidbits such as "COLD BEER IN A MINUTE OR LESS"..."THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD BEER"... "MY FAVORITE BEERS FOR A CELEBRATION"... "MY FAVORITE WEDDING TOAST"... "HOW I LEARNED THE PERILS OF DRINKING AND DRIVING"... and countless other beer lover classics. One of my personal favorites that must be mentioned here individually is his list entitled: "MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED WAYS TO SAY THAT YOU'RE DRUNK". Here simply as an enticement for a potential reader... is a mere inkling of some of the gems in this book: numbers 61-81: NUKED/OBLITERATED/OFF THE WAGON/ON A BENDER/ON FIRE/ OUT OF IT/PICKLED/PIE-EYED/PIFFLED/PISSED/PLASTERED/PLOTZED/POTTED/PUT ONE ON/ REEKED/REELING/RIPPED/ROCKED/RUINED/RUMMY/SAUCED.

The only slightly disappointing part of the book is that despite eleven years on "Cheers"... considering how much fun material and experiences there must be from over a decade of *NOOORRRMMMM!* there's very little shared. But I guess since his entire life as George was really a life of Norm... life certainly imitates art. This is a must read for every beer lover.

This is a light breezy read with plenty of photos. Just the sort thing to read after finishing a long book. I hate beer but I like George Wendt. I enjoyed him as Norm in Cheers. This book is half autobiographical and half information about beer. He was more enchanted with beer than school but he seems to be an expert about beer. I like learning about different subjects, so I liked this book. It was very straight forward and Mr. Wendt's love for people including his beautiful wife came through.

This book works on so many different levels. First, as a autobiography of a pretty interesting character who had a hell of a life journey. Second, as an ode to beer from a true believer (me too!). Third, and perhaps most subtly, as a Hollywood love story that's lasted over 30 years and actually appears to have a happy ending. I only wish it had been longer. Sláinte, George.

George Wendt, it seems is really Norm; as he says in this beer/biography, no one is that good of an actor. This book is both a biography and a guide to George's world of beer.
George gives his life story interspersed with beer information, for example: What is the world's strongest beer? As usual education is good for you and you can learn much in this study; the difference between American and European beers or how to survive a bar fight. It's everything you would want to know or didn't know you wanted to know about beer (and about George Wendt, who seems to be a good guy).
It would make a perfect gift for a beer lover, for the humor and the facts.
Reading this is more than a smile and a giggle it is a belly laugh.

This is a light read that will keep you laughing. From his days as a child and into life as an adult, Mr. Wendt recounts with honesty and humor his love for barley, hops and water and people. The next best thing to this book would be sitting down and slinging back a cold one with George himself.

The book is an easy read. Relax and laugh as you follow George through his enviable lifelong adolescence and acting career. He didn't act the part of Norm Peterson in "Cheers." Norm Peterson was George.

If you savor the flavor of a nice cold beer, you'll surely enjoy this professional perspective, compliments of George Wendt - the King of Beer Drinkers.

Let's face it; for a large segment of the population, beer is the center of the universe. George is widely regarded as the beer drinker's guru; the guy with the most knowledge on the subject, and the sharpest wit on how to engage in the activity in the most desirable fashion. This book is no exception; he nails it.

Certainly, George knows beer; and we're fortunate enough to have his spin on how to best savor a nice cold one. Really, no beer drinker's library is complete without Wendt's engaging prose. You'll love it.

what a fun book. would recomend this book for any one that loved watching "Cheers"

... tipping "a brewski" with actor George Wendt AND "Las Vegas Review-Journal" local daily newspaper social ["gossip"] activities columnist "Norm Clarke" [with his patented persona 'eye-patch' firmly in place].

CAN YOU IMAGINE = Two [2!] "NORMs" ringing out from customers when BOTH ENTER a Las Vegas "Cheers" bar -- see the next paragraph -- simultaneousy? ;-)

Preferred venue = "Cheers, a neighborhood bar" on Harmon Avenue [behind the Seven-Eleven store], near the UNLV main campus - off South Maryland Parkway.

Preferred time = "SUPER BOWL SUNDAY" in 2010 - a local tradition, with "Cheers' regulars" bringing hot food like no other buffet opportunity in that fair city - on that specific day!

[Even local casino employees go out of their ways to re-schedule their shifts to be there]!

"NOTICE to Publisher" = This would be a truly GREAT PLACE & TIME TO SELL, THEN AUTOGRAPH COPIES OF THIS BOOK! ;-)