Travels With Barley: The Quest for the Perfect Beer Joint

by Ken Wells

Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer Ken Wells set out on America's mighty River of Beer (aka the Mississippi) in a quest for his own the mythical Perfect Beer Joint. Along the way he samples great beer with the Heartland's raconteurs, probes Elvis's beer-drinking habits, drops in on brewers and hopheads, tours the World's Largest Six-Pack and a bar once owned by Al Capone, and visits an Extreme Beer Maker whose dream is 50-proof brew. This is a vision of America that readers have never seen before- through the frosty prism of a beer glass.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Beer, Food, Memoir, Journalism, Biography Memoir

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2004

About the author

Ken Wells, journalist and novelist, grew up second of six sons on the banks of Bayou Black deep in South Louisiana's Cajun country. His father was a part-time alligator hunter and snake collector and his Cajun-French-speaking mother a gumbo chef extraordinaire.
Wells began his journalism career covering car wrecks and gator sightings for the weekly Houma, La., Courier newspaper. He has gone on to an adventurous career: a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the Miami Herald; editor of two Pulitzer-Prize-winning projects for Page One of The Wall Street Journal where, over a 24-year period, he also roamed the U.S. and the globe covering among other stories the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the first Persian Gulf War and South Africa's transition to a multiracial democracy. He later served as a senior editor for Conde Nast Portfolio magazine and spent six years at Bloomberg News/Businessweek as both a senior writer and editor before leaving in 2015 to pursue book writing full-time.
He is the author of six well-received novels of the Cajun bayous: Meely LaBauve (a 2000 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book); Junior's Leg (2001); Logan's Storm (2002); and Crawfish Mountain (2007). Tom Wolfe said of Crawfish Mountain, "Ken Wells is the Cajun Carl Hiaasen." In 2010, Knopf Young Adult published his YA novel, Rascal, a Dog and His Boy. His sixth novel, Swamped! is a fast-paced YA survival story set in Louisiana's exotic and forbidding Atchafalaya Swamp. It was co-authored with his niece Hillary Wells and published in January of 2023.
Wells has penned four works of narrative non-fiction: Travels with Barley: A Quest for the Perfect Beer Joint, a travelogue through America's $75 billion beer industry; The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous, a story of blue-collar heroism in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou, published by W.W. Norton in 2019 and republished as a paperback by Blair Publisher in 2024; and Boudin, a lively travelogue through the mania surrounding Louisiana's most popular sausage, that was published by LSU Press on April 14 as part of its Louisiana True series. The Pirates, published in September 2008 by Yale University Press, won the Harry Chapin book award in September 2009. A paperback version was published by YUP in 2015. Gumbo Life, meanwhile, was chosen by the Louisiana Center for the Book to represent the state at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., last fall.
While serving as an editor on Page One of The Wall Street Journal, Ken was also chosen to edit two anthologies of "A-heds," the beloved middle-column feature that has appeared on the front page of the paper since the early 1940s. Floating Off the Page was published in 2003 and Herd on the Street: Animal Stories from The Wall Street Journal was published in 2007.
Ken more recently is the author the whimsical Christmas novella, A Christmas Tree Without a House: The Tale of Sam and the Mysterious Joseph E.W. Pine (A Very Possibly True Story) available on Amazon and which is now an audiobook on Audible. Kirkus Reviews called it "enchanting." Ken's journalistic and literary accomplishments were honored in 2009 when he was awarded an honorary doctorate from his undergraduate alma mater, Nicholls State University, and was inducted as a Louisiana Legend by Louisiana Public Broadcasting that same year.
Ken divides his time these days between Chicago and a lovely little summer log cabin in the wilds of Maine. He's an avid photographer, hiker and fisherman and dabbles in blues and jazz guitar and songwriting. He cooks a mean Cajun gumbo and visits Louisiana every chance he gets.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start that my opinion of this book and not giving it a higher rating might be due to the fact that I am Beer Geek. This book has parts that are fantastic, had me laughing out loud and appreciating the great beer world. However, that only covered about 2/3 of the book. The other third wasted time in Graceland, trying to figure out if Elvis drank beer (20 wasted pages later he doesn't), Hooters (didn't even discuss beer), and chains. Admittedly, this guy didn't map out his trip beforehand, but since he was writing a book maybe he should have so he wouldn't have wound up at the same kind of place over and over again. Also he basically refers to lagers as almost exclusively as large domestics, when lagers have a huge range of taste profiles that can be enjoyed.

But on the brighter side, the home brew competition he goes to is hilarious, as is the gold of his interview and story about Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, and the tour of the AB hop farm was so interesting as I was someone who was always curious about mass hop production.

So this book is TOTALLY worth a read but my inner beer geek wanted more and isn't that what being a geek is all about?

[Zedsdead]

Not my cuppa, really. And it's far more Travels than Barley.

I can't help but take a skeptical view of those who take pride in how 'not politically correct' they are.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and passionate, though it jumps around, this book is a lot of fun to read. Wells starts the book off as though he is chasing the ultimate beer joint... a venture he is not equipped to undertake (though some good stories come from trying).

A great way to see all the different things going on with different styles of beer all around America. We are living in the age of the most variety and best beer ever in history, and its happening right here in America. If you want a glimpse into that world, this is a great intro.

[Meg - find me on TSG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that makes no pretenses about being comprehensive still manages a fairly comprehensive look at the current state of beer in America from the giants, distribution, craft and extreme beer movements to homebrew contests, law, science, and history. And surprisingly unbiased: the author has almost convinced me to not be such a snob about the Buds of the world and maybe try a Bud once in the right setting...but hopefully this feeling will pass.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by a playful pun on John Steinbeck’s classic “Travels with Charley,” Ken Wells delivers an entertaining exploration of beer in all its forms, both in America and around the world. Framed as a search for the “perfect beer joint” along the Mississippi River, the Wall Street Journal writer dives into beer’s history and cultural influence throughout human civilization. Though his journey wrapped up in 2002, making it somewhat dated, it still offers a solid historical perspective on beer’s role in humanity. I’ll definitely be sharing this one with my beer-loving friends!

[Ryan Duffy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the kind of book I would write if I had the opportunity to get paid to travel the country and drink beer. I definitely learned some things about beer, but it’s a little unfocused, and The Search For the Perfect Beer Joint doesn’t quite do enough to hold all the chapters of this book together.

[Terry Kruse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot though I do think it was overwritten. A little long.

[Laura Weigand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was awesome although outdated. Learned a lot abput the history of beer.

[Dina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is an absolute piece of trash. Not only is it far less than insightful or even entertaining to anyone who knows about or has a flirting interest in beer, but it does nothing to inform readers new to the subject either. The author confesses at the begining of the book that he has next to no beer knowledge and so embarks on this quest to gain some. Although he claims to be traveling down the Mississippi, he jumps around the continent as he so pleases, with no real agenda in mind. He obtains no knowledge outside of cheesy "beer world" slang: "I noticed that Keith was drinking a stout and so immediately pegged him as a Malt Man. I confessed to him that I myself was a Hop Head, but tried his suggestion anyway." Shoot me. Not only this, but the reader is constantly referenced back to the pages he or she has just read, not being trusted to absorb the knowledge on their own. This is not suprising, as the author himself seems unable to retain anything that he is told or explained. Much less time is spent exploring beer than is spent exploring the people of various towns, all of whom are so boring and nondescript that they don't even warrant mentioning. But without them, the book would be about 30 pages long.

It's true, I did not finish this book, but I can't think of a way anyone possibly could short of a labotomy. In the spirit of the author, I skipped around the end of the book, hoping to find that Wells had learned to write or - at very least - learned something about his subject. But no, around page 300 he is still insulting in his lack of knowledge or even initiative to seek out some information on his own, attending a mead festival without even knowing what mead is. Way to go, asshole.

[TN · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was like a 12-pack sample of US beer culture. Some parts were good, some parts were bad. Some parts were a little skunky, particularly the cheesy NPR-style jokes and humor. I think he even talks about the NPR radio station cutting in and out of his reception as he drives along the "river of beer". Yes, there are lots of filler like that in this book. In the end though, this book is a memoir of one man's experiences of trying to gain some kind of insight on American beer culture. In fact, "a memoir" is on on the cover, but not in the title -- it should be, because that's basically what it is. A chapter goes from some mundane description of a bar or person in a bar along the Mississippi river that he says he just started driving on (without prior expertise or research) to learn more about American beer culture, or to find "the perfect beer joint", again, cheesy. Then another chapter is him getting access to the owners of breweries, even Budweiser and their hops farms, and people that are preeminent beer writers like Michael Jackson. He also judges a homebrew contest and the like. So he clearly has privilege in the beer world, which he should have explained more in this book. His "beer godess" chapter is also poorly executed and he probably should have emphasized more how little he knows of gender issues than he does emphasizing how little he knows about beer. But, I think the reason I gave this a 3 star and not a 2 star is the very last chapter of this memoir. He should have also included an index list of all the beers he tried.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was set up in two parts. The odd numbered chapters covered various high level topics in 'beer culture' such as beer history, yeast in beer, and growing hops. The even numbered chapters covered the author's quest to find the 'perfect beer joint', which he undertook by traveling down the Mississippi river, from Minnesota to Louisiana. I thought the odd number chapters were interesting. He was able to interview some well known people in the beer industry. The even numbered chapters were disappointing. The farther south he went, the less and less about beer the book became. One chapter was about his time in Memphis, and how he couldn't find much beer culture around all of the Elvis lovers. Clarksdale, MS was even worse, and the chapter mostly covered blues music and how gambling brought jobs into the area. The quest needed to be planned better, but at least the other information was good enough to keep me motivated to finish the book.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I figured a book about beer would be right up my alley, but this was fairly disappointing. It did have some interesting information about the brewing process, but for an author who was out to find "the perfect beer joint," he seemed woefully ignorant of even the rudiments of beer culture. So much so that he didn't even know what hops were. Trying to scour the country to find the perfect drinking establishment is a quixotic endeavor at best, but it should at least be attempted by someone who has a working knowledge of the difference between microbrews and mass-produced beer. I guess I should have known better than to hold out hope for this book. I broke my cardinal rule, which is to never read a book that has a pun for a title. I'll give it three stars for the beer factoids it contains, but if I could give 2.5, I would.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mix of beer novice and beer geekdom. The author starts off as a Bud-drinking everyday kinda beer drinker, but they in his quest to find the ultimate beer joint, discovers the craft brewing industry and becomes a "Hophead" (like myself). This results in a book that is a little schizophrenic - it can be a bit basic for beer geeks like myself that have already taken a dozen tours of breweries and know about microbrews and beer festivals, but probably gets a little too wonkish about beer as it starts to focus more on microbrews. I think my favorite parts of the book were the side trips - reading about yeast smugglers and Dogfish Head brewery, etc.

[Rich Rosell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ken Wells probably had a lot of fun researching this book - basically traveling around the country searching for the "perfect beer joint" and documenting his journey. Along the way he presents a history of beer in the U.S. (at least up through 2002 - when this was written), stops in assorted smalltown bars, yaks with the locals and homebrewers, and tries to get a feel for American beer culture off the beaten path.

More breezy than deep, Travels with Barley is a fun read, though the fact that it's over ten years old it misses out on the expansion of craft beer into the mix - which likely would have changed his travels completely.

[Ron · Rating 1 out of 5]

The narrative is structured around the author-constructed "River of Beer", an analogy that simply doesnt hold. He erroneously, in my opinion, takes the position that a trip down the Mississippi from north to south will provide a representative sample from which to extract a view of America's beer culture. He then tries to correct this obvious problem with frequest side trips to the east and west coasts. What the hell? Why use the river analogy in the first place? The whole thing is too cutesy, amatuerish and, ultimately, lame. Here's the takeway: Beer-good. Book-bad.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for a friend and decided to read it myself before I passed it along :) Some of the descriptions of beer-making got a little technical and I didn't feel that they were that well explained, and I also thought that Ken Wells got a little off topic sometimes, describing the scenery along the Mississippi for paragraph after paragraph. That said, it was interesting to learn more about the industrial beer and craft beer wars. I particularly liked when he was in Wisconsin and New Orleans, just because it was something I could really related to.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a VERY interesting read. Wells goes to a lot of neat (and not so neat) places and learns a LOT about beer. There's a lot of history worked into the narrative, and a lot of cool information about craft beers, microbreweries, beer culture, and BEER. My only complaint with this book was that it should come with a variety case of beer to go along with each chapter, so readers can taste and experience what Wells does through his travels. If you are interested in beer or travel writing, I would recommend this book. If you like both, just go ahead and buy the book. You'll love it.

[Vichmd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken Wells is on a search for the perfect beer joint in America and he's taking you with him. On your beer journey, some of your stops will include a dive bar straddling the border of Florida and Alabama, a microwbrewery in Delaware, and a hop farm in Idaho. You'll also learn numerous facts about brewing and the beer industry along the way. If you like beer, pour yourself a pint and read this book now.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

A favorite author, think Mealy LeBeauv, gets an assignment from his day job, The Wall Street Journal, to find the perfect Beer Joint. After reading the title, it was all down hill for me. I'm just so over sitting in bars watching the show..... Most of the people I know who kept the beer beer culture alive in our area are either dead or look like they soon will be. I still enjoy a beer now and then, but not in the temples to brew in where Wells was conducting his research.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it's informative about the beer industry, The author never does find the perfect beer joint on his trip along the Mississippi River. It's because he was in the wrong location and went looking in the wrong bars. I have a list in my head of what used to be my favorite places in Erie, PA and in Cleveland, OH. Reading this book made me miss the old Floodwater Cafe down on Canal Rd. That place was a dive, but a fun dive.

[Gretchen Gingerich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book if you want to learn about beer. Not a good book if you'd like a good bit of narrative. The information is worth knowing, but the author's quest of finding the perfect beer joint along the Mississippi gets lost in so many side trips and tangents. Worth a read if you enjoy beer though.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Came up short, in my opinion. The author travels down the Mississippi in search of the perfect American beer joint. Sounds like fun? It is not. The author writes for the Wall Street Journal and it shows. His work is very thorough, well researched and runs from dry to boring. A waste of an awful pun.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read about a man trying to find the perfect American beer bar or tavern. What would you include? Where would your beer bar be? The author mixes in a good "History of Beer in America" lesson as he drinks his way down the Mississippi. Interesting history of how cheap American lager took over the US beer market. Why do people drink Bud when there are so many great options these days?

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talked heavily about the craft beer movement that has recently swept the US. I was not expecting this much info about that subject but I did enjoy reading about it! I would recommend this to anyone that appreciate a fine brew. Especially those that are aware of the world outside "the big three" (Bud/Miller/Coors.)

[Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book looks at beer joints across America in search of what makes a good bar such a satisfying hangout. By itself, this sounds pretty superficial, but Wells also looks at beer culture in the states and gives insight into the process and manufacture of beer - both behemoth and craft.

Well's tone is very conversational and the story he tells is entertaining.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.

I even got my 85 year old grandmother to try beer for the first time, after reading some of the book - she just loves well-written, non-fiction books. This one is TOP NOTCH. Definitely the best book I've read in the last 2 years.

[Dave]

I gave up on this. The writer's perspective was very irritating, and constant stream of little, niggling errors was driving me nuts! I found myself just shaking my head on each and every page, so I quit reading it.

[Leigh Linley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book - although it was written in 2004 so quite a lot of it is outdated. Still, I like barfly talk and stories, so although the sections on AB's world domination I already knew, the insight into the birth of the US craft brewing scene are interesting enough.

[Char Heinz]

Honestly, I only read chapter 4. I loved reading about the area I grew up in and hearing an outsider's opinion. I tried to read other chapters but without my personal connection none of it could hold my attention.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

If read as a travelogue, it's a pretty enjoyable book. Your not going to get anything but cursory beer knowledge and he spends a bit too much time dealing blabbing on and on about the beer lobby and neo-prohibitionists.
That all being said, I liked it.