Independent Bookstore: Drink Books

After realizing that my love for Independent Bookstore Day was making me blind to all the independent bookstores that don’t participate, I set out to see what I’ve been missing. And it didn’t take long to be reminded that when it comes to independent bookstores, you have to act fast or you might miss out entirely. In July I visited Drink Books. In August, the physical shop closed.

Drink Books

I walk to the Greenwood library all the time, so I noticed Drink Books as soon as it opened in 2021. But it gave me that same vibe as very expensive clothing boutiques that have more open space than merchandise, and I was too intimidated to go in. Then this spring I read about the shop in Seattle Times, and I loved the idea of a bookshop where the bookseller has read everything almost as much as the idea of book and wine pairings. After that it only took a few months to get around to visiting the weekends-only bookstore.

Pairings

Inside, the quiet, open space does feel very different from the dusty clutter of most bookstores. Books are shelved near their suggested wines, but shoppers can choose their own pairings or none at all. Most of the pairings are not bundled, and you can shop for only books or only wine. I wanted the full Drink Books experience, so I was looking for a pairing. Because I was in Portugal earlier this year, I was hoping for a Portuguese wine with a book translated from Portuguese. But the only Portuguese books in the shop were actually by a Brazilian author, so I expanded my search. I ended up with Permafrost by Eva Baltazar, translated from Catalan, a language I struggled to find for my Read Around the World challenge a couple years ago. The story begins in Barcelona, where I traveled last year, and travels to Brussels and Scotland, both places that I have traveled in the past. The handwritten shelf talker said:

Eva Baltasar’s poetic voice is art in real time – like a Pollack painting – “6 thousand thoughts formed and evaporated like spray like lattice flashes of night” that had me on the edge of my bed all night.

I would have expected a Spanish wine pairing, but Drink Books was not so on the nose. They paired it with a pinot gris rose from David Hill Winery in the Willamette Valley. Its shelf talker was its own bit of poetry:

Prettiest pink pinot gris. Think mist of rose water, juicy of watermelon and structure of silk.

Well, who could say no to that?

Too Late

I confess that I have not yet read the book or drunk the wine, so I can’t comment on the quality of the pairing. Just as it took me forever to find myself walking along Greenwood with enough money for a book and a bottle of wine on a weekend day when Drink Books was open, I haven’t found myself with the perfect time to sit down with a glass of wine to start a new book. If the pairing is good, I’m sure I would go back for more. And if not, I would probably want to try again. But it seems to be too late.

Drink Books closed in August, because the cool old brick building it was located in is slated for demolition. Their web page promises pop-ups and special events in the future. Next month they will open their Book Cru book club to new subscribers in Seattle. (You can also follow along online with a mail order book subscription.)

I don’t have a lot of success with book clubs, but I’ll use that reopening as a deadline to help me block out some time to drink that rose while it’s still seasonally appropriate and see how it goes with that book.