Cities are more than places to live, work, or mobilize political or social movements— though they are all of these things. That they are also host to myriad local scenes that infuse urban experience with opportunities for shared enjoyments has only become more evident since 2020 as access to them has been severely reduced due to public health restrictions on public sociability. If a 300-page book about craft beer and the birth of a local scene might have previously seemed gratuitous, witnessing so many streets stripped of the aura with which their scenes had infused them is a reminder of the value of serious scholarly investigation into the basis and dynamics of urban cultural life. Michael Ian Borer’s Vegas Brews: Craft Beer and the Birth of a Local Scene represents such an investigation. Borer offers a richly detailed, close ethnographic study of the emergence of the microbrew craft scene in Las Vegas, animated by a much bigger question: in a city where consumerism, alienation, indifference, and artifice predominate, can scenes thrive that evoke local authenticity and the “well-crafted life?” The stark contrast between the official narrative of Vegas and efforts to cultivate spaces infused by this counternarrative makes the book especially poignant. Vegas Brews shines most through synthesis and application of diverse, existing concepts to illuminate the inner workings of the Vegas craft beer scene. Most notably, Borer revives John Irwin’s woefully neglected 1977 book, Scenes, which developed a dramaturgical approach to studying local scenes unfolding among disco dancers, surfers, skiers, spiritualists, and hippies. Following Irwin, Borer highlights three key aspects: scenes are (1) expressive: they are used for direct gratification but also promote an ethos; (2) voluntary: people choose to participate at different degrees and in different ways; and (3) publicly available: knowledge about the scene—where it is happening, what activities it entails, what ethos it stands for—can be acquired by anybody who is willing to participate and learn about it. Much of Vegas Brews involves observations about how these principles operate on the ground as local scene-makers work to build and grow the craft beer scene in Vegas. While the stories themselves are vivid and give the reader that feeling of having “been there” characteristic of good ethnographic writing, in the course of the analysis Borer extends the concepts, often through creative combination with other related themes. For example, Borer links Irwin’s categories to an explanation of why scenes are fun, and to the concept of fun more generally. Part of the fun comes from the voluntary aspect, which makes participation an opportunity to play without fully or categorically being defined by group membership. The public character also means that involvement can be a process of discovery: moving from the periphery of the scene into the core means encountering diverse characters, such as “beer geeks,” bartenders, and distributors, as well as diverse places, as the scene spreads out in loosely affiliated venues. The movement of individuals in and out, as well as the diffusion of 1044764 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841211044764City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2021

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书评：Michael Ian Borer，Vegas Brews：精酿啤酒和当地场景的诞生

城市不仅仅是生活、工作或发动政治或社会运动的地方——尽管它们都是这些东西。自 2020 年以来，由于公共卫生对公众社交活动的限制，进入这些地方的机会已严重减少，因此它们还拥有无数的地方场景，这些场景为城市体验注入了共享享受的机会，这一点变得更加明显。如果一本 300 页的关于精酿啤酒和当地场景的诞生的书以前可能看起来是无偿的，那么目睹如此多的街道被剥夺了他们的场景所注入的光环，这提醒了对基础进行认真学术调查的价值和城市文化生活的动态。Michael Ian Borer 的维加斯啤酒：精酿啤酒和当地场景的诞生代表了这样的调查。Borer 提供了丰富的细节，对拉斯维加斯微酿工艺场景的密切民族志研究，引发了一个更大的问题：在一个消费主义、疏远、冷漠和技巧占主导地位的城市，场景能否蓬勃发展，唤起当地的真实性和“精心打造的生活” ？” 拉斯维加斯的官方叙述与这种反叙述所注入的空间的努力形成了鲜明的对比，这使得这本书特别令人心酸。Vegas Brews 通过综合和应用各种现有概念来阐明维加斯精酿啤酒场景的内部运作，从而大放异彩。最值得注意的是，Borer 重振了约翰·欧文 1977 年被严重忽视的书《场景》，该书开发了一种戏剧性的方法来研究迪斯科舞者、冲浪者、滑雪者、招魂师和嬉皮士之间展开的当地场景。继欧文之后，Borer 强调了三个关键方面： (1) 富有表现力的场景：它们用于直接满足，但也促进一种精神；（2）自愿：人们选择不同程度、不同方式的参与；(3) 公开：任何愿意参与和了解该场景的人都可以获得有关场景的知识——它发生在哪里、它需要进行什么活动、它代表什么精神。Vegas Brews 的大部分内容都涉及观察这些原则如何在当地场景制作者努力在拉斯维加斯建立和发展精酿啤酒场景时在当地运作。虽然故事本身很生动，并给读者一种“身临其境”的感觉，但在分析过程中，Borer 通常通过与其他相关主题的创造性组合来扩展概念。例如，Borer 将 Irwin 的类别与对场景为什么有趣的解释以及更普遍的乐趣概念联系起来。部分乐趣来自自愿方面，这使得参与成为一个玩耍的机会，而无需完全或明确地由团体成员定义。公共角色也意味着参与可以是一个发现的过程：从场景的外围进入核心意味着遇到不同的角色，例如“啤酒怪胎”、调酒师和经销商，以及作为场景的不同地方散布在松散的附属场所。个人进出的流动，以及1044764 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841211044764City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2021的扩散 以及更普遍的乐趣的概念。部分乐趣来自自愿方面，这使得参与成为一个玩耍的机会，而无需完全或明确地由团体成员定义。公共角色也意味着参与可以是一个发现的过程：从场景的外围进入核心意味着遇到不同的角色，例如“啤酒怪胎”、调酒师和经销商，以及作为场景的不同地方散布在松散的附属场所。个人进出的流动，以及1044764 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841211044764City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2021的扩散 以及更普遍的乐趣的概念。部分乐趣来自自愿方面，这使得参与成为一个玩耍的机会，而无需完全或明确地由团体成员定义。公共角色也意味着参与可以是一个发现的过程：从场景的外围进入核心意味着遇到不同的角色，例如“啤酒怪胎”、调酒师和经销商，以及作为场景的不同地方散布在松散的附属场所。个人进出的流动，以及1044764 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841211044764City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2021的扩散 公共角色也意味着参与可以是一个发现的过程：从场景的外围进入核心意味着遇到不同的角色，例如“啤酒怪胎”、调酒师和经销商，以及作为场景的不同地方散布在松散的附属场所。个人进出的流动，以及1044764 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841211044764City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2021的扩散 公共角色也意味着参与可以是一个发现的过程：从场景的外围进入核心意味着遇到不同的角色，例如“啤酒怪胎”、调酒师和经销商，以及作为场景的不同地方散布在松散的附属场所。个人进出的流动，以及1044764 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841211044764City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2021的扩散