'Cheers' star shares his love of beer

Drinking With George isn't an autobiography, memoir or tell-all. It has elements of all three, but in the end, it's about one thing: beer.

George Wendt's alter ego, the wisecracking Cheers barfly Norm Peterson, might be TV's all-time top beer devotee, and based on this book, Mr. Wendt doesn't appear to be far behind.

The actor, 61, takes readers through his lifelong love affair with the stuff -- he had his first taste as an 8-year-old and got drunk at 16.

He comes across as the ultimate bar buddy. He's self-deprecating, an engaging storyteller and, well, thirsty. He'd tell you that the great love of his life is his wife, Bernadette, but beer isn't all that far behind.

It's a longer relationship, anyway, and Mr. Wendt has cracked open more than a few cold ones over the years.

There's Mr. Wendt fetching beers for his grandpa when he was a boy; roaming the streets of Chicago as a teenager looking for a bar that would serve him and his pals; drinking and flunking his way out of Notre Dame; hitting the bars after performances with Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe; and of course, sitting on a bar stool for more than a decade at the place where everybody knows your name.

"You could say I've put in a lifetime of research" to play Norm, Mr. Wendt writes.

The book is a lot more than a series of one-liners and beer puns. Mr. Wendt sprinkles in tongue-in-cheek helpful hints (how to survive a bar fight and beat a hangover) and facts about his favorite beverage (its history and health benefits).

He doesn't shy from the dangers of alcohol consumption, including a look at how he drove drunk through a row of lampposts in the 1970s and was arrested.

Drinking With George is a funny, informative read that goes down smoothly with no bad aftertaste.