We’re voracious consumers of culture. And each week, a member of our team shares the words, images, and beers that inspired them.
Image via Aimee France
READ.// “A tone of voice or a look in another’s eyes can activate powerful implicit memories. The person experiencing this type of memory may believe that he is just reacting to something in the present, remaining completely in the dark about what the rush of feelings that flood his mind and body really represents. Implicit memory is responsible for much of human behavior, its workings all the more influential because unconscious.” Gabor Maté writes about the mind, especially young ones, as a kind of hyperactive space that is constantly evolving just a step ahead of awareness. But these elemental, almost primal flashes between two people—in my case, between me and my sons, aged 6 and 8—have become a primary way of communicating. It could be a twinkle in the eyes, or a guttural noise, or a physical touch that grounds us both. These little moments are like anchors in an angry, convulsive sea, and we build on them towards something that resembles sharing, learning, and concept-shaping.
LOOK.// Aimee France’s cakes look like something that spontaneously grew out of the earth—the way mushroom colonies sprout overnight, or a beehive is shellacked together in a hollowed-out tree. Or like the Tower of Babel, stretching for the heavens just before its destruction. They look alive, life-supporting, and impossible.
DRINK.// Sketchbook Brewing Co. Roggenbier
This growing neighborhood brewery in Evanston, Illinois can make just about anything—but I always find myself looking for a delicate little grain-forward thing on the menu. This Rye Ale has a perfect sweet-spice balance in the grain, and almost hints at some faint smoke—more imagined than tasted—and a barely-more-than-light body that makes it comforting on a fall afternoon that got dark a bit earlier than you expected.
Words by Michael Kiser 
