These are the words, images, and beers that inspired the GBH collective this week. Drinking alone just got better, because now you're drinking with all of us.
image from Alan McFadyen
READ. // "The verdict on each craft beer will be made by consumers. No amount of distribution or promotion will keep substandard beers on the shelf." NPR has been active in the past year on covering the beer industry, and they're sharing with listeners the latest on AB InBev vs. the world.
LOOK. // Cool. Only took Alan McFadyen 4,200 hours and 720,000 exposures to capture this incredible shot. Least you can do is look.
DRINK. // Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Oktoberfest
What a treat this annual release has become. Sierra's yearly team-up with a German brewer to celebrate Oktoberfest brings in Brauhaus Miltenberger for 2017, creating another wonderfully easy festival Lager to enjoy. Grab a 12-pack for around $16—it's worth it—and enjoy this malt-forward Lager that becomes too easy to drink by the liter.
READ. // "There’ve been people whose music I can’t like anymore because I’ve seen them bitching on Twitter about a waiter like a fucking asshole." There are a couple corny, get-off-my-lawn moments here, but this long chat with Trent Reznor is mostly *extremely flames emoji* on repeat.
LOOK. // I stumbled upon Fabian Williams' latest mural when I made a wrong turn recently in my hometown of Atlanta. A stunning, gigantic, fluorescent rendering of civil rights leader Hosea Williams, it led me to his website, where I realized I've been enjoying his work around town for years.
DRINK. // Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!'s Péché Mortel
I feel a certain pressure—as I'm sure a lot of folks reading this do—to always be trying the new thing, having opinions, staying on top of trends, etc. But there's something comforting about coming back to a beer like this one, in all its roasty, dry, Espresso-heavy glory for the 10th or 50th time.
READ. // "In the 1970s, there were only a couple hundred ultrarunners at most, and only a handful of official ultramarathons. None were in Tennessee. So Laz set up his own, the Strolling Jim, a forty-mile race named after a champion walking horse. 'I wasn't very fast,' Laz said, 'and I didn't have outstanding endurance, but I could take a lot of punishment.'" Not only is this story one of the most compelling portraits I've ever read of a person, but much of it, maybe too much, reminds me of the half-crazed dedication to an objectively terrible idea most craft brewers had twentysome years ago. And it turned out just fine.
LOOK. // As a middle-aged man, it's fascinating to me that Summer—either its beginning or end or just it's Platonic ideal—is still scorched into my brain as a magical time of transition. In this video, Khalid captures the spirit of that encroaching return to school in the fall that was both sad and exhilarating. Young Dumb & Broke? All of us forever, probably.
DRINK. // Pollyanna Brewing Company's Fruhauf Märzen
Here come the creeping seasonals, don't @ me. My first Oktoberfest beer of the year is last year's GABF bronze medal winner—and for good reason. It's got that toasty, malty baseline, a bit of lemon and spice peeking out, and an extra dry and surprisingly light finish without the lingering caramel sweetness of many. I'm a sixer in already. Bring on the fall.
Curated by The GBH Collective
