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: Charlotte Hudson
READ. // "The app activates fears that are rooted not in logic but in magic: the lock of hair gives the sorcerer power over the maiden; once the manuscript brushes elbows with the public seating chart, it is revealed to the same set of prying eyes." Google Docs, writerly anxieties, capybaras? This essay has it all.
LOOK. // GBH has worked with Charlotte Croy Hudson on all sorts of stuff, from a House Culture essay to a beer glass to our latest underwriting series. And, I mean, no wonder: her illustrations are outstanding.
DRINK. // Scratch Brewing Company's Basil IPA
Why was this curious, small-batch beer made in Southern Illinois available at a tiny bottle shop in Hilton Head, South Carolina? No clue! But I'm happy to have stumbled upon it. While I normally have to wait until the holidays when I visit my parents back home in the Land of Lincoln to have some of Scratch's delightful farm beers, I got to enjoy this funky, yeast-and-basil-driven, easy-drinking brew while watching a gator laze about in a pond. No regrets.
READ. // “What does it take for a beer, like Kristina’s grisette, to become dismissed as 'chick beer' or 'bitch beer?' The men and women interviewed by Darwin both draw the gender line mostly around flavor: beers that are light, sweet and, yes, fruity, are meant for chicks. Meanwhile, flavors that require time and practice to cultivate an appreciation for, like bitterness, are generally understood as elite and, by default, manly.” PUNCH takes a well-deserved shot at the sexist perception of beer styles. Men are terrible.
LOOK. // I’m becoming particularly fond of the growing trend of print publications releasing their vintage photography and design archives onto Instagram. My latest obsession is Old New York Magazine, a collection of some of the earliest and most uniquely designed covers, spreads, and ads of a Big Apple institution.
DRINK. // Half Acre Beer Company's Daisy Capra
Years ago, I used to make some crazy treks around Chicago for a 4-pack of Half Acre’s Daisy Cutter, but who knows what lengths I would have gone for their newest variety, Daisy Capra. A wonderfully floral Double Pale, Capra manages to showcase the deep fruitiness of the new Australian Enigma hop without losing any of Daisy Cutter’s malty backbone that we all know and love. It's the hippy cousin of the family, and a welcome addition.
READ. // "Choosing a goal puts a huge burden on your shoulders. Can you imagine if I had made it my goal to write two books this year? Just writing that sentence stresses me out." As a writer and visual artist who entered the strategy world, I'm all too aware of how artistic goals can paralyze rather than progress. This take comes from the aptly-named James Clear, who reminded me of how useful it can be to focus on the system and ignore the goals in a small business.
LOOK. // "Alternatively called Finish Fetish or Light and Space, the movement's works were influenced by the surf industry, custom car culture, and the legendary climate of Southern California and characterized by slick surfaces and dreamy, sometimes atmospheric color." This exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago shut my entire day down, and is still haunting me a week later. Go see it.
DRINK. // Boston Beer Co.'s Sam '76
I think this is the best nationally-released beer in years. It's a blended Lager and ale base, which the company continues to tout as its unique value. But I'd argue that it's far more of an update to the American wheat beer—with just a touch of that silky, long texture on the back of a crisp, citrus and lemon, and a clean Lager-like finish. This is the beer that should turn perceptions of Boston Beer around, but I fear they're not capitalizing on exactly how great it is.
Curated by The GBH Collective
