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.
READ. // "Turner is 79 years old. She has been retired for 10 years, and she is still basking in all of the nothing she has to do. ‘I don’t sing. I don’t dance. I don’t dress up,’ she told me. Even her wig — ‘a critical part of the Tina Turner look,’ as she wrote in her recent memoir — has relaxed from its formerly perpendicular posture into a saucy shag.” Tina Turner has been through it all, and this stunning profile of her in the New York Times is an upheaval of so many narratives: that of the artist working tirelessly, of the woman victimized and constantly told “how strong” she is, and of someone who needs to feign humility to be taken seriously. Tina deserves to do whatever she wants, including doing nothing at all.
LOOK. // I’m currently reading Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys, about a reform school for wayward boys in the Florida Panhandle. The description mentioned that the book is based on a real school—the Dozier School for Boys—and the more than 100 boys who were killed there before it shut down in 2011. I stopped reading for a moment to watch these interviews of The White House Boys, a group of survivors who have banded together to support one another and highlight the truth about their time at Dozier. It goes to show how little people will do to protect those who are deemed incorrigible or criminal, and how little attention ugly parts of our history sometimes get.
DRINK. // Julien Guillot - Clos des Vignes du Maynes’ Big Trouble in Little Chenas 2015
When I lived in Oakland, I used to give myself a challenge: run to Ordinaire, the natural wine spot in my neighborhood, and earn yourself a glass of wine. When I moved to Chicago in 2017, I was delighted to find Diversey Wine from the same owner. I got this wine, a Gamay from Beaujolais, in my most recent wine club pickup. It’s hard for me to describe things in terms of tasting notes sometimes, but a quick Google search turned up this podcast about wine and zodiac signs, and labeled Gamay as “an Aries” grape. As a fellow Aries, I don’t think I could have described this wine better.
READ. // “They moved to Melbourne from their home country of Sri Lanka, and were awed by the city’s rich craft beer scene. ‘I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is craft beer’,’ says Amila, who moved around the corner from Mountain Goat while working as a banker in 2010.” This is cool: the story of a Sri Lankan duo who met in Australia and opened a brewery, Two Rupees Brewing Co, in the suburbs of Melbourne.
LOOK. // WeTransfer does content now? And it's good? Enjoy these pictures from Fernanda Frazão, which depict Brazilian cruise-ship culture. Sweaty forró guy is my favorite. He makes me want to dance.
DRINK. // Nine Fingers Brew’s Waltzin Ma Pilsner
I don't love the name, and the brewery logo reminds me of the punch game (which admittedly is funny, but not on a beer), and the copy needs work, and the can I got was five months old … but the beer? Damn, the beer was good. Crisp, vibrant, dancing-over-the-tongue Pilsner vibes. Maybe I misread the date, or maybe they just got their quality on lock. Whatever it is, it works.
READ. // "It's like a quarterback, where they know how long they have to release the ball. Every poem to me is like dropping back and trying to figure out how long I can hold someone’s attention before I let the ball go and reveal the bigger thing." UGH, Rob Harvilla and Hanif Abdurraqib eating ice cream is everything.
LOOK. // Shea Serrano's forthcoming book reminded me to visit his illustrator partner Arturo Torres' website. Go buy you some art.
DRINK. // Scratch Brewing Company's Kvass
I bought this 4.1% ABV Sour Ale directly from the source a few years ago while visiting my parents in Illinois. While the carbonation is perhaps lagging a touch with age, the flavor—derived from loaves of rye bread, caraway seeds, and a rye sourdough culture—is still positively popping off.
Curated by The GBH Collective
