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.// I recommend “Cork Dork” by Bianca Bosker to everyone sooner or later, so I may as well do it here. This book may be about wine—and about what it takes to go from wine neophyte to pro sommelier in one year—but there's so much that rings true for the world of beer, too. The pursuit of flavor and quality, yes, but also the obsessive nature of some of the people involved, and the crazy extremes they go to in order to follow their passion.
LOOK.// The new HBO/Sky One comedy “Avenue 5” takes Sartre’s assertion that “hell is other people” and blasts it into space. Hugh Laurie is the captain of a stricken space cruiser, in over his head for ... reasons, while Rebecca Front plays a perfect Karen there to make his life a misery. The passengers and crew, who already loathe one another, face being stuck in each other's company for even longer after their ship gets knocked off its intended course. That happens, of course, when a gravity mod malfunctions, slamming the biggest yoga class ever held in space into one side of the ship.
DRINK.// Boxcar Brewery’s Dark Mild
This beer fills a gap in the market that you didn't realize existed until your second sip. It's dark, but it's not roasty like a Stout. There's no acrid black malt. It's a Mild, but it's not your grandad's beer. It's fruity and earthy but with enough of a kick, despite its relatively low ABV (3.6%), that it really hits the spot. It's a beer you could happily drink all evening without doing too much damage. And now you can get it in cans, too.
READ.// A few weeks ago, someone asked me if their Read.Look.Drink entry could be a book. I was sort of flabbergasted by that question—and then I realized we all live our lives on the interwebs. In an effort to unplug, I’ve taken to good old-fashioned book reading. I began with Samantha Irby’s essay collection, “We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.” It’s wildly funny and ridiculous and vocalizes all the weird thoughts that we know we’ve all had but are afraid to share. I crave stories about gross women, because we rarely get to see them as characters in stories or actualized in life, and this is a breath of fresh air.
LOOK.// During Black History Month, writer and lecturer Rachel Cargle gives her followers a daily prompt, highlighting a part of black history we should all know more about. Her project, #discoverourglory, is exceptionally educational and urges white people to do the work themselves. Stop asking your black friends to explain racism to you! If you find this resource to be helpful, I’d encourage you to pay for her work.
DRINK.// The #1 Cocktail at Young American
Young American is the bar I never knew I needed. It’s colorful, fun, and the menu boasts a variety of drinks, including low-ABV and non-alcoholic beverages. It’s a place where you can bring all your friends and have a good time, and this drink, which has Campari, tequila, and guava, was the perfect sipper for reading a book with (see my Read above) and enjoying a peaceful Sunday afternoon.
READ.// "The hardest part of that is when something bad happens—and feeling the bad thing—and trying to separate ourselves from the thing that happened that didn't work or didn't go the way we wanted it to go and to say, 'Okay ... imagine that's a scene in a movie, I can't wait to see what happens next.'" This is probably cheating, but listening to podcasts is pretty much like letting your ears read a magazine, so I think it counts. My friend recently told me to check out an older Broken Record podcast episode with Andre 3000 and Rick Rubin and it has unshackled my cloudy, midwinter noggin. Andre speaks with such honesty about his background and present circumstances; it's comforting to hear raw humility coming from the people you idolize. And each time Rick Rubin interjects with an, “Mm...yes," my mind is laid back to rest in a warm, velvet cavern via Rick's deep voice.
LOOK.// Last week I went on a brief date to the Art Institute of Chicago after work. As the museum was beginning to close, a guard motioned us over to Picasso's “The Old Guitarist.” The seasoned museum worker broke character, instructed us to look at the blue canvas from a different angle, and excitedly outlined a ghostly underpainting of a woman's face: something I had never heard about once over the entirety of my art education. “The Old Guitarist” is such a recognizable piece, but from that point forward, I will only ever think of that quiet moment with the sweet security woman as everyone else was rushing to leave the museum.
DRINK.// 18th Street Brewery’s Schnitzengiggle
This beer, a collaboration Pilsner between 18th Street Brewery and Funkenhausen, is crispy and clean with a floral finish. A great beer for a rich, savory dinner of pretzels, scallops, pork belly, and ricotta dumplings.
Curated by The GBH Collective
