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.// "There’s an element of Jake which looks like he could have taken up farming or heroin … There’s no one else quite like him." This New Yorker profile of British agricultural conservationist Jake Fiennes (yes, brother of Ralph and Jacob) makes you not only desperate to meet him, but desperate to see him realize his vision.
LOOK.// Inexplicably, my brain hasn't been able to concentrate on visual media over the past couple of weeks, so watching these short videos of penguins "let loose" to explore in the Shedd Aquarium is about the level of entertainment I can handle at the moment.
DRINK.// Half Acre’s Original Reaper Stout
No adjuncts, no lactose, no coffee—this seasonal-release Dry Stout from Half Acre is so straightforwardly, sturdily satisfying that I've had to pace myself lest I blow through all the cans in my fridge at once.
READ.// "The brilliance is in the smallest choices: the awkward stiltedness of savant private detective Holly Gibney’s (Cynthia Erivo) joke delivery; the way the grizzled cop Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) grows restless and scratches his ear as he listens to Holly; the knowing nod Ralph’s partner Alec Pelley (Jeremy Bobb) gives Ralph as Holly details her supernatural theory. Everything’s virtuosic, but nothing’s conspicuously so." I've been enamored with HBO's “The Outsider.” While most devote words to predictions and will-it-return cliffhanger evaluation, I finally came across an article dedicated to one of the things I love most about the show—the acting.
LOOK.// Natan Dvir's somber, quiet images of people looking distant and isolated in one of the world's most populous cities are beautifully dissonant.
DRINK.// Zagovor Brewery’s Soulmate IPA
I don't drink a lot of IPA these days. I suppose I've reached the "old man shakes fist at cloud" point in my drinking career—just give me a Pilsner and get off my lawn. But this example from Moscow-based Zagovor is based around the Sabro hop, which I'm only starting to see more and more of. Its smell and taste are so unique that I handed my glass over for my wife to investigate—a moment of surprise I've not experienced with an IPA in quite some time. That this one clocks in at only 6.5% is also a refreshing departure from the countless north-of-8% IPAs that line shelves these days.
READ.// When coming up with my entries for Read Look Drink, I normally dig through my bookmarks and saved tabs to find interesting, thought-provoking, or beautiful writing. This time, however, I'd like to present you with a tweet about elephants who "got so drunk that they fell asleep in a nearby tea garden." Sometimes it's the little things that help, and sometimes it's enormous mammals getting bladdered.
LOOK.// It's only been a few days since I was last in the studio, and already I'm missing pottery. Instead of throwing tableware on the wheel I'm now obsessively scrolling through Instagram looking for inspiration for new designs, such as this gorgeous mug by Rose Lin Pottery.
DRINK.// Duration Brewing’s Little Fanfare Grisette
Grisettes are 100% my bag: low-ABV; super crushable; funky enough without being overly complex for an evening sipper. This Grisette from Duration Brewing over in Norfolk, U.K., is exactly that, and is the perfectly easygoing beer I'll want throughout the spring.
Curated by The GBH Collective
