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.// “For the sisters & the sistas & the sistahs & the sistren & the women & the womxn & the wimmin & the womyn & our brethren & our bredrin & our brothers & our bruvs & our men & our mandem & the LGBTQI+ members of the human family.” Few writers set readers’ expectations as clearly or quickly as Bernardine Evaristo does in the dedication to her award-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other. From there, she spins a complex web tying together the lives of 12 Black British women in an initially jarring, but promptly soothing, prose style that echoes stream-of-consciousness without losing focus. Regardless of your expectations, Evaristo’s storytelling skill will exceed them.
LOOK.// The 1960s are over, but clearly Boss Dog didn’t get the memo. The indie artist slings merch splashed with culturally relevant commentary, all through a psychedelic lens that’s part social justice, part cosmic energy, and part dystopian fashion. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the blindfolded corpse of Lady Justice declaring “When you do not respect our existence, expect resistance.” Perhaps this acid trip of an aesthetic is evergreen, after all.
DRINK.// Potter’s Craft Cider’s Grapefruit Hibiscus Session Cider
Saison is the best style of beer in the world, full stop. But if you, for some reason, are looking to expand your drinking horizons beyond the flawless farmhouse style, I strongly recommend getting out of the beer game altogether. Potter’s Craft Cider in Free Union, Virginia is known for its dry farmhouse ciders, which are made by former brewers and feature a flavorful complexity that’s rare in the craft cider scene. This Grapefruit Hibiscus Session Cider is absolutely ideal for the summer’s long, hot days: it’s low-ABV, has virtually no residual sugar, and is as crisp as a crunchy apple plucked straight from the weathered crags of the Shenandoah Valley.
READ.// “‘Bison hooves are more pointed than cattle hooves, so they tend to stir the soil and push seeds down further. Their bodies make depressions in the ground that capture moisture and return it to the soil.’ Buffalo drink less water than cattle and are more resistant to extreme weather, so they can forage for their own food even in a harsh winter and don’t require the same amount of resources that cows do.” I’ve been on a major bison-burger kick the past month. I often question why bison isn’t as available as other meats, aside from at local farmer’s markets. This piece, published by Onnit Academy, explores the health and environmental benefits of eating bison meat.
LOOK.// Black Archives is probably my most-frequented Instagram account. Given quarantine is still in effect, and I haven’t been to my hometown in a year, this account fills that void.
DRINK.// Union Craft Brewing’s Blackwing Lager
The colder months are for beers with 200 adjuncts. The warmer months are for Kölsch, Pale Ale, and my new bestie: crispy Dark Lager. In particular, this Schwarzbier from Baltimore’s Union Craft Brewing.
READ.// “‘I wanted to go left [of nu-metal], not because I felt we were better than these bands,’ Moreno says. ‘I wanted our band to stand on our own two feet. Nu-metal was at its peak. It’s in the name—nu-metal—it’s going to be old in time.’” On June 20, three of my favorite albums turned 20 YEARS OLD. Deftones’ genre-busting third album, “White Pony,” was the only one to get the “oral history” treatment. Some of these stories have been told before, but it’s nice to have them all collected here, providing the full picture of how a modern classic was made.
LOOK.// I feel like a lot of people haven’t seen this website since it launched, but it is a formula that shows, state by state, how many people one person with COVID-19 will go on to infect on average. The goal is to keep the number under one. Illinois currently sits at .78—a very promising number. It’s worth looking at every couple of days to see where each state in the U.S. stands.
DRINK.// Jester King Brewery’s Unfiltered Pilsner
This week I decided to go down a craft Pilsner rabbit hole … and what I found is that a lot of Pilsners taste like Frosted Flakes milk to me. Too sweet, too corny, too in-your-face. Jester King’s Unfiltered Pilsner, by contrast, is beautiful and delicate. Equally grassy, grainy, and semi-dry—a truly excellent Pilsner.
Curated by The GBH Collective
