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.// “The possibility that these artsy, aesthetic slideshows could devolve into something malicious shouldn’t be discounted.” You've seen them: The pastel-colored, text-heavy Instagram slideshows designed to educate us on particular aspects of social justice. Vox examines why they all seem to share a similar aesthetic—and why the ubiquitous mini-slideshow format isn't immune to misinformation.
LOOK.// Maybe you also need 15 minutes of John Legend singing (seemingly) directly to you via his NPR Tiny Desk Home Concert. I want to crawl inside his living room full of talented musicians, calming abstract art, and happy houseplants.
DRINK.// Trillium x White Lion’s Black Is Beautiful Blended Imperial Stout with Papua New Guinea Vanilla Beans
File this in Merriam-Webster under “luscious”—sticky vanilla beans tag-team with vanilla notes from the bourbon barrels, while rum barrel aging contributes a bright plum fruitiness. A latte-like roast character provides the foundation. It took me about an hour to drink 6oz of this—it’s one to savor.
READ.// “At its core this is a book about power. Information is the oxygen of control. Secrecy and surveillance, intertwined, defines its flows. ‘Who knows what?’ is a pretty good proxy for ‘Who governs whom?’” There’s quite a chasm between the definitions of “hero” and “traitor,” but somehow American whistleblower Edward Snowden manages to blur the lines between the two. In Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, journalist Barton Gellman recounts the before, during, and after of Snowden’s earth-shattering revelations drawn from his time working with the National Security Agency (NSA). In today’s increasingly interconnected digital world, it’s a sinister look at the United States government’s surveillance abilities and where they’re directed. (Spoiler alert: we're all fair game.)
LOOK.// The fact that everyone has been stuck at home for the past six months has prompted an absolute ton of quarantine home makeovers. Junk closets have transformed into home offices, backyards are becoming private oases, and people are ditching neutral paint jobs in favor of splashy wallpaper or even gigantic murals. I’m not exempt from these daydreams; @ladieswhopaint has been feeding me major creative energy for months and yes, I’ve already informed my husband that our staircase is next to fall under my paintbrush.
DRINK.// Earthbound Beer's Persimmon Stout with Bulrush Restaurant
What’s the terroir of the Midwest? Small-batch brewery Earthbound Beer seeks to capture the chaotic, and often beautiful, uncertainty of foraged finds in its recipes, like this Persimmon Stout. It’s made in partnership with local chef Rob Connoley from Bulrush Restaurant (who literally wrote the book on modern foraging), and yeah, it’s kind of weird. The aroma is all malt, with plenty of dark chocolate and virtually no hint of the persimmon tartness that carries through each sip. With time, that fruity tang mellows, though the beer remains fiercely complex, with plenty of obscure flavor notes that evolve during the time it’s drunk. If an easy-drinking beer for a summer barbecue can yield a Post-it Note’s worth of tasting notes, this Stout is more like Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
READ.// Jesmyn Ward is the phenomenally gifted author of Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing. In her devastating new essay for Vanity Fair, she turns her gifts towards the topic of her husband’s sudden death during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. It is among the most staggering, and most painful, pieces of writing I’ve read this year.
LOOK.// Back when I lived in New York, I used to go to Jackson Heights in Queens for Nepalese momos and Pakistani buffets and Colombian bakeries. This warmly shot photo essay in the New York Times captures so much of the neighborhood’s multifarious character—as well as the looming threats of gentrification it faces.
DRINK.// Braybrooke x Donzoko’s Vienna Lager
I moved apartments last weekend, and if there is one beer that has gotten me through all the schlepping and the unpacking and the arguments over where to store spice jars, it’s this collaboration between modern Lager maestros Braybrooke Beer Co. and Donzoko Brewing Company. Single decocted and featuring a rich base of Vienna malt, this toffee-colored beer is a masterpiece—and just right for early September. Give me malty Lager or give me death.
Curated by The GBH Collective
