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.// “But the disappearance and destruction of these physical spaces woke me up to another aspect of ‘queer London’. While the number of places where LGBTQ+ people congregated was shrinking, a sense of community that I had so far been oblivious to, but which has always existed, came to the fore.” In Alim Kheraj’s new book, Queer London, he looks at the city’s queer history through its spaces and venues, and at the city today. As many close, shuttered by developers and gentrification, other less likely ones open. I’m so excited to read this book and find out more about the queer city around me.
LOOK.// I recently stumbled across Tom Farthing’s paintings and immediately fell in love. There’s a naive simplicity to his still lifes and landscapes, but still a deft capturing of energy and atmosphere. The brightness of color in “East Street (end of the day),” depicting the debris and chaos of the end of a market day, is vibrant and exciting, and his use of texture is captivating. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see one in person and lose myself in the paint.
DRINK.// Good Karma Beer Co’s Love That Feeling
Alcohol-free and low-alcohol beers fulfill a number of different roles in different people’s lives. For me, they’re a simple replacement for alcoholic beer when I’d rather not drink alcohol, but still want something full of flavor. Good Karma’s Hefeweizen, Love That Feeling, meets that need spectacularly. It’s full-bodied and jammed full of everything I’d want from the style—big ripe banana, soft bready wheat, and a little snap of noble hops—just without the booze. It’s delicious!
READ.// “I realize I put an end to something that meant so much to so many people.” This Outside story reveals the identity and motivations of the man who found Forrest Fenn’s long-hidden, long-sought treasure. It’s written by Dan Barbarisi, a fellow treasure-hunter and the author of a forthcoming book about the Fenn treasure, so it probes deeper emotional questions of responsibility, loyalty, and to what extent explorers need to protect wild places from each other.
LOOK.// Lately I’ve been soothing the heartache I feel about travel, and drinking in bars on those travels, with the Instagram account @shotupthebar, which posts black-and-white photos of drinking establishments of all stripes.
DRINK.// Schilling Beer’s Augustin 13°
New Hampshire-based Schilling Beer recently made a one-off beer drop in Montana—I’m hoping there’s more to come. Last weekend I enjoyed Augustin 13°, a Czech-style Amber Lager, while clearing out my garden for the season. The beer felt just right for the early-spring task: Refreshing enough to drink while I was doing manual work, but malty-rich enough to feel cozy on a still-chilly afternoon.
READ.// “[Louis] Vuitton paid Winkelmann a flat fee, but the artist didn’t believe any of this was real until he was sitting in the Louvre and the first model rounded the corner wearing one of his images across her body. Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander were sitting front row. So was Winkelmann—in a suit he bought off the rack at Zara after his wife told him he couldn’t wear a brown fleece pullover he found in his closet. At the after-party, he ogled passed hors d’oeuvres beside Spike Lee and Michael Fassbender but didn’t dare introduce himself. ‘What the fuck am I going to say to Spike Lee? Hi, I’m Beeple.’” Look, I abhor hearing/talking/thinking about cryptowhatever as much as the next digital killjoy, but I am nevertheless struck by the ingenious way some artists—like Beeple—have capitalized on the peculiar art of the NFT.
LOOK.// During the pandemic I’ve gotten deep into narrative fiction podcasts, particularly those of the mystery variety. One called The Left Right Game, created by the company QCODE, has been far better than most the others—which is probably why it’s currently being workshopped into an Amazon TV series. It stars Tessa Thompson as a skeptical journalist who takes off on a journey into a supernatural new dimension with a life-threatening horror behind every turn. Caution: Do not listen while driving.
DRINK.// Humble Sea Brewing Co.’s Kooks Blend 2 Imperial Stout
Like many others, much of this year for me has been about the pursuit of happiness. Specifically, the delicious kind of happiness you pull out of your cellar on a random Tuesday. The kind that’s aged in maple rum and bourbon barrels and conditioned on Thai bananas, walnuts, and cinnamon bark, and which tastes like both breakfast and dessert and is surely loaded with calories but it doesn’t matter because, well, I’m pretty happy about it.
Curated by The GBH Collective
