I am not a long-form writing kind of guy so it makes sense that I have nothing even worth mentioning – as far as the North American Guild of Beer Writers is concerned anyway.
After reading through all the winners, one thing is clear: they looooove love love long articles.
Lots of words = good blogging.
Blog or newsletter creativeness? BORING! Long stories with puffy and fussy words? Sign NAGBW up!
Am I bitter and longing for acknowledgment? I don’t think so? Maybe subconsciously. But if I am being honest, I get inspired by lack of acknowledgment. Makes me want to post even more.
The NAGBW does have ONE category I would have a shot in: Short Form.
Appropriate that their short form category has the least amount of award winners: three.
Was three all the entries they had or do they just not respect that category enough to even bother posting more? ??♂️
Maybe next year I can convince them to create a “Kinda Cool” blog or newsletter category.
Anyway, like I said, I kind of get-off on the people considered the best in the field, not giving a shit or not aware enough to know what is happening on the small indie blogs.
When you’re a never-award-winning blogger and newsletter writer, sometimes being an unknown crank is all you have.
Welcome! Come on inside. You are safe. I will keep my mask on the entire time you’re in my newsletter shop.
Meme That Made Me Nod With Agreement (courtesy of Al Green)
As much as I agree with this and find it boring to use the same hops over and over, I also will buy this hop combo again and again. Forever.
Stone Of Controversy
As the drama continues regarding Stone vs. SawStone (Stone’s CEO left the company), a great byproduct happened this week. The Full Pint offered $500 to someone with inside knowledge of what’s going on at Stone…
…and then Stone’s Greg Koch comes in with a nice comment:
Gotta love the beer world.
Packaging Of The Week!
Stone & Modern Times colab for video play magic. This is available nationwide. The actual beer is a Hazy Coffee IPA. I don’t really know what the hell that is but I still want it.
Videos Worthy of Watching!
John G from Drakes Brewing kicks off a new video series by Drakes. In it, he leans into you for not liking pales more. I think I agree.
From the nice and knowledgeable blokes at The Craft Beer Channel, a solid primer on the basics of being a good beer geek when shopping for the right beer:
Beer That Stopped Me Scrolling
Definitely the beer I feel like I saw the most on Instagram this week, “Insert Hip Hop Reference There” by Trillium. Never had it, always wanted to though. Love that damn can art:
Window Of My Dreams
I did not think I’d be linking to a New York Post article today but I am because I think the concept of a wine window is rad:
(photo: nypost.com)
So yeah, the pandemic has sparked Italy to bring back a concept that the bubonic plague brought about: wine windows. The benefit is obvious right now, as little as contact as possible. Just move the concept over to taprooms and beer and we are set.
I have written about how we need more walk-up window style things, even before COVID-19, I would really love to see updated versions of these windows around the beer world, even staying after this is all over.
(Thanks to BenjClark for the heads up on the article)
Release To Look Out For
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten excited about a Sierra Nevada release. Besides the lovely can art and promise of dankness, Sierra has already committed (yes, before you even buy it) at least one million dollars towards community non-profits. The money will be helped by the sale of this beer, but Sierra will donate at least one million no matter what the beer brings in. Look for it mid-September.
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Sadly, Modern Times Brewing had a couple of sucky announcements this week. One is they are having to furlough a large part of the workforce. Second is, two of their employees tested positive for COVID-19. They don’t work in any of the taprooms, but still.
This is the first I have heard of a major indie brewery having employees test positive. Actually, it’s the first time I have heard of ANY brewery have employees test positive. This makes me think breweries are just underreporting or I’m not paying attention. Both are probably true.
I was listening to a recent episode of Trader’s Joe’s podcast Inside Trader Joe’s and they revealed that they have a Cookie Butter dessert beer in the works. It is expected to be out around September. My only thought was “What the hell took so long?”
If you want to listen, it’s Episode 27.
There is an incredibly long article/blog post at Beer Crunchers sort of about DontDrinkBeer and the amazing amount of beer (and money from raffling off the beer), he has been able to collect for charity. The charity being money to the family of Breonna Taylor and the family of Elijah McClain. He was able to raise almost $68,000. There is also a Kate Bernot article about it.
I love what he did here with his following. He must have a pretty amazing reputation with the craft brewery world too because an insane amount of folks donated beer. Incredible good use of his influence. Big cheers to this.
So this is pretty rad. Victim Of Maths unearthed a map of Great Britan but with only pubs highlighted:
London and Liverpool look insane. One of my travel dreams is to go to Ireland or anywhere in the UK really, and have some beers at legit pubs. Goals.
I love sitting. Drinking. Thinking. Listening to music while doing this is also nice. So I have been meaning to create a Spotify playlist designed for just this. In the meantime, I found one @beer_pop did that you can check out too.
One highlight is “Oblivious” from The Strokes and… well, actually there are too many to highlight, it’s a pretty damn extensive playlist. It’s going to take a lot of drinking and thinking to get through it all. I’m here for that.
Okay cool, I’m Mikey Seay and I hope you enjoyed issue #8 of Drinking & Thinking! The goal is to have issues in your inbox every other Saturday, working to a goal of every Saturday.
If this is your first time reading, please considering subscribing.
Oh, and I have started a Ko-fi page if you want to check it out. I’m starting to figure out that having money to buy beer is pretty cool.
During this time of bizarre hell and staying home, maybe you have time to do the nerdy things you never think of or never think you have the time for.
I have some random suggestions on things you could be doing at home, like I am. As a mostly homebody person that drinks most of my beer at home anyway, I should be a damn-ass expert!
Join or conduct a contest! My friends, @ChewYourBeer and @TheFontanaJim will sometimes do contests on their Untappd accounts, sending a beer to the winner out of the kindness of their beer hearts. Maybe do that…if you’re bored…and like to ship things. Another thing I won’t do. But maybe you will.
Give longer reviews. In the latest Untappd update they expanded the space for leaving reviews. I still can’t get too deep into flavor descriptors. I stick with the basics. But maybe turning a check-in into a blog post is something I could get into.
Catalog Your Beer Fridge or Cellar. A recent thread on Reddit woke me to this. You can create a custom list in Untappd of your cellar. My cellar is the back of my fridge and I have only two. List complete.
Grab beer. Watch The Shit Out Of TV and Movies
Here is what I am making time for at the moment:
Ozark – Season 3. Maybe the best drama on TV, certainly on Netflix. And holy crap, Ruth is such a damn good character.
Homeland. The final season has been good, I’m going to miss this show.
The Walking Dead. Hit and miss this season, like every season.
Star Wars. I instinctively bought the BluRay for Rise Of Skywalker but I wish I hadn’t. Not because the movie is bad (I was surprised that I still liked it on 2nd watch, despite its definite flaws), but because there are no deleted scenes. Lame. I’m trying to catch-up on the Clone Wars series too. I recently watched Rogue One, for like the 6th time, and it’s still damn good.
I miss new SNLs and I hear that they are going to be doing some sort of Shelter-In-Place version. Better than nothing but a live audience is a major part of that show, it’s going to be…interesting.
Window and a Beer
I’m big on needing to relax and beer is a major part of that. One of my favorite things is sitting on my patio with a good beer (sometimes with music) and watching clouds, planes, birds, the squirrels that rule my neighborhood and also have nests in my trees, you know, whatever that comes into my view.
Looking out a window works well too. Subplots begin to form if you have the right window. Nothing pairs better with a beer than a good subplot. Miles Parks from NPR has a quaint one going:
Huge subplot of my life working from home now: following along as these birds build a nest outside my apt.
Roughly 15-20 times a day they fly up to the windowsill, with supplies in beak. They look right at me, either for approval or to flex, unclear
Just don’t look too dodgy while staring at stuff, like the guy below (Nick Heath and especially Andrew Cotter, have been hilarious during this whole thing with his commentary over everyday scenes) :
For more staring out windows tips and thoughts, check out Rob Walker’s latest newsletter.
Do It Live
I have yet to do a beer community-related Zoom. It sounds exhausting. I definitely need to pop in on a Perfect Pour GetIt sometime though. I tried last night and everyone had already left. This is my Zoom fear; joining a Zoom and there being only a couple people and I immediately regret my decision.
Live feeds from Instagram is huge right now. Lots of beer-related personalities and breweries have regular live feeds. I keep meaning to do it for the Perfect Pour. I’ve been enjoying Marc Maron’s, I have not poped in on too many other peeps yet.
Moody Beer With Moody Music
Listening to music and drinking some beers. Pretty damn relaxing. This is one that works well solo or with an agreeable mate. One band and one musician I have been playing a lot this week.
The Strokes have a new album “The New Abnormal” and it is a great, moody afternoon listen. I would call myself a fringe listener of The Strokes and I’m enjoying it on the Spotifys.
Folk musician, John Prine, passed away due to COVID. I knew the name but, I have to admit, wasn’t too familiar with his stuff. Started going through his music and discovered that I’m a fan. Marc Maron released an old episode of WTF with John, worth a listen.
Ship It Forward
Hope you live in a state like California that allows breweries to ship everywhere. My current California recommendations are:
You gotta really plop down some cash if you want Russian River at your door. At the moment I looked at the site, the only thing you can get is a $153 dollar case of Citra Flash Mob or Happy Hops or a mix of both. Plus some of their barrel-aged beers for even more. Seems steep but having Russian River delivered to your door also sounds pretty damn rad. Maybe that stimulus check could be used for one of these places.
Hope y0u’re able to get beer delivery at all, if you don’t live in California. In a shocker to nobody, drinking is up 42% because of the thing.
Some Travel and Beer Shipping Related Things I’ve Done
Gone through a drive-thru and Pine & Palm.
Had beer delivered to my door by Tioga Sequoia.
Done a drive-up at Zack’s Brewing.
Had some to-go takeout beer from Out Of The Barrel.
Did takeout beer from Tioga Sequoia with an online order.
Had a couple of growlers filled at Mad Duck Beer NW.
I have plans for getting something to-go from Amalgamation Brewing.
I got to-go food from Eureka Burger and somehow didn’t think about maybe getting a growler filled which is something you could not do before but now I bet you can.
I continue to buy from the markets I always buy from, The Market and Save Mart. I have not been into Whole Foods since this whole thing went down because they are having you wait in lines to get into the store. It’s something I support but also something I’m not taking the time to deal with yet. I’ll see you on the other side of this pandemic, I guess, Jeff Bezos.
Blogging Is Cool Again?
Today I discovered a new beer-related blog called The Retro Dad. I like how Shelter In Place has gotten some people back to blogging again. Even Matt from the Perfect Pour started blogging again and folks like Beth Demmon:
I haven't blogged in two years, but with West Coaster on indefinite hiatus, one last Prohibitchin' column got caught in the COVID-19 crossfire, so I put it up on my site. It's about SDSU's craft beer program's director, Evon Yousif. ?https://t.co/cUeNHja9wO
— Beth Demmon (like “Lemon” not “Demon”) (@delightedbite) April 6, 2020
Take Care Of Yourself
Hope you are being safe as you can. Thank God we can still have beer in this madness. Enjoy the quiet time.
Stay safe. Feel free to leave a comment with your Pandemic Drinking Habits or any recommendations for breweries that are shipping now.
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