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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As a precautionary measure to protect the health and safety of staff and guests, we’ve decided to close retail operations at both Half Acre Beer Co locations. We’ll offer an update on plans moving forward as soon as possible. We appreciate your understanding and support. Be well. pic.twitter.com/PgSdtUEfZq
It’s happening. The Corona Virus is canceling or pushing back events and forcing beer places to temporarily close. As a consumer, I really don’t know what to do here.
On one hand, I want to respect the prevailing advice of simply staying home. Don’t move about town unless you have to.
The other? I don’t like seeing local businesses suffer. Nor do I want to see workers, that live paycheck to paycheck and sometimes rely on tips to make ends meet, suffer.
Big Beer is gunna get creamed in sales with all the sports things shut down. They've got enough money and resources to weather the storm, but your local breweries do not. Buy their beer this week please.
As I write this, I am in the camp of waiting this out a week or two. Staying home as much as I can (even though I have to go to work and have to go out for food). It changes almost by the hour so I might be doing something completely different tomorrow.
After my government recommended, “social distancing” (as an anxiety-filled loner, this is not that hard) is over and things have passed, I will go back to the breweries with a vengeance!
I’ll spend all the money I would have in the past two weeks, in one shot! Tip bigger than normal! Live. it. the. hell. up.
At this moment, the prevailing thought on Beer Twitter is to get out there and support right the hell now.
With all that’s going on, are you staying away from taprooms right now?
I can’t argue with that. But, then again, there is taking things too far as well:
Myself, I’m notebooking how much I think I would have spent during this time if it was a regular-ass week. Remember that. And when it’s deemed safe to get back out there, spend that, plus a little more.
Some folks are suggesting buying gift cards right now and spend them later. This is a great idea, but I don’t know of too many little breweries that have gift cards available to purchase online.
Unfortunately, I have not stocked up enough for two weeks. This would have been a start:
I just hope everyone is still there when this damn thing is done. In the meantime, I’ll just be buying beer from the store I had to go to anyway and washing my damn hands.
(This plan may be completely different in two days. It’s crazy out there)
When I was a kid, my dad’s side of the family used to play a lot of Yahtzee!. If there was a family gathering of any sort, you can bet there was a running Yahtzee! game you could jump in on whenever y0u wanted to.
I don’t remember beer being involved, but then I don’t think I paid much attention to that when I was young. I sure as hell pay attention to it now. … beer, I pay attention to beer.
It’s been a long time since I played Yahtzee, maybe since I was a kid. But recently I bought a set because I’ve been wanting to play something while hanging out with friends and family while I’m having a beer.
Sorry is about the only game we would play before and I am looking to expand. So I recently put this question out to listeners of the Perfect Pour:
What kind of games do you play while hanging out and having some beers?
A lot of great answers came back but the best (and most post-worthy) response came from Rhyann in Spokane:
“We were recently introduced to the card game Disturbed Friends, oddly enough we played with 4 strangers which made the game even more entertaining. I think it is a great fast-paced option that touches on many of the same topics that can come up while playing Cards Against Humanity (CAH). It is easier to play with a larger group than CAH, yielding in just as many laughs and all of the awkward feelings. I highly recommend finding this card game, along with its expansion packs.
A more strategic and time-consuming game we started playing with a smaller group of friends while drinking is Dice Throne. I have to admit though that the game-play for me gets a little confusing especially the later it gets and deeper into the beer fridge we have gotten.
There are lot of versions of this game, seasons in fact.
The last game I wanted to talk about was Shut the Box. This is one game I hadn’t seen until about a year ago, and it now seems to have made it into most of the taprooms we visit (that have games).
A local brewery here in Spokane called For the Love of God did things a little differently than most tasting rooms we have visited and has supplied a plethora of puzzles, the sliding puzzle pictured below has had me stumped for the last 3 visits.”
Thank you, Rhyann, for the tips and for allowing me to post your stuff!
If you have a favorite game to play while relaxing and having a few, feel free to leave it in the comment section.
