258. Read. Look. Drink.

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.

SAMER KHUDAIRI

READ.// “I’ve got a saying: I don’t like you until I like you. With some people, the shift happens fairly quickly. With others, it never happens. With Tony, it was never like or not like, only love.” I don’t know if it’s a faux pas to include a piece published by Good Beer Hunting as my “Read.” (In retrospect, I should have listed Stephanie Grant’s “Beyond the Beer” in a past Read. Look. Drink. edition.) But heck, after reading the words from many of my friends and colleagues about Anthony Bourdain, I thought maybe some of you would like to read them too, three years after Chef Tony’s passing.

LOOK.// Beer Kulture’s mission, vision, and values are concisely spoken to in this video reel featuring their Board Members and [K]ommunity.

DRINK.// Anchor Brewing Company’s Little Weekend Golden Ale
I was a little skeptical when I picked up this beer, given the big copy that read “100 Calories.” What trend was this beer chasing? What would be lacking? Turns out, nothing. This union-made 3.7% ABV crusher checks all the boxes for me. Support unions. And since these Read. Look. Drinks. tend to be published on Fridays, enjoy your Little Weekend.

CORY SMITH

READ.// “Thanks to the advent of portable (if Buick-size) video cameras, these five dogged videographers documented this fertile music, which was politically progressive and inclusive of races and genders. All were DIY self-starters, flush with moxie, who made the best of borrowed equipment and Gothic lighting.” This article, profiling a new exhibit highlighting folks who documented early ’80s post-punk in NYC, swells with rule-breaking attitude and DIY ingenuity, paralleling the very music those videographers were trying to capture and share with the world.

LOOK.// Among the recently announced winners of the Dieline Awards are some wonderful beer designs, including submissions from Fuerst Wiacek in Berlin and Change Maker in New Zealand. But honestly, all of the packaging is worth taking a look at.

DRINK.// Burning Sky’s Saison Printemps
It’s getting warmer in Copenhagen. The short, dark days have given way to long, light nights. My balcony is where you’ll usually find me this time of year. It’s where I was when I sat and enjoyed this spritzy little number from Burning Sky. Saison Printemps swirls with light tartness and soft carbonation. At just 4.2%, it’s the kind of beer that your hand can’t help but reach for over and over again on a warm day. This beer may be brewed to celebrate the arrival of spring, but in my experience, it works pretty darn well in summer, too.

CLAIRE BULLEN

READ.// “The Yurchenko requires a gymnast to do a roundoff onto the springboard and then a back handspring onto the vault, at which point they are tasked with channeling enough momentum to launch skyward, flip twice with their body folded and legs straight, and open just in time to stick a perilous landing. The maneuver is equal parts violence and grace. Biles nailed it in her very first attempt.” Like so many, I am absolutely gobsmacked every time I see Simone Biles execute yet another routine that seems like it should violate the laws of physics. And like many, I was angry to see her recent unprecedented execution of the Yurchenko double pike not receive the scoring value it should have. This piece in The Ringer does a good job breaking down the lamentable history of Black athletic achievement being held back by white supremacist standards.

LOOK.// I was never someone who really listened to Miley Cyrus—but then I came across her recent Tiny Desk concert where she covered Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” and holy shit. Face: melted clean off.

DRINK.// Five Points Brewing Company’s Best Bitter
I recently had the pleasure of revisiting the Pembury Tavern, one of London’s best pubs (and run by the nearby Five Points Brewing Company). I’d spent a long lockdown earlier this year nursing a fierce hankering for a pint of the brewery’s Best Bitter on cask, and the wait was worth it—the beer was perfectly conditioned, mixing notes of sweet toffee with a bitter, lightly herbal quality. I could not have loved it more.

Curated by
The GBH Collective