Each week(ish), Tony Budny pens SCREAMING INTO THE VOID and looks at the best in writing and social media conversation around the biggest issues in beer. If you feel something should be included, have a tip, or just want to sound off, feel free to look him up on Twitter @drinksthethings, email DCBeer, or send a chatsnap or what else the kids do these days. To the media!
You ever have one of those days when it’s all over, you go home from work, sit on your couch and think to yourself, “Boy, I sure could go for an ice cold glass of a sovereign nation?” Well, good news! An extremely large beer company that USED to be known to make a fizzy yellow lager known as “Budweiser” now makes "America." Huge upgrade.
A friend continues to post "America" on Bud trucks during deliveries at his liquor store.#ftfy pic.twitter.com/ZeCODXnttC
— BryanDRoth (@BryanDRoth) May 20, 2016
Here is the only time this space will likely ever feature George Will, who writes that AB-InBev has changed the tag line for the beer to “E Pluribus Unum," short for “Perhaps a gusher of patriotic kitsch will stanch the leakage of our market share to pestilential craft breweries.” Look, if George Will isn’t on your side and your market is “middle America,” maybe you’ve lost a bit of your market. Just a thought. I mean, what could be more American than competition, right?
Conversation of the Week:
Actually it's about ethics in beer journalism.
Good Beer Hunting has been in a back-and-forth about the ethics of the industry with several writers for some time. The conversation always leads to wonky places that journalists think about while most others don’t, but if you have a strong desire to see writers have a frank conversation about where to take money, how to fund themselves, and how disclose such funding, start here. It started an hours-long tweetstorm with other industry professionals and writers chiming in:
but when you sell a fuckton of ads and partner with breweries on six-figure fests its allll good. #lookatmyjunket pic.twitter.com/sOGndcRGoN
— Good Beer Hunting (@goodbeerhunting) May 18, 2016
The crux of it centers around the age-old journalistic question about standards of practice for accepting money and other payment. Many outlets choose to take on trips funded by breweries with the requirement of writing about them, sometimes even favorably, and sometimes lacking in disclosure of the agreement. Check it out for some inside information on the glamorous career we’ve carved out for ourselves.
Friday Afternoon Reads:
Oliver Gray helmed the good ship The Session this month. It's a roundup of sorts and a must-read for beer enthusiasts. This month, the topic discussed, among other things, Gray's own current position in a mid-life crisis of beer drinking. It’s the Curb Your Enthusiasm edition of the Session. Be sure to check out part 2 as well.
Speaking of enthusiasm in craft, in what’s becoming a trend on Screaming Into the Void, Bryan Roth is here again talking about beer-vangelism and its trend away from old stalwart breweries such as Sam Adams, which he likens drinking to “a political act.” He also unapologetically drinks an IPA. How could he?
Cool Thing of the Week:
Edible six pack rings! Check these out!
As a child born in the 80s, I know that to prevent the strangle of sea life, including the poster children for such troubles, my beloved sea turtles, you snip all the points on the plastic rings to make sure anything that can prevent safe passage is open. Recently, six pack holders have gone with a more sturdy plastic design made from recycled plastic that holds the top of the can and doesn’t form a ring. Now, Saltwater Brewery in Florida has created six pack rings from beer by-products that are 100 percent biodegradable and compostable. Sea turtles have even shown a penchant for eating the grain-based rings.
Happy Hour of the Week: This happy hour from Thally (1316 9th Street NW in Shaw) is wild. $4 pours of great local beers like 3 Stars, Atlas, Evolution, Manor Hill, Handsome, and more. Insane deal.
Thanks for screaming into the void with me again! What’s my name, that name again is @drinksthethings. Talk to me there with comments and concerns. I’ll see you in the pub, if I’m not staring into my phone aimlessly. *mutters something about millennials*
