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 or email DCBeer.
Welcome to BONUS edition of the Void. Ordinarily, I don’t write two of these in a week’s time, but today is cause for celebration. We have launched a brand new website that you can enjoy, complete with a new calendar of events. It’s more easily navigable and visually compelling. But, as an added bonus, the Void is now its own section. That’s right, you can actually visit the Void and have all the content collected into one place. We have turned the Void into its own singularity. I’m like a proud papa. The Void is all grown up.
Before you navigate away to the rest of the site, though, there is an immense amount of gravity surrounding the material published on the internet in the past 4 days, since the last Void.
It’s International Women’s Day, so the women come first. The Pink Boots Society has done a lot to bring women into the boys club that is craft beer. Read about the recipients of their scholarships.
Also, it is unfortunate but it has to be said: women are often the targets of sexual harassment while out, having a good time alone or with friends, at bars. So 21 Arlington bars joined a campaign to make asking for help less risky: Ask Angela.
The great British beer writer Melissa Cole tells us how to navigate an increasingly complicated world of craft beer. Her main message? Trust your taste, and go from there.
In DC news, the latest brewery in the city will open soon in NOMA.
It’s Lent, so time to bring up this old gem again: the monks who go on a beer fast. Don’t try this at home. Or, go ahead, I don’t care, I’m not your doctor or your partner or your parent, I’m just a beer blogger. Someone tried it once and it seemed to go fine, I guess, if acute hunger at first followed by eternal consciousness, I mean clarity, sounds like your type of thing.
The pre-eminent purveyor of beer diversity, Doochie, has a new book that is number one among new beer-related books on Amazon.
The trend (if you can call it that) of craft breweries blatantly violating copyright seems to have been increasing lately. Here is another example, a beer made after Bryce Harper signed with Philly.
Maybe part of that trend, in addition to others, has a lot to do not with the product itself, but how a product is marketed?
Something has to be a reason for whatever this is:
The Maryland House of Delegates voted with a veto-proof majority to strip oversight from the Comptroller over alcohol and tobacco. It continues.
Finally, I have to end on a serious note: deaths related to alcohol are on the rise. Take care of your health while imbibing.
