The Void is still here. Don’t drive on the railroad tracks.
Void Quarantine Log 569:
The beer cans are all starting to run together. Where did I put that case of haze I bought in March? Did I drink it? Did I trade it?
Running low on barleywine. The cellar that I felt I’d never drink down is 25% capacity. Reserves depleting. May have to venture to ISO:FT forums again and start over. Never thought I’d actually have to drink all this barleywine I obtained to trade for Tree House. Who actually drinks Kuhnhenn anyway? Has anyone actually ever opened a bottle until now? Do they exist as Schrodinger’s Barleywines?
But at least I can get beer delivered. It’s hard to believe how quickly an entire market has adapted to survive.
Just don’t check that beer into an app. Otherwise the NSA will log your barleywine drinking habits and come sweep you off to a secret, undisclosed location after drinking exactly three (3).
Washington, DC outlined its phased reopening plan last week. As many have said, most bars in DC don’t have outdoor spaces, so they will have to keep doing what they’re doing for a long time. Survival, already based on razor-thin margins, continues to be a struggle. There is some patience with this process, but as Barred in DC writes on Twitter, that patience won’t pay the bills if necessary. There is talk of street closures and expanded outdoor seating. But that is not in the here and now, and businesses cannot thrive in uncertainty. There will be no thriving anytime soon. But maybe some bots will be serving your beer? I don’t know.
Bots can’t make someone wax poetic about a bar like this. And there will probably be many more pub closures, like Three Floyds, coming soon.
But at least here it seems like, in general, reasonableness is the dominant paradigm… for now. That is not so in other areas. Getting your license pulled multiple times in a year is a badge of honor for some people.
The Great American Beer Festival became an in-person casualty of the COVID pandemic. It is pivoting to online, but judging will still occur.
Rocket Frog paid tribute to Nick Anderson’s departure from Arrowine with a stamp on a can, fitting for a Beermonger.
Now is a good time to link to a good thing the Florida Brewers’ Guild put in its website, a page about taking care of yourself.
Meanwhile, the new sheriff in town wrote a column. I think he’ll fit in nicely.
Good news, Pliny the Elder is going in cans AND is getting the double dry hop treatment. Bad news: if you’re reading this you probably can’t get it, unless you have a stockpile of barleywine mentioned earlier. It’s California-only.
Kramerbooks is leaving Dupont… someday. Probably.
Read some local takes on beer flavors that are off-putting to some. Hear me out: Simcoe barleywine. Jeff Alworth just also happened to post about unpopular beer styles.
I saved the weekly Phil Runco long-read for the end, so you have something to read while you’re procrastinating on your TuesdayMonday. Hope you enjoyed what of the quarantine holiday you have and remember that if you are able to enjoy it, in the midst of everything, it’s reason to be thankful.
