On September 18, 2020, Void 2.0, aka CoronaVoid, signed off with the words “stay healthy. Until next time.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but the good natured, comedic take on the beer scene was wearing on me. Think back with me to that period of uncertainty, a time pre-coronavirus vaccine, where a second spike was reportedly on the way of what is now known as the original variant. The service industry, having somewhat rebounded over a summer of outdoor drinking, was staring another downturn in the face.

Many of us, unfortunately, did not stay healthy in the time since the Void last appeared on the pages of DC Beer dot com. Many more got through the worst part of the pandemic with their lives but not their wallets. Looking out on the landscape, I felt the lightheartedness this news roundup and darkly humorous celebration of beer provided would help many people push through a period that I naively thought would last, as did many others at the time, only a few more months or so before we could get back on our feet. When it became obvious that many people would not come out the otherside, that many businesses still would not, and that there wouldn’t really *be* an “other side” so to speak, I stopped writing it. It felt wrong. 

But, we trudge on. And recently, I felt that gnawing pang in my stomach that suggested it was time again to enter the Void, when readers could again use something to pass the time and get a hearty chortle in their afternoon doo-doo time at work (from home, in some cases still). 

And as many former readers know, even though the Void stopped being words on a page…

…it never left. You’re still in it.

Sponsorship

And it got you a present!

What did you expect after this long, something good? No no, this can only be filled with the deepest regret imaginable. Most people reading this haven’t tasted this combo in *mumbles* years. I described this as the event horizon of the Void, so here we are. The singularity is the next day.

Here, wash your mouth out with a Twitter thread of actual great things about beer.

Lots of things have happened since I was gone. DC Beer got another podcast. Savor is on on the way back. Hellbender Brewing went through one of the worst sagas of any brewery in recent memory that actually survived. The queen of the U.K. had a Diamond Jubilee which she sometimes attended and sometimes attended as a hologram of her younger self. She invented time travel! Sort of! Not really!

Do you want to learn about Brussels as a beer city in 50 objects? Of course you do.

Do you want to drink beer in one of these places?

Are you reading this and still confused about the difference between lagers and ales? Do you want to know the difference? No? Well too bad.

Let’s all read a Phil Runco long read on Anchovy hops and why they’re called Anchovy when in fact anchovies have nothing to do with the hop or the flavor. Afterward, let’s chase it with a Jeff Alworth long read on old ales and how they used to be funky but now they’re not.

Finally, I don’t want to keep you too long for our first time around, I want to ease you back into things. But I do want you to read this short piece about reacting to the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. It’s important to remember why we’re here.

The Void won’t be weekly this time around, so the next one will be chock full of more content for the singularity. Prepare yourselves. See you on the other side.