Category: Recap

Recap

Beericana, Year Two

Another year, another Beericana. Though I feared a bigger, brighter event in year two might spoil the fun of the original, I was pleasantly surprised that the 919 Beer crew seemed to pull it off yet again. I hesitated when I saw the long line to get in, but the line moved quickly and gave me and my co-pilot time to plan our attack. Even the drearier weather forecast couldn’t dampen the mood. The threat of rain never amounted to much and the overcast day helped keep the slightly warmer day a bit more bearable than if this year’s event managed to replicate last year’s sunshine and clear blue skies.

Speaking of that first year, it’s impossible to proclaim one particular festival a standard-bearer after one year, but Beericana made me a believer after year one. Now with two successful years in the bag, it’s clear that the organizers have managed to hit on a winning formula and I really hope they can keep it going and that the late summer / early fall North Carolina weather continues to give them the perfect arena for a memorable experience.

I’ll spare you my rundown of the festival itself, the fine folks over at Raleigh & Co can help you with a couple of different perspectives for that. But, if you’re interested, here are the notable brews I tried along with a couple of first time food truck experiences from this year’s event:

Sweet Baby Jesus (Porter from DuClaw): My favorite brew, but not one that I could probably double down on in a single sitting.

Copper (Altbier from OMB): The first one we tried and my favorite potential “every day” or drink 3 or 4 of these in a night brew. Full disclosure: I’m partial to coppers1.

Kind of a Big Deal (Fruit/Vegetable from Triple C Brewing Company): Most notable not for the peaches but because it’s aged in bourbon barrels.

I’ve also been itching to try Belgian Waffle Crafters (nee Belgian Waffology) and Arepa Culture, so I rounded out my day with a Cinnawaffle (speculoos!) and La Tica. Normally I would have had these in a proper sequence, but I started out with the Cinnawaffle and it was incredible. Next time I’ll ask them to hold the whip, I’m not a whip cream guy and that made it a little over the top, but other than that, the waffle was basically perfect. The “chicken on sauteed peppers” La Tica was my mid-event snack and it was also a very good showing. I still have a slight preference for Guasaca’s arepas, but the La Tica was a nice change of pace.

I’m not generally an effusive person, but mention Beericana around me and you’ll be met with a rare excitement that few outside of my close inner circle ever get to see. The best compliment I can bestow upon Beericana is that it is one of a very small handful of festivals or events that I genuinely look forward to every year. So tell me, when is Beericana 2016?

  1. Beers, I mean.  ↩

Recap

‘Born to Run’ and the Decline of the American Dream ↬

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its release, Joshua Zeitz, writing for The Atlantic, reflects on Bruce Springsteen’s breakthrough Born to Run in the context of the era in which it was released:

But the story of the ‘70s is much more complicated. Far from being an era of complacency and narcissism, the decade gave rise to social, political, and cultural debates that built on and even surpassed the era of Kennedy and King. Some issues, like civil rights, the sexual revolution, and Vietnam, belonged as much to the ‘70s as to the ‘60s. Others, like feminism, abortion, gay rights, busing, the tax revolt, and Christian Right politics, seemed altogether new.

Considered in this context, Bruce Springsteen’s phenomenal breakthrough in 1975 can only be understood against a backdrop of profound dislocation and urgent activism, particularly in the working-class communities that absorbed so many of the decade’s economic and cultural shocks.

See also: Rolling Stone’s heretofore unreleased transcript of a 2005 interview with Springsteen on the making of Born to Run. (via Shawn King from The Loop)

O&F
Recap

Optics

Last week, Google made the surprise announcement that they are targeting 34 more cities for their Google fiber service. Short of guaranteeing that all of the targeted cities will ultimately receive the service, Google did state that their intention is to deploy in each of the named cities. Continue reading “Optics” →