Quarantine Diaries XXXVIII
Tuesday May 5th 2020
We achieved a lot on Tuesday. Perhaps not a lot from the perspective of a frazzled parent or a senior executive, but based on my average level of productivity when it comes to adulting, this was an extra-double-plus level of achievement day packed with admin, writing, baking, shopping and gardening. Of course, however much we get done, there’s always more. Ironically, adulting often feels like an endless game of Splat-The-Rat – maybe it was supposed to prepare us for all the life admin? Anyway, Tuesday’s biggest tick off our never-ending to-do list was undoubtedly the successful visit of the plumber. Our house, as some of you know, has been beset with the usual issues resulting from quick-flip renovation and we have been steadily leaking money through our dripping bath tap since moving in. As we’ve scrabbled to save money, refinancing and cutting back, the scorching water bills demanded our attention. Cue several weeks of to-and-fro investigating the make and model of our ancient shower unit to find replacement parts, dissolving rust off the cartridge with vinegar for removal, and carefully filling all available receptacles with the dripping water to repurpose in the garden or for washing up – as we have to pay for it we were damn well going to use it! At last we finally found an affordable plumber to do the job, and thankfully the extremely helpful chap had the whole thing resolved in under 30 minutes, as well as giving us useful advice on our other plumbing issues – hooray! A small victory, but we definitely earned it – no more running buckets of drip-water up and down the stairs, and hopefully a significant reduction in our water bill to look forward to. The bathroom does feel eerily quiet without the constant drip, but I shall enjoy getting used to the silence.
Odell Tree Shaker Mango IIPA
For all my criticisms of too many beers being over-mangoed, here I am writing about two mango beers in the last few days. This rather excellent offering from the mighty Odell was incredibly pleasing – the mango sits neatly under firm clean hops, no excess fruit punch or murky juice. This is a light, refreshing beer – not what you might expect given its 8% ABV, and highly crushable with zero alcohol residue on the tongue. At the end of a long and exhausting day, this tasted absolutely heavenly and fits what appears to be the 2020 trend of hold-back-the-juice no-more-NEIPA restraint. The hops and mango are delivered here with precision and delicacy. I instantly wanted more. This is an impressive and contrasting, addition to Odell’s prestigious IPA oeuvre and I’m very glad it comes in 6-packs.
Craft Beer Amethyst 