Quarantine Diaries XXV
Wednesday April 22nd 2020
Although I’m no stranger to the power of escapism, it feels like it’s been a while since I turned my back on the contemporary and immersed myself in the past, yet that is indeed what I’ve found myself doing to get through these weeks. Living in cities like Austin and London which are usually so immediate, so alive and buzzing with the present and the future, living in the past feels wasteful and lazy. I never wanted to be someone who got older and banged on about how things were ‘in my day’. Keeping my finger on the cultural pulse has been a priority I have pursued relentlessly, and one of my reasons for moving to Music City ATX. Why would you harken back to a bygone era when everything you need to live in the now is in the palm of your hand? Except that now it’s not. Our regular trips to Waterloo Records to check out the cool new acts in town, regular art events showcasing new talent and buzzing shows at the Mohawk and the Barracuda are no more, cinemas are closed and even the beacon of new music that is KUTX is running without hosts, so what do we do now? We are, indeed, retreating into nostalgia, a feeling at once comforting and disconcerting by its sudden reappearance in my life. It’s a big psychological change and not an ideal one, but, to quote Hamilton, we will do what it takes to survive (more on this subject @culturalcuckoo).
Oddwood Ales Vermillionaire BA Sour Ale with Raspberries
The first time we had this utterly divine tastebudfest was on a fab night out at the Oddwood taproom with our lovely friends James and Christy and their fab daughters last summer. I was so excited by the positively luminous raspberry sherbet zing that I kept ordering more until lovely JB told me off for running up a huge bar tab. I felt a little guilty but it was worth it. We’d been saving this bottle of liquid heaven for a special occasion, but as we all know, present circumstances have dictated that there is no time like the present, so we cracked into it on a Wednesday night. Fuck it, who even knows what day it is anymore? What we do know is that this beer is just as delicious in the bottle, if not more so. We drank in an unusually, deliberately measured fashion, knowing this would be our last taste of this now-discontinued nectar of the gods, that really made it feel like the end of the world, which would be funny if it weren’t potentially true. It’s time in the bottle has given the sparky, oaked raspberry and brilliant, slightly peppery zing, and each sip brought a smile to our lips. Oddwood, if you are reading this, please brew this beer again. Please!
(June 2019)
Craft Beer Amethyst 