Quarantine Diaries XXVIII
Saturday April 25th 2020
Four whole weeks of quarantine diaries. This is both a total headfuck and, for me at least, quite the achievement – I have not written every single day for an entire month for the best part of 20 years. I don’t suffer under any illusions that what I’m writing is particularly interesting or worthy or relevant, but exerting any kind of discipline on myself at a time when there is every reason to be utterly undisciplined and spend all day every day in a heap on the floor either crying or immovable feels like a significant victory. There may be absolutely no purpose at all to me writing these diary entries other than staving off boredom and despair but that seems as good an impetus as any, especially for someone like me whose whole life is based around doing things. Indeed, I do such little writing back in the real world because I just don’t have time. I’m so busy living, doing things, going places, listening, reading, talking, thinking, drinking, dancing, running around so fast I barely catch my breath. Even though I want to write and be a writer, the immediacy of life, of living, always feels more important, which maybe means that I’m not a real writer at all. When all this is over (assuming that it will, some day, be over), I honestly cannot wait to go back to my life. The chances of me retaining this level of discipline and dedication sit pretty low. As anyone who has worked in the publishing industry knows, the world is full of gently misguided people who think their story is worth telling, who pour their heart and soul (and years of their lives) into pages that end up in a wall-high slush pile. If they’re lucky an unpaid intern fresh out of uni might skim the first half-chapter before sending out a stock rejection letter. No, once this is over (and it will be over), I will go back to living. But I think I’ll be proud of this accomplishing little project.
Nomadic Beerworks Seven Deadly Stills BA Scotch Ale
It was lovely to visit the awesome folks at Nomadic Beerworks as part of the Great Texas Beer Run. Nomadic have been a delightful addition to the ATX beer scene since opening last year, offering fresh, creative takes on traditional styles inspired by their extensive travels, and theirs is one of my favourite local taprooms to hang out in. This extremely tasty Scotch Ale is cleverly light and scary-quaffable, retaining all its rich toffee-malt flavour without feeling heavy, so you can scoff it happily in the Texas heat. The smooth smoky bourbon lingers in your mouth, making you reach for another sip far more quickly than you probably should at 8.2%, and I must be honest and admit that we made short work of our 1L growler of this. It also paired magnificently with our divine venison-pork-bacon chop steaks from Hudson’s Meat Market. I have been meaning to try Hudson’s for ever and I am now in absolute game heaven! Venison and Scotch Ale, people – this is where it’s at.
Craft Beer Amethyst 