Published in Original Gravity, 21 November 2019
Asked to write on cocktail beers, originally for the theme ‘baroque’, I went to Brick Brewery’s taproom where they had two such on the bar.
The bar in the arch next door serves actual cocktails. But here I am, glasses spangled and misting, ordering a kettle sour that’s been made to taste like a martini at half the price and a fraction of the ABV.
In the article I muse on the nature of these beers while taking in the ebb and flow of life around me.
Cocktails are adult playtime writ large. Creative, showy, sophisticated, exotic. And strong. They’re not for workaday drinking. Cocktail beers have got my mind muddled. This martini beer, I could be disappointed that it’s not a cocktail or I could embrace and enjoy it for what it is: an homage. A fun experiment.