Florida is characterized by beer distributors and wholesalers as ‘a light lager crowd’, or a major-brand-preferring consumer base, much the same as the general beer-drinking populace of North America. Although a ‘light lager’ is just the sort of brew meant to be enjoyed while lazing on the beach or pounding em back at a college party, what are Floridian beer snobs expected to do? There are many reasons for this barren beer landscape: Florida has a heterogenous mixture of transplant residents with no strong preference for any particular variant of tasty brew, it has the general lack of unique local restaurant chains that could be tempted to serve craft brews (Outback steakhouse and Hooter’s both started in the Tampa Bay area), and a dearth of local craft brewers. Luckily for Floridians, that last driver for the formation of a ‘light lager crowd’ is beginning to fall apart. Craft breweries are starting up all across the sunshine state (there’s a list at the bottom!), and some are producing downright sensational products. One in particular, Cigar City Brewing, is stepping up to the Craft Brew microphone and making a lot of noise. +Continue Reading
In Florida, the first weekend in March is usually a Northerner’s fantasy… highs in the 70s, fat old sun shining away, birds bigger than they ought to be lazily picking critters out of serene swamps… but something significant is missing this year. It’s not the snowboards slowly playing shuffleboard in West Palm Beach, and it’s not shark attacks (although their number is down significantly). There is a very quiet ghost roaming South Florida, one whose glorious life was short but beautiful, and meaningful to many people around the world. March 6 2010 is the two-year anniversary of the death of a very good friend… In 2009, Langerado, Florida’s premier music festival, was canceled indefinitely, with little chance of ever occurring again. +Continue Reading
After four weeks of ball-frostingly cold weather, February has mercifully yielded control of the calendar. Despite its chronological impotence, February did find time to produce for us a belly-warming assortment of new music (which we continue to savor, mmm). Unfortunately, we also choked on a few bitter concoctions along the way, and hoping to protect our dear readers, we have chosen to include those in this month’s report.
Without further ado, Brasky team is happy to humbly offer up our assertions on the best–and worst–of new music in February 2010.
Recently a lot of press has been given to the fact that more people preferred to be an online fan of an inanimate pickle than of the modern rock band Nickelback. This has made newspaper second-pages across the country and even solicited ire from the band themselves. But what did this exercise really prove? Was Nickelback’s reputation sullied at all? If anything, people that had never heard of Nickelback before this instance may actually become fans of the band. All that was proven was this:
The general public tends to polarize into bland, isomeric factions based on personal preferences.+Continue Reading
Annui Sui is an American fashion designer whose Fall 2010 collection was recently showcased during New York Fashion Week.
She described this collection as highlighting a “witty layering of vintage prints shot with shimmering metallic thread; deco tulips, cubist flowers, woodblock peonies, chrysanthemum paisleys, floral fireworks … often in my signature combo collages.”
So the time was Fall 2006, when Aaron, myself, and that Colombian pal of ours (we’ll call him “Pablito”) were getting into DXM* (please see footnote) for psychedelic experiences. You can get a bit wacky on that stuff, and Aaron seemed particularly susceptible in that regard. One night, about an hour after taking it, Pablito and I left for the store to pick something up. Aaron, meanwhile, didn’t hear (or comprehend) our announcement, and, starting to succumb to the effects of the drug, was very confused/puzzled that we were gone. Alone and on the Internet, Aaron soon encountered a post on usfbullshit.com by our friend Gina reporting that her hamster had died. His name was Thom:
THIS JUST IN: FLORIDA NOW 35% COVERED IN WRITHING, ANGRY SNAKES
Pet pythons placed in peri-urban waterways have found their way to the Everglades, and are thus slowly winding their way around Mother Nature’s pale, exposed throat, settling in for a joyless, reptilian kill. Many thought it a hoax when five years ago, a difficult to comprehend photograph surfaced on the internet… one in which a fifteen to twenty foot long snake had apparently consumed a sizable alligator, but in the last frantic throes of the insanity of death, the alligator had exploded from the gullet of the snake, leaving behind a pile of gore the likes of which not seen since Vietnam. Mankind is now embroiled in a war with an enemy which society has used as a symbol of evil since the dawn of time, and the battleground is America’s last bastion of child-friendly entertainment. +Continue Reading
Time for another Publix dick-riding session! The following five beers are not the craziest, tastiest, or most amazing beers, but they are definitely more cost effective than the last five. These will all set you back about seven to eight bucks a six pack. If you’re not from the south, then you’re probably confused as to what I’m talking about. Publix is a grocery store that specializes in going balls-out for its customers. Its headquarters are in Florida, and the majority of its stores are also located within the penile state. I once read a ‘Laughter is the Best Medicine’ column in Reader’s Digest (the best the doctor’s office could afford) that claimed that a little girl mispronounced the pledge of allegiance by instead saying ‘and to the Publix where we buy our stamps.’ As if the world needed more convincing that little kids are stupid. That being said, we begin our list of Publix-available beers. +Continue Reading
Florida is characterized by beer distributors and wholesalers as ‘a light lager crowd’, or a major-brand-preferring consumer base, much the same as the general beer-drinking populace of North America. Although a ‘light lager’ is just the sort of brew meant to be enjoyed while lazing on the beach or pounding em back at a college party, what are Floridian beer snobs expected to do? There are many reasons for this barren beer landscape: Florida has a heterogenous mixture of transplant residents with no strong preference for any particular variant of tasty brew, it has the general lack of unique local restaurant chains that could be tempted to serve craft brews (Outback steakhouse and Hooter’s both started in the Tampa Bay area), and a dearth of local craft brewers. Luckily for Floridians, that last driver for the formation of a ‘light lager crowd’ is beginning to fall apart. Craft breweries are starting up all across the sunshine state (there’s a list at the bottom!), and some are producing downright sensational products. One in particular, Cigar City Brewing, is stepping up to the Craft Brew microphone and making a lot of noise.
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