Movement: The Moving Episode (Ep 4)

Thanks to everyone who listens to my podcast. Every time it plays, I love you.

Homophobia at Bulleit

WHY I DON'T BUY BULLEIT BOURBON ANYMORE

I was on the Bulleit train from almost the beginning. I love their rye and their bourbon and drank them often, as I'm addicted to Manhattans for half the year, and I don't mind a Boulevardier when I'm feeling saucy. But now I've officially disembarked.

For better or worse, America went with capitalism, and the only way for that to work is for consumers to vote for the world they want with their dollars.

That's why I'll never go to a Hobby Lobby and why I haven't drunk a drop of Bulleit Bourbon for almost six months now. 

The story goes that Tom Bulleit's daughter Hollis Bulleit made the brand the powerhouse it is through dogged ambassadorship but was pushed out when her sexual orientation became public. I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that a Kentucky-based family's patriarch is a homophobe; homophobia and racism are rampant down south unfortunately. But I don't care that I'm not surprised, and I'm not going to support a brand that I know is anti-gay.

There are other great bourbons at the same price point anyway.

There's a Slate article about how family businesses are more susceptible to such problems. It makes me think of Marxist notions to abolish the family unit. I don't understand how people spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with racist/homophobic family members. If the world is going to be a better place tomorrow, eye-rolling isn't enough; pillory your grandparents if you have to.

Diageo owns Bulleit and Johnnie Walker and countless other brands. As a consumer, it's hard to pillory Diageo. Remember when Dove was running ads about all women being beautiful while Axe was running ads about all women being sex toys? Unilever owns both brands and didn't care how anyone felt about that if you kept buying their products. That's just how branding works and why Diageo is so powerful (and also dangerous).

For now I'm drinking Buffalo Trace and Gentleman Jack, owned by Sazerac and Brown-Forman, respectively, both of whom have probably had similar issues in their histories. . . but what else am I supposed to do?

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When I was living in Virginia, my ex-in-laws were horribly racist, sexist, and homophobic. The father of the family would proudly declare himself one from time to time. When his daughter was dating a black dude Big Daddy announced his intention to "tie him to the back of his truck and drive down a dirt road." When his daughter pointed out that her father had expected her brother to marry a Chinese girl, he proclaimed "I'm a racist and a sexist."

When you talk like that you deserve to lose your brand—you're a nazi. Nazi's, contrary to Trump's view, are the enemy because they threaten peace and hinder progress toward equality.

My ex-wife often sided with her parents. That drove a rift in our relationship. It was the thing we fought about the most, and it eventually tore apart our marriage. I thought I had to tolerate it until we had the chance to move far away from her ancestral home. But when that became a real possibility, it became clear she would never be out from under their influence.

And I'll never take that train again.

A Personal Update

FAQ:

What's with your name?

I changed my name when I started travelling seriously and living in other countries. When I came back to the states, I brought a person with me who called me Jack, so everyone else called me Jack, too. Some of my oldest friends and family call me Skyler or Sky. Most of them live in the western United States. Then some people started calling me SkyJack. I like that. But you can call me Sky, Jack, Skyler, SkyJack, or Captain. Those are all the things people still call me, and I'm OK with that. How did I think I was going to have this unique, distinctive, adventurous life without a few different names sticking?

Where do you live now?

I've moved to Las Vegas. It's in the name of my blog now to help people know.

Is your wife with you?

I don't have one of those anymore.

What? What happened?

It turns out I only fall for people who don't have consciences.

Why Vegas?

I've always wanted to move to Las Vegas. I love it here. I grew up coming here at least once or twice a year. My father worked here, my grandmother lived and died here, and I have a cousin and an Aunt here. Plus, work. It might be the only place on earth with opportunities to incorporate my entire skill set. 

Where are you working now?

I'm a Beverage Manager at MGM Grand. It's a dream job for me at this point in my career. I moved my relocation schedule up because they showed interest, and then I was in a holding pattern for a bit, while seasonal managers were moved around and whatnot. Now I'm training and excited about every second of it. There's a lot to take in.

Do you miss Virginia?

I miss some people in Virginia, and I kind of wished I'd seen the leaves change one last time. VA was pretty good to me, when it's all said and done. I did some amazing things professionally, and I saw some stuff I don't think most Americans get to. I lived in Virginia almost exactly the same amount of time I lived in Germany, and I still feel like a German in a lot of ways. Surely, I'll always have a little southern boy in me now, too.

Why didn't you move back to California, either to SF Bay or to live near your mother in SoCal?

I think I might have gotten all the personal development I can out of those places. And moving back to anywhere is symbolically unfortunate. I did consider Los Angeles, but Las Vegas has always been on my target list of places to live. I really want to live in a place where all my friends will visit me from all over the world. Who doesn't visit Vegas at least once? And if they were on the fence about it, now they have a reason to come. I'll always love California, but I don't know if I ever want to live there again.

What about the restaurant?

TBD

When is your new book coming out?

I'm almost halfway done with it. It's the most ambitious project I've ever undertaken in poetry, and it's the most difficult thing I've ever written. Some time in the middle of next year I hope.

Are you going to make any more videos?

I don't think so. I was turned off by the lack of response. Maybe I'll try again, but there's too much going on right now to edit videos. If I had someone to edit them for me, I'd do it.

Isn't Vegas crazy all the time?

Well, it can be. But on my morning runs, inside Las Vegas, I run down a street that often has chickens in the middle of it and there are horses and cows, too. I saw someone walking a miniature pony like a dog. Oh, and burros. And I live next to a fairly big casino. So it's a city of contradictions. I love contradictions. Come visit me and find out.

Jon Griffin Dies at the Age of 43

I didn't like Jon that much. He rolled with a crowd that I didn't fit into and didn't like me. But he was an artist and a dreamer. He was always into something artistic, showing up anywhere art was being done or sold, or late at night when streetlight people gathered at bars and lounges after the tourists were mostly gone. Everyone in town knew him.

His death saddens me. Yes, it's tragic to leave behind a toddling daughter, but that's not what I'm on about. It saddens me because here was this sensitive, artistic, dreaming, jerky soul that was snubbed out in America like he never had a chance. Too many people in my life have gone out like this. 

There's just no place for artists. They don't last long; they have too many natural predators. Heroin ended up getting Jon Griffin. This country has no patience for people with addiction. We treat it like a family secret, like a dark skeleton in the cellar who rattles inaudibly as we turn up the party music to drown out the racket. But I didn't even like Jon. I knew he was on the horse from time to time, but thought nothing of it and have no idea if anyone ever tried to help him. But I miss Jon Griffin.

A while back he started a gallery with some friends that quickly became a kind of all-ages, semi-illegal, underground rock club called GONE Studios. I didn't like GONE very much, but I ended up there from time to time, one of my best friends became an investor for a time, my band played there, and it helped spawn other art projects in town that were cool and interesting. My opinion always was, it's not for me, but I'm happy it exists. You need an underground art scene. You don't even know you need it, but you do. And it's going to be dirty, and smoky, and you're going to want to take a shower if you get into it for any length of time. Having lived in the underground art scene for huge chunks of my life, I didn't want to spend that much time with the people of GONE. Plus, there were drugs.

I've never been against drugs, but our attitude about them in this country is so myopic it's sickening. And maybe people like Jon wouldn't turn to them if there were a different attitude toward art in this country. Maybe Jon Griffin could have made ends meet if things were different. Maybe better access to grants, maybe cultural subsidies, maybe just a larger group of Americans who appreciate art and are willing to pay to support it. But who am I?

So you know how I felt about Jon while he lived, but I am deeply moved by his passing and filled with sorrow, too. And a lot of my friends loved him so much.  

Thoughts on the Napa 2014 Quake

By now you've heard of the 6.0 Napa Quake in August costing businesses there a conservative $80,000,000. It's probably a lot more. Firstly, let me just say to all those idiots out there who keep saying 6.0 ain't no thing: It is. I grew up in LA and went to school in The Bay, and I will tell you, a 6.0 is major. Half the structural damage you won't notice for years, and you're lucky to have lived through it. And if you're a collector of little glass figurines, and you've put thousands of dollars and years of your time into the collection, imagine how you'd feel picking up its shards. Now imagine if that was a massive cellar of aging wine you'd planned on selling as part of an investment strategy for your business, or worse, retirement.

But that's not even the worst of it. You might have harvested and crushed and aged for a year. You were about to bottle to make room in barrels for an October harvest. Too bad; you just lost your 2013 batch. And if you'd already started on your 2014, tough break, kid.

And all of that is why I think Napa wines will be 15-30% more costly from 2013, 2014, and maybe even 2015. And that is probably mostly going to be on the shelves because wineries have already maxed out what they can charge tourists in Napa (they've been fleecing visitors more and more each year).

On another note, I hope there will be a cool factor associated with 2014, maybe even collector's edition bottles commemorating the great quake. I personally would like to have a few bottles in my cellar like that, break 'em out at parties and have a story to tell.

But here't the other thing: If I were a winery in Oregon, Washington, New York, Virginia, or maybe even France or Argentina, I would DROP my prices ever-so-slightly. No one is taking down Cali any time soon, but I do think there is some brand development opportunity available to anyone willing to make a go of it next year. "Hey Napa's expensive this year, but check out this similar quality Cab from XYZ. It's usually more expensive than Napa, but they've actually lowered their price this year, and now they're CHEAPER than the Napa label." That's the pitch. EASY!

But I really do feel for the citizens of Napa and to anyone who loves Napa wine. It's a tragedy, it really is.

tragic

Oru Kayak at Douthat State Park

 As soon as we pulled up to the lake at Douthat, it started raining, but we'd come all that way, so we decided to get in the lake anyway. The temperature dropped by 25 degrees, easy, but the water was really warm, so it felt comfortable.

Jim got up on the dam and took some pics.

I liked getting up close to the weir and looking over the edge. Lakes that have that kind of feature are fun because man-made structures like this are cool to explore.

I capsized once trying to get a lure out of some low-hanging branches, but the water was so warm, I didn't mind the swim. Douthat also has a beach with a little platform with a diving board on it. The beach was all but empty due to the rain. We almost had the whole lake to ourselves.

Agritourism and Beer

Breweries per capita

Virginia is getting pretty craft beer crazy. When I got here, most people didn't know what an IPA was and now I could almost drink local beer exclusively. It's an exciting time to be in the beer business.

Lately, there have been a lot of articles like this good one saying what so many brewers are saying, a plateau and a die-off are coming. It's a bit premature to get too worried about, I think, but I thought I'd put my two cents in about how a brewery in a place like Virginia could weather the storm so many prophets are presaging.

Agritourism!

Agritourism has been the darling buzzword in this state for years, and I think beer and farmers need to get in bed a bit more. As airfare rates rise, they vacation closer to home. As more people move to cities, they want to visit rural areas to see the trees, the cows, the pastures, the horses, the eagles, the streams, the mountains, the sunrise over the Blue Ridge, etc.

We've already seen the start of this. More and more, I meet people from DC and Maryland and New York who are coming to float down rivers and hike. They want to pick apples and strawberries and hops. They want sit back and enjoy everything local about the Shenandoah Valley, and that includes the beer.

I've got a ton of ideas about how farmers and outdoor adventures companies and breweries can start working together to build stronger economies in our rural areas. I think it's the future. I want to get a brainstorming session going.

The Time I went To Licking Hole Creek Craft Brewery

  

Yesterday, I went to Licking Hole Craft Brewery in  Goochland. The beer was good. They have an estate brew called the Gentleman Farmer that uses all hops grown right there on the property. Delicious. They're also growing Barley, but I don't think any of that has made it into a beer just yet. Their Trippel is tasty, and I dug their saison, too. 

The entire craft beer scene was in full affect. The guys from Hardywood were there, and we chatted about beer and distribution and the fact that Virginia Eagle just bought Guiffre, a fact that I am totally excited about. The brewer from a Strange Ways was there, and he introduced me to the brewer at Licking Hole. I also met the captains of beer clubs and all sorts of beer geeks and enthusiasts. 

The brewery is gorgeous. And the land it sits on is stunning. Going there,  you feel like you're driving to a vineyard rather than a brewery, and the entry to their gravel road is guarded by a few Shetland ponies. Apparently there are also beavers in those parts. I've never seen a living beaver. 

The beer scene in Richmond is always a great treat.

Starr Hill this Thursday at the Hot Spot

Starr Hill Brewery has this awesome line of beer called "All Access." It's sort of their experimental, showcase line where you can really see why the company is as successful as it it. All the beers are inspired by music in this line, and all of them (so far) are pretty incredible. 

The last one was Psycho Kilter, a wee heavy that is almost all gone in the state of Virginia, was awesome. My band did an opening, kind of a release party, for it at the Pompei Lounge in Staunton. People went crazy for it. Plus, it was just a great night with the Murder Bros. I personally had a good night, and there was not shortage of people coming up to me and telling me what a success the evening was.

This week, we're doing it again at the Hot Spot for the new Starr Hill All Access, Little Red RooStarr Coffee Cream Stout. We're turning it into a Tap Takeover and Steal the Pint Night. So every tap at the Hot Spot in Waynesboro will be Starr Hill, and if you buy a pint, you get to keep the branded glass.

I love events like this but of course, with a lot of moving parts comes a lot of things that could go wrong. The band we were supposed to play with cancelled at the last second, and for a minute I was really worried we wouldn't get all the beer we needed for the event. 

But now, we're back on track, and an even better band will be playing with the Murder Bros. on Thursday; namely, Dead Professional!

I can't wait. It's a free event, so you should come.

3 Bros. Coffee Breath

Probably the worst video I've done, but it's a really good beer. Apparently, I couldn't come up with a better word than "amazing" seeing as how I say it like five times.

So here's what I meant to say: Troy Lucas is a local coffee roaster. He cold brewed a huge batch of coffee for this nut brown from Three Brothers Brewing. So, locally roasted and brewed coffee meets locally brewed and fermented beer for a delicious beverage called Coffee Breath. I like that.

This video was made on the fly at a steal the glass night at Capital Ale House in Harrisonburg. And even though I make this video suck (kind of distracted by how busy the place is), it's only a minute long, and you can see Troy Lucas and Adam Shifflett for a second (the coffee guy and the beer guy, respectively).

Dark Abby from Devil's Backbone. She's Here!

After some labeling issues, Dark Abby is finally here. It's a Belgian Mountain-style Dubbel that's got a bit of a sohrgum thing going on for a silky texture on the sweet side.

There's a "secret spice mix" swirling around in there that gives you an earthiness you'll enjoy plus plenty of work for your brain to do while it tries to figure out just exactly what is in the bottle. Meanwhile, the brown sugar notes preoccupy your thoughts for a moment, and well, the label is sexy too.

And there's a great story behind it all. Remember Azrael? If you don't, don't fret, she'll be back May. Anyway, Azrael's twin sister, her "dark twin," is Abby. So the girl on the bottle is related in theme and by blood to Azrael, which is kind of a nice touch for die-hard Devil's Backbone fans like myself. What thrilling adventures will Azrael and Abby get into?

The pic with the lips and the bottle cap is from a cool blog I found called A Cap A Day. Check out her beer reviews and pictures.

If you were lucky enough to get an unlabeled sample, your already know how good this beer is. If not, you only have to visit your local beer store to find out now.

Tilted Kilt Cometh

They're opening a Tilted Kilt in Harrisonburg in a few weeks. Can you believe it? I'm sure it'll be a huge success. I've always wondered why there wasn't a Hooters or some other Breastaurant in the area. Finally, there's one right around the corner.

Everyone loves young women in skimpy clothing serving them greasy pub food and beer right? I'll probably stop in and have a pint. According to their online menu, they don't seem very vegetarian-friendly. But they are very beer-friendly. I hope corporate lets them put some local beers on tap.

Apparently there are 70 different locations around America. I have only known the one in Vegas. It's kind of like a Hooters with an Irish/Scottish theme. Kind of school-girl, too.

Their website encourages you to join the Kilt Clan, which is a little unfortunate in the south. But most people don't look at things the way I do.

If you see me at Tilted Kilt, say hello and I'll buy you a beer.

Bourbon County from Goose Island.

Got this image of Bourbon County's Doppelganger here.

Goose Island released an incredible Russian Imperial Stout this year called Bourbon County. It came in at 15% ABV(!), and it tasted like chocolate-flavored bourbon that was thicker than a milkshake. I heard it goes great with milk steak.

Yeah, it was a little expensive, but it was aged in bourbon barrels and gave me the best buzz I've ever gotten off a single beverage in my life. It was like sticking my head in a cloth bag of vibrating cotton balls.

Goose Island does this every year to commemorate their first thousand cases, which was the first time they decided to make something this awesome. I'm looking forward to next year. I'm saving a bottle so that I can compare between the two vintages.

I love vertical flights when it comes to wine tastings, but I've never done it with wine. I'm loving the idea of getting my beer cellar up to snuff to get this going.

As I'm writing this, there are only a few bottles still floating around out there on the market. But Capital Ale House in Harrisonburg, VA is going to have a Goose Island tap takeover on Jan 15 where they'll be featuring it predominantly on draft. It's probably the last time you'll have a chance to try it.

Psycho Kilter from Starr Hill

I'm excited about this new beer coming down the line from Starr Hill this month. It's called Psycho Kilter, and it's a wee heavy.

A wee heavy is a sweeter ale that has a bit more alcohol than most people are used to. They usually weigh in at over 9%. Most are called something like Kilt Lifter, Kilt Flasher, Kilt Twister, or something else that has the word "kilt" in it. This one is inspired by one of my favorite Scots, David Byrne and his band, the Talking Heads. The label has a person wearing a kilt and singing to a lamp. David Byrne sang with a lamp in a performance of "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)."

Here's a video:

I'm a big David Byrne fan. One of my favorite songs is "Psycho Killer," and one of my favorite kinds of beer is a wee heavy. I can't wait for this one to hit the market.

It's part of the All Access that Starr Hill does. So it's not going to be around for long. Pretty exclusive and made in a limited quantity through February, if you see this on out there, make sure you grab it right away since you probably won't get the chance again.

How to Join a Motorcycle Gang

This was originally featured here. If you want, you can comment and join the fun. There's much to be had. MURDERCYCLE.

Share Something with an American You Love

I've been thinking a lot about tea in America. I've been thinking a lot about how Americans drink and maybe just how Americans are.
Before beer and wine and spirits and tea and cola, there was water. Just like animals, the only thing we drank was water, and it was by far the most important thing humans did. The first non-water drinks people got hold of was considered magical or to at least possess supernatural powers and a connection to gods and the cosmos.
Ancient people drank from shared vessels with long straws, and rituals were built around drinks. The vessels were held aloft in a gesture of thanks or offering to the supernatural. Then people shared drinks.
Unlike food, drinks can actually be truly shared. When everything is coming out of the same pot, it's not like cutting up pieces of bread or pizza, where everything is unequal and maybe you got an extra mushroom on yours and I didn't get as much onion on mine. Everything in the pot is the same when it comes to liquid, and when we're drinking from straws, we are literally drinking the same thing.
Eventually ceramics and glass and silver became more readily accessible, and people were all able to afford to drink from their very own cups. When people drank, though, they did it together and when they had their own cups, they raised them up like they did shared vessels and then clinked them together as gesture representing that what they were drinking came from a single vessel.

Drinking is a magical necessity of life. And it's something that we build our cultures around. Everything else can be put on hold as long as you keep drinking. Without drinking, you're dead.

Tea, is still drunk today–for the most part–out of a shared vessel that is displayed on or around the table. If you drink alone, it's still great, but not the same. And this brings me to Americans...
Americans like things in their OWN cups that they pour THEMSELVES. Approximately 85% of tea drunk in America is iced. They drink it in bottles from 7-11and big cups from Hardy's. This separates them from an important part of their humanity because it turns them into islands separated by liquid rather than members of a community that's connected by drink. Drink brings us together, don't let big businesses and corporations and politicians and other interests keep us from that. Share a bottle of something today. Share a pot of tea. Share a carafe. Whatever it is, do it with someone else and have an experience.