Welcome to The PUNCHbowl, a weekly installment where we share our favorite longreads on all things drinks and nightlife. This week, we discovered the trend of bars within other bars, embraced mold and tracked the evolution of canned beer.
Remember the speakeasies of yore, with their unmarked entrances and elusive passwords? Meet the 2015 versions, which are so well hidden you can’t even get to them from the street. Yes, bars within bars are officially a trend; Robert Simonson explores the Russian doll-style phenomenon over at the New York Times. [New York Times]
Craft beer is inherently a grassroots product, as the story behind Good People Brewing in Birmingham vividly illustrates. From starting a campaign to adjust laws capping ABV to getting volunteers to package six-packs in exchange for some cases, Good People is staunchly of the people—and their status as the number one craft beer in the state shows that the people love them back. Food Republic profiles Alabama’s “craft beer king.” [Food Republic]
For the bad rep mold gets, it’s also an indispensable part of the creation of many things we love deeply—sake and ginger beer included. Hot Rum Cow takes a look into the strange and sometimes dangerous world of moldy drinks, and asks the question: Why aren’t more people doing it? [Hot Rum Cow]
Given the cost of canning, canned craft beers were once a rarity; but, thanks to the increasing prevalence of mobile and nomadic canneries, smaller companies are now able to can their beers. Now that it’s here to stay, the next stage will be dictated by innovation: Who has the newest shapes? Who has resealable lids? Or even just who has the coolest art on their cans? Imbibe tracks canned beer’s maturation and illustrates what the future might hold. [Imbibe]
Light is Enemy Number One for beer for several reasons, including being responsible for that strange, unpleasant odor some brews acquire—a situation referred to as being “skunked.” In spite of near-univeral revulsion of this skunkiness, one urban legend says that brewers in the U.S. (such as Heineken) intentionally insert that scent into their beers. Munchies investigates the lore behind intentional skunking. [Munchies]
[Image: Flickr/C-Monster]