A View From Overseas

Erik Garlington - Proper.

Vocalist and guitar extraordinaire of Brooklyn punks Proper., Erik Garlington, takes us on a short stop tour of his favourite beers and breweries from the big ole US of A. It seems Erik has a palette for the sours and damn right knows his stuff about beers - he could give the Social Club a run for their money!

Honorable Mention: Extra Dry, a sake inspired saison ale. If you can get the opportunity to try this beer, you’re in for a treat.

“I’m going to start this column off by saying something controversial: I don’t like IPAs or dark beers. I know, I know. I was raised to be very unlikeable. Let’s just move past it. You good? Okay, good. Today I’m going to write about my favorite sour beers because, well, that’s the best kind of beer. My favorite brewery of all time is this great spot out of Baltimore, MD called Stillwater Artisanal. As the name suggests, they get creative with it, concocting an insane variety of beer with fun ingredients you don’t often see in your run of the mill grocery store or bodega. There’s this amazing sour called Levadura, brewed with sea salt and lime that sparked my interest in sours. It’s that good! I’d originally heard of the company when Action Bronson, an amazing chef turned rapper, released a limited edition sour ale brewed with muscrat grapes. Pair with: Prince Charming by Bronson is the perfect track to pair with just about any beer on their roster,

but especially something sour preferably in the summer months. The next spot on my list is Brooklyn Brewery, a local favorite that you can find just about everywhere in the city. Because sometimes you don’t need a bougie beer, ya know? This is a good one for when you want a good, middle of the road beer, so you don’t have time to be in the middle of a Whole Foods frantically googling, “What is a muscrat grape?” in front of your beer snob friends. Their Bel Levadura by Stillwater Artisanal Air Sour is so good and tart that you just might fuck around and end up with a whole six pack to yourself when your friends/bandmates (Looking at you specifically, Elijah) don’t like it. They probably won’t let you pick the beer next time but, hey, little victories right? Pair with: Just Married by Glocca Morra pairs well when drinking this one in the winter, on the beach at 2AM. It just hits different. Honorable Mention: Brooklyn Lager. It’s just the Brooklyn Brewery beer that every bar has. Many great nights have started with a Brooklyn Lager and a shot of tequila.

Brooklyn Lager & Bel Air Sour by Brooklyn Brewery

“It’s a great kick off to the world of beer and learning that there’s more to it than overpriced Budweiser at a baseball game with your dad.”

And for my fi nal brewery, we’re going all the way to the beginning for me, where I turned 21 and took my fi rst brewery tour: Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, MO. I hadn’t begun drinking sours back then, but recently I discovered their Show Me Sour Ale, their take on a Whiskey sour, but in beer form. They go the

Boulevard Wheat from extra mile for this beer with dehusked

Boulevard Brewery black malts and even aging the beer in whiskey barrels. If you fi nd yourself traveling through Kansas City, I can’t recommend getting a brewery tour enough. Pair with: This one right here is good for rooftop hangs. There’s probably some ignorant trap shit playing, maybe some grimey R&B thrown in there for good measure. Thursday by The Weeknd is defi nitely on rotation while I’m drinking this one. Honorable Mention: Boulevard Wheat. This is the OG beer for me personally. It’s a great kick off to the world of beer and learning that there’s more to it than overpriced Budweiser at a baseball game with your dad.

Show Me Sour Ale from Boulevard Brewery

That’s it for me, I hope you found this column enjoyable and didn’t tune out the second I slandered IPAs. As always, drink responsibly and preferably with people you at least half way like. It’s been real!

In The Spotlight

Ffi n Colley

BEERS! We love ‘em, we love all of them. Every single last delicious drop, but some delicious drops linger in my big blonde barnet longer than others. The most recent of which is the motherfuckin RAVE by Abyss. Mango & Raspberry sour, bloody delicious. It’s sweet, it’s juicy it lets ya get loosey. All of my favourite things.

I think one of my favourite new bands I’ve come across from our stock is Other Half. Their record BIG TWENTY is so bloody hard, pulls together all my favourite elements of post hardcore, shoe gaze and punk into one great big screamy soup. It rocks and I love them and I can’t wait to see it live.

Check out our In The Spotlight playlist - perfect to accompany your favourite tipple

Want to try Abyss? We’ve got you. Head to bsmsocialclub.com or visit in store!