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Wine Selector’s 50 Best

The Old Rum Store

Sydney, Australia

February 15, 2018

Wine Selector is the authority and when it comes to the finer things of all things pertaining to the fermented juice of grapes in all of its varieties.

Wine Selector’s tasting committee of industry experts is comprised of over one hundred and forty years of perspicacity in the vino industry, with representatives having longstanding backgrounds in the art of winemaking, educating the uninitiated and judging panels the world over: They know their stuff, are extremely knowledgeable and have a sense for identifying emerging styles or new variations that have the potential to become the next big thing, which they accomplish not by merely judging but doing their due diligence with visits of vineyards and looking behind the scenes of operations of Winzers and what makes them tick.

Summa summarum, they are a reference point that does not lack integrity and is a great starting point and compass when you embark on your explorations in wine territory.

Wine Selector’s 50 Best Tasting event paid tribute to what they consider the best liquid emissions that emerged in 2017 with a focus on drinkability, complexity of flavour profiles, value and, most importantly, scoring points in the deliciousness department with quite a few hidden gems being introduced to your humble narrator.

The result of their deliberations after having tasted more than four thousand wines resulted in a showcase that paid homage to not only the known and classic region-specific variations but effort was made to incorporate drops at different price points and shed light on new discoveries, flanked by some light fare and morsels proffered via grazing tables.

Personal favourites of the evening were Margaret River’s clear and vibrant Umamu’s Sparkling Chardonnay 2005, with its crispness and dryness and honey-esque palate, and, heading from Clare Valley, the dark fruity dangerously drinkable Erin Eyes Gallic Connection Cabernet Malbec 2015.

The event was held at the top level of Chippendale’s Old Rum Store, which extended to a rooftop terrace and provided the ideal ambience for a celebration that would have made Dionysus proud.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Delirious: Art at the Limits of Reason, 1950-1980

Metropolitan Museum of Art

www.footprint.com.au

1950 until 1980 was certainly an interesting era: The implications of post-second world war sentiments paired with the omnipresence of violence and brutality that has been witnessed first-hand on one side, and the extraordinarily fast development of technology and industrial capitalism on the other. Anxiety was in the air: Technology and science brought welcome innovations, yet it came in tandem with the production of means that could render us all extinct.

This anxiety paired with a questioning of rationalism was reflected specifically in the art world, where irrationalism was not just juxtaposed to reason but found its manifestation in challenging and at times disturbing works with the ultimate goal of questioning traditional notions of harmony and harmony in the realm of aestheticism.

Works by around seventy artists from all corners of this earthround are examined and depicted with the focus being the irrational, the delirium of disorder within a range of contexts – societal, culture and Western civilisation at large, literature and politics – and via a range of media old and new, e.g. sculptures, paintings, photography to audio recordings, videos and book designs.

Delirious: Art at the Limits of Reason, 1950-1980 is an ode to experimentation with irrationality and unorthodox, often perplexing techniques, which ultimately culminated in the genesis of a new aestheticism, i.e. it created answers to the questions it set out to raise to fight the inequilibrium of turbulent times.

A thought provoking book that rings strangely familiar, finds relevance in our times and serves as a vital source of inspiration as well as a refuge with those being at odds with their surroundings and the climate we find ourselves in today.

Craft beer.

To thrive in today’s day and age of fleeting sensations and flavours du jour, establishing oneself in the the crowded craft alcoholic beverage arena is no mean feat that demands a clear vision, passion, a melange of heart and brains to create something truly special.

Craft has always been more than a hip label - it’s the antidote to prefabricated, industrial mass production - yet while some might entertain the notion of a romantic endeavour and that clever marketing mights be sufficients to make it, if your product is lacking soul and merit, it will only go so far.

In order to make it in the realm of craft beer, not every emission of the entire line has necessarily to be unique snowflake of worldclass, but there has to be consistency in terms of quality and a unique take on things certainly helps to stand out.  

Enter Young Henrys.

A beer brand you want to get your paws on for a myriad of reasons.

Let me elaborate why -

The story of Young Henrys’ genesis goes a little bit like this:

Richard Adamson and Oscar McMahon meet, get along, discover that they share a weak spot for beer, adventure, innovation and fun.

Match made.

It was decided to turn talk into action.

Action was first taken in an industrial warehouse space in Newtown.

2012 a.d.

Small operation with the underpinning idea to conjure a brew for the local community of Newtown, which in essence has not changed to this day.

It worked. The idea took off.

People liked their beer.

A lot.

Demand was growing and with it to expand the scale of operations.

Another warehouse space was acquired.

What evolved from there is an Australian success story.

Community sense and brewing with a conscience, e.g., reducing environmental impact, is a red thread of Young Henrys operations and manifests in the layout of its current headquarters: More of a permanent beer festival than a mere brewery offering a forum not only for hop aficionados but musicians, hospitality staff and artists, sustained by local food trucks stopping by to proffer gourmet and other fare.

What makes Young Henrys interesting is their wide range of operations, which are not limited to any medium and spans from bands via magazines to radio stations.

Specifically the collaborations with bands piqued my interest as a lot of attention to detail goes into the creation process, e.g. with a weed loving outfit calibrating the alcohol content to 4.20% or the artwork / names, often puns or double entendres to build a bridge between seemingly unrelated worlds and create a synergic medium that is so much more than a mere alcoholic beverage.

A recent favourite of Young Henrys’ range is the current Summer Hop Ale: Fruity hues meet hoppy ale tinged with the bitterness of grapefruit.

A thing of beauty and n example par excellence for a summer ale.

Now, your humble narrator’s was particularly taken by a limited batch conjured in collaboration with local indie heroes You Am I:

Brew Am I set out to capture the spirit and lightning of You Am I in a bottle: A beautiful pale ale, clocking in at 5%.

Originally brewed in 2013 to celebrate 20 years of You Am I albums and tours, Brew Am I was exclusively available at the band’s shows and makes appearances every now and then in limited runs, e.g. in distinctive special editions of one liter squealers as well as on tap in selected venues.

One wishes it would be made available on a permanent basis.

Another favourite release is Dr Röt Fifer:

The emission is based on collaboration with Oz Comic-Con and artist Doug Holgate.

A tasty Vienna Lager with 5.3% alcohol.

Needless to say that their recent collaboration with the Foo Fighters to celebrate them holding court In Sydney, which culminated in giving birth to a brew called “Foo Town” and the take-over of a downtown bar that became a dedicated FF shrine, garnered worldwide interest and became an instant collectable.

Young Henry also does cider:

Sourcing their apples from local producers, and a mélange of Royal Gala and Pink Lady varieties, results in a cloudy emission without any added nasties.

Make sure to taste Young Henrys when you have a chance and pay a visit to their HQ when you are holding court in Sydney as there’s a good times to be had, no matter what your poison of choice is.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Death: A Graveside Companion 

Thames and Hudson

Not sure if you concur with Socrates in that death may the greatest of all human blessings but it is certainly a topic that is relevant to every mortal and has been explored in a myriad of ways.

With over one thousand images, Death: A graveside companion is an opulently illustrated tome whose four hundred pages shed light on the intersections between life, beauty, spiritualism, mourning and death and its perception and depiction in different cultural contexts and through the ages.

Rituals, celebrations, sacraments, customs are depicted with images mainly based on the collection of one Richard Harris and help to understand that what is perceived to be the common perception of death is merely a one-sided view that helps to deal with a taboo subject that does not discriminate.

What can be a morbid and voyeuristic affair, has been resolved by editor Joanna Ebenstein’s dignified approach to mortality, the curation of the depictions and the essays contributed by authors, medical professionals, academics, cultural critics and spiritual luminaries.

The essays are often scholarly in nature yet accessible for the uninitiated as well as diverse with the background of the individuals not being rooted in a singular discipline, but presenting a wide range of perspectives.

Ebenstein’s approach tackles the sujet from different angles – be it myths, pop culture, metaphysics or science – and thereby creates a stimulating and inspiring source of insights.

A beautiful, handsomely bound and superbly edited compendium dealing with the inescapable and capturing attitudes, thoughts, ideas, interpretations, traditions and musings on the biggest mystery there is.

Degas: A Passion for Perfection

by Jane Munro

Yale University Press

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is heralded as one of the founders and masters of the impressionist movement, with the core of his oeuvre focusing on the life in Paris (think belle arts, ballet, café and theater) – nudes, lots of pink and white, the depiction of ornate clothes, exquisite dancing girls but more often than not mundane yet magic moments that are often overlooked: Ballerinas lost in mundane tasks and everything other than dancing.

Cue classical beauty, voyeurism par excellence and modern realism.

Degas considered himself an artist in the vein of Michelangelo, a book on which is reviewed in another recent blogpost,

What is interesting with Degas is that despite being influenced by the grand master Michelangelo, Degas had a weak spot for asymmetry, was an avid proponent of dramatic effect and averse to traditional composition.

What he achieved by that was scratching the surface and putting the focus on the hard work of ballet dancing and beauty in general that can be found beyond the surface.

A hundred years after Edgar Degas’ departure, the book is a well-made document that sheds light on Degas’ legacy and the influences it exerted on other significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, e.g. Francis Bacon, Picasso and David Hockney among others, comprising depictions not only of his more prominent and well-known paintings and sculptures, but also lesser known etchings, monotypes, and counter proofs, some of which are sources from private collections and shed light on for the first time, that give insight into the his creative processes.

Having a luminary like Jane Munro at the helm of the operation as her background and work for the University of Cambridge (as curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum as well as Director of Studies in History of Art at Christ’s College) ensures that her selection of contributors and their emissions is relevant and reveal interesting takes on Degas’ work.