BEER | WINES Photo: Nick Findley

Drink Issue 10.26.2006

Editor's Note

Having no official office yet, we often hold our editorial meetings in bars. Or, bar -- Riley's Pub, on Arsenal. At one of these meetings, with papers spread across the table, and perhaps some beer rings on the papers, we rubbed our hands together and predicted that we'd find ourselves buried in submissions for this issue. This town was built on breweries and is currently buoyed up financially by breweries; ask any city resident over 50 about their grandmother and chances are you'll hear a story about being equipped with a bucket and instructions to run down to the corner bar to fill that bucket with ice cold beer for Mawmaw. Hell, drinking is so much a part of the culture here that sometimes it nearly qualifies as involuntary process, like respiration or bile production.

But to our surprise, we had to go hunting for material this time 'round. Not that we didn't get submissions, but folks were not as forthcoming as we thought they'd be. No one chose to interpret the theme as drinking Tang, Ovaltine, gutter water, rain water, tap water, Coca-Cola, tea, coffee or orange juice; it was all alcohol, and the stories and poems in our print edition are shot through with the kind of extreme emotion you'd expect (even magnanimity is an extreme emotion when there is booze involved). There's a heartbreaking but horribly funny take on 12-stepping one's way into the abyss; a field guide to cheap booze; some drunken text messaging transcripts. Also, a dispatch from Joe's Cafe and a drinking tour you will want to read so you don't embark on it yourself. Just as getting drunk means losing your inhibitions and letting it all hang out, so too with writing about drink, though we think that the magazine work embodies the good implied by that -- taking risks -- without the bad (i.e., embarrassing oneself).

We're pleased as punch (spiked, yes?) to be publishing our third issue, and don't want to miss the opportunity to praise some of our pals and supporters: our subscribers; our advertisers, including Snowflake, Independent Art Market, Firecracker Press , The Royale, and Hartford Community Café (the last two also stock us!). Other folks we should thank for carrying the mag include Left Bank, Dunaway and Subterranean Books, Tension Head, Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records, Mighty Gallery, and Star Clipper. Caroline Huth has designed yet another lovely issue, made all the more lovely by the amazing letterpress cover printed by Eric Woods of Firecracker Press. We'd also like to tip our hat to Murray Print Shop, who has been good as gold to work with.

So please pick up a copy of the print edition, which really is a gorgeous little gem and well worth the $8 asking price. This site offers just a small sampling of what you'll find inside the actual magazine. Check out the rest of our site for information on subscribing, advertising, or submitting and thanks in advance for your interest.

Of course, we'd be remiss in not thanking bartender Ron, who serves us beers and watches over us from behind his bar; that's where we'll be as we sit down to plot out our next issue, STUFF.

Cheers,
Andrea Avery, Thomas Crone & Stefene Russell