Embrace the Suck | Covid-19 Crisis Editorial

April 8, 2020 | Mathew Powers

Embrace the Suck: verb, slang, military slang. “To consciously accept or appreciate something that is extremely unpleasant but unavoidable for forward progress.”

The Embrace the Suck mantra does not suggest that we should celebrate the suck, find joy in the suck nor pretend a situation isn’t as bad as it seems. Embrace the Suck requires one to accept fully that our present situation does indeed suck, and that we must willingly accept it. We must understand that it has to suck for a while and that only by enduring can we eventually arrive at a point where it no longer sucks.

And that is where we are in the world, which includes everything attached to craft beer.
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Editorial | Don’t Get Stuck in a Craft Beer Brand Name Rut

November 20, 2018 | Mathew Powers

Does size matter? Do name brands imply value? Last year, I dared to suggest that the best barrel-aged beer I tasted came from Crystal Lake Brewing — the 2015 Heaven Hill Rye Barrel-Aged Stout (aged for three years). That assessment afforded me an opportunity to receive several nasty, troll-like emails, messages and online commentary.

For some reason, boldly claiming that a brewery outside the realm of the “big boys” somehow banished me to the craft beer timeout corner. But why?

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Dear Chicagoans: Don’t Ignore the North Burbs Brewing Scene

June 5, 2017 | Mathew Powers 10

The breweries that lie north of Chicago’s Saison-Dixon line regularly play the role of the ugly red-headed stepchild. Granted, Mikerphone receives endless, well-deserved praise, but Mikerphone is a transplant that gained its fame prior to moving to Elk Grove Village. Meanwhile, breweries located in the North Burbs, such as Light the Lamp, Ten-Ninety, ZumBier, Chain O’Lakes, Side Lot, Tighthead, Only Child, Flesk — a brewery in the process of moving to Barrington, and countless others are oft-ignored among the pantheon of Chicago-area breweries.

Don’t do it. Don’t rob yourself of that joy. Refuse to ignore northern-suburban breweries. The brewing scene of the North Burbs is too good to miss!

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The Franklin Myth | “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”

January 11, 2017 | Mathew Powers 1

Ben Franklin never wrote, “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Despite numerous sources, such as Pinterest, Twitter and your local tee shirt guy, the quote — now this may shock some of you — started on the Internet and then numerous people shared it without bothering to check for its accuracy. WHOA! What’s next, fake news stories? Say it ain’t so, Internet Joe!

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