Green Thinking

Earlier this year I was invited to submit some ideas for the New York Times Magazine’s first-ever green issue (on newsstands today in New York; tomorrow elsewhere in the country). Here are the three results. Did you know there was such a thing as a “green burial”? Or that you could get a Masters Degree in green design? I didn’t either.

Fall Back Into Place – With A Beer

It was busy summer, alright. For one thing, I spent about six weeks on the West Coast for various weddings, birthdays, reporting trips, baby showers, campouts, fireworks, kayak crashes, more birthdays. Now that I’m back, let me try to get back up to speed. For one thing, the articles: My co-writer Seth Fletcher and I managed to alternately delight and peeve members of the beer brewing community with our fourth annual Best Beers in the World feature in Men’s Journal (posted on my site, here’s 2004, 2005, and 2006). Our faves for 2007? Firestone Walker Pale Ale, Oskar Blues‘ Dale’s Pale Ale, Deschutes‘ The Abyss, Saison Dupont, Lagunitas Pils, Aventinus Doppleweizenbock, and, oh, about 50 others. We had a lot of fun this time, categorically speaking. For example: the best beer for ice fishing, with spare change, in case of natural disaster? The issue story isn’t on the magazine’s site yet, so I will do my darndest to scan it in soon. The story was picked up by The Today Show (clips require Windows Media Player) this weekend (OK, when the spokesperson refers to MJ’s secret inside team? That’s us), and I even managed to pull myself out of bed at 5AM to talk about the story on the WB11 (a local station), marking three years in a row I’ve been invited on. Of course, it’s all because the crew gets to stand around and divvy up the leftovers, which is my favorite part. Cheers guys!