This Beer is Just For Girls
A look at Girl Beer, the Cervo's team's new restaurant, Dries Van Noten's final show, and phone bans in schools.
GM everyone, hope you all had a lovely weekend. I have something really embarrassing to admit…
In Today’s Newsletter—
What is Girl Beer?
The Team Behind Cervo’s Has a New NYC Restaurant
Dries Van Noten’s Final Bow
Phone Addiction and School Bans
Growing up, I never learned how to ride a bike. This severe skill deficiency did not bare much weight on my life until I moved to New York, and its been hitting especially hard the last few weeks. I constantly see people gliding through the streets on a Citi bike, while I am forced to walk or take enter the depths of hell that is the subway.
I was in line at This Bowl the other week when I saw so many people pull up on Citi bike, and it hit me that I had to learn how to ride a bike.
I did some digging, and was shocked to find that just 6% of U.S. adults don’t know how to ride a bike.
So this weekend, I took the ferry out to Governor’s Island to finally learn how to ride a bike. This was a strategic move, I needed some space.
It wasn’t easy at first, and it was blisteringly hot. While it was frustrating and many expletives were hurled, eventually I finally figured out how to pedal.
I am proud to report that upon leaving the island, I had proudly left the 6%
Its about to be a Citi Bike summer!
NEWS
There is a new beer just for girls on the market. Girl Beer is a new light beer branded to hop on the trend of gendering activities with the pre-fix, ‘Girl ___’ a la girl dinner, girl math, you get the gist.
It is slated to come in two flavors: Blueberry Lavender, and Pinapple Yuzu, which both do sound pretty good. The new offering is shrouded in a lot of mystery, but I did some digging and found its being produced by Drink Hurray, a Southern California beverage company founded by Ray Biebuyck. This appears to be their first product on the marketing. The name, flavors, and can design indicate Girl Beer hopes to cater to younger women, who notably are less likely to drink beer, according to a 2019 study, which reports women account for 25% of beer consumption in the USA, so it seems there is a white space to be filled. The companies tagline is that it is, “NOT LIKE THE OTHER BREAD WATER.” I think the can is well designed, and I could see this product doing well initially due in part to it adding the ‘girl __’ meme and that other gendered products (Happy Dad, Dude Wipes) have crushed in sales, but I am honestly curious what my female readers think. Vote below and drop your thoughts on the brand in the comments.
The team behind Cervo’s has a new NYC restaurant. This past weekend, Eel Bar opened on Broome St. Its the latest offering from the genius restauranteurs behind Dimes Sqaure’s best restaurant, Cervo’s.
Rather than pulling inspiration from Portuguese cuisine, Eel Bar will serve a variety of dishes and snacks with roots in Spain’s Basque country. Standout dishes include a rainbow trout, a burger with anchovies, and fried mussels.
The space is just as well designed as Cervo’s, which is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. I have a reservation next weekend, I’ll follow up with my thoughts.
Dries Van Noten took his final runway bow. The legendary Antwerp 6 designer ended his 38-year career with one final collection at Paris Fashion Week. Dries’ namesake label has been creating interesting menswear for decades, adding unique twists on classic menswear staples, and doing it independently from major luxury fashion conglomerates, which is a truly incredible feat. The last collections looks were reminiscent of staples, but off kilter in a signature Dries way. Its sad to see him retire, but its smart to go out before they yank you off the stage and now he plans to, “shift my focus to all the things I never had the time for,”
LA county schools are banning phones. And Michael Bloomberg thinks NYC schools should do the same. Phone usage amongst teens has been linked to to numerous bad outcomes including a 50% rise in depression, 48% rise in suicide rates for individuals aged 10-19, and a staggering 131% rise in suicides for young girls aged 10-14. Scores in math and other fields have slowly been declining and screen time increases. Social isolation is increasing amongst young people as well, with 15-24 year olds experiencing 75% less social interactions. All of these worrying statistics, point back to the rise of the smartphone and social media. While these are both useful tools, the statistics show they are having an adverse affect on adults, but especially kids. In response, legislators have called for age restricting social media, adding a warning label to apps, and banning phones in schools. There is also a growing market for products to help curb phone addiction, such as the Brick, a $49 device that stops certain apps from working until the phone comes in contact again.
We are seeing the repercussions of a world to hooked on phones. While I love to stay locked in, sometimes you need to put the phone in the drawer and go walk outside for a few hours to gain some semblance of clarity. I’m curious: how do you manage your screen time?
Alright gotta go! I hope you all have a great start to the week. Email if you need anything :)
Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, and designer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
We have phone bans in schools in Australia and it feels like a pointless uphill battle much of the time (as a teacher). I don’t know what the answer is but if young people can have them out of school, I think we need to look at managing it.
Bravo to you on learning how to ride! I, too, did not learn as a kid (always befuddled by those "it's like learning how to ride a bike..." comments. I learned how to ride in the last few years, and it was definitely a freeing feeling!