The 4 Wines Writer Brian Hawkins Drank While Writing the 4 Issues of THE VINEYARD
Plus Recordings for this week's Livestreams, and a look at a rare Saskatoon Berry wine!
The 4 Wines Writer Drank While Writing the 4 Issues of THE VINEYARD
This is a fun bonus behind-the-scenes from last week’s Book Club Livestream, where we had Brian on as a guest to talk about his wine-themed horror comic.
The Vineyard chronicles a family-owned Virginia winery whose owners make seasonal human sacrifices to the god Dionysius in order to protect the harvest and make divinely delicious wine!
FUN FACT: The law/rule for “hybrid” grapes (crossbreedings of vinis vinefera [wine grapes] and vitis aestivalis [native American grapes]) is that it only has to consist of 51% of the blend in order to call the bottle just that grape. In this case, the hybrid is Norton, originally created in Virginia. The winery calls this a “cuvee” meaning there are definitely other grapes involved - up to 49%! But the winery ain’t sayin’ which or in what quantities. ‘Tis a mystery.
Brian was out of Virginia wines for issue #4, so just ran to the store and grabbed this, a decent go-to for affordable grocery store wine. It’s bulk produced stuff, but the “high end” of bulk, like Meomi or Browne. Personally, I can still enjoy of bottle of those or any Josh, just keep your expectations in line with the product.
Halloween Book Club Livestream Tomorrow, Oct 30th with Guest, Brian Hawkins!
Late night spooooooooky Halloween Book Club Livestream happening 10/30, 8pm PT / 11pm ET! We’ll kick off by discussing James Tynion IV’s horror comic NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE (plus the Hulu/Fox movie NO ONE CAN SAVE YOU). Then writer Brian Hawkins will be joining us between 8:30/9pm PT to discuss his horror comic THE VINEYARD!
Recordings for This Week’s Livestreams
Watch the fully chaptered recording with Evan Carothers (Toxx, Ignis Quadrant) and Anthony Christou (Luminous Ages, Book of Monsters)
Truly Unique Saskatoon Berry “Port style” wine:
One of the wines we paired with Evan Carothers’ TOXX comic deserves a special shout out for its uniqueness.
NV Cabin Fever “Port Style” wine from Thunder Bay Winery in Michigan, is a unique dessert wine made with…Saskatoon Berries!
These are not technically berries, even though they look like oversized blueberries, but are actually related to apples, and offer up an almost almond-like flavor.
Due to some kind of mix-up where the original buyers of the berries reneged on the sale, the winery was offered an entire truckload for pennies on the pound. They accepted, and experimented with making a wine out of them.
They initially tred for a dry wine, and it was digusting! (this is their own words!) Then they tried retaining a hefty level of residual sugar, and foritfied it with brandy - eureka! Cabin Fever was born.
I taste rhubarb pie in a glass, the scent of strawberries (or, actually, more like strawberry shortcake.) The body is deep, the alochol high (21%!) but the experience is neverthless smooth. Three cheers, Thunder Bay. This is a winner.
Meanwhile, on Substack….
- at is offering a custom portrait commission flash sale - only $55 for a FULL COLOR portrait commission! You, a friend, family, a fictional character, your choice. Check out her art and offer here. She is one of my hand’s down faves.
I don’t beat the drum about the United States’ broken alcohol regulatory system (the “three-tier system”) that often, but
at has an EXCELLENT example showcasing clearly why our alcohol distribution/shipping laws are insane. Much like our inability to change our boken health care industry, we are the only country to have anything like this. It’s 100% unnecessary, and 100% harming us as a whole while enriching a very select few.- at recently lost a talented friend, and a group of like-minded creators have helped assemble an anthology called CICADAS in his memory. I’ve already purchased a copy, it looks frankly f***ing amazing.
- once again has dropped a review of a comic we just covered in the Evan Carothers Livestream recording above. Give it a read, then don’t forget to check out our interview with Evan!
One of my favorite comics by one of my favorite Aussie creators, DEER EDITOR (not a typo!) by
is finally getting a worldwide release from a third party publisher. This is an AMAZING comic, folks. Pre-order it now!
