#that’s a good spread actually lots of variety thanks Spotify | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cilliansaccent · 4 years

Text

The Peaky Designer - Cillian Fanfic, Chapter 17

Hello, welcome back. Below is the next instalment of my fanfiction!

Leave a like or a comment if you liked it, or if I can do anything better! Please, it would mean the world and to understand if anyone is enjoying my writing. Also, sharing/reblogging would be even better.

PLEASE READ:

I will not be including Cillian’s family as it’s kinda weird since he has children lmao. Just a mention of his parents and a previous lover.

I will indicate in a chapter if there is smut in the beginning and before the actual scene!!

I will add trigger warnings if there is any!!

There is a variety of levels of swearing during a chapter, I will not hold back, everyone swears.

The timestamp for the Fic is now 2016 and onwards!!

——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——-

Background: Gabrijela Babic is a Croatian girl from Sydney, Australia. She is born in the year 1991 on the 24th of December. She studies a Fashion degree in a University with a major in Game Design as well. Her teacher in the fashion designer class managed to nail an Internship on the set of Peaky Blinders with the shows very own Costume Designer, Allison McCosh. There, she travels to London for under a year to learn how to be one, working alongside the actors as well the man she admires, Cillian Murphy. But, her platonic feelings for the man begins to grow into something more, and she wonders whether she should pursue them or let him go for fear of her strict parents and her three older brothers…

Characters:

Swantje Paulina as Gabrijela Babic (swalina on Instagram)

Cillian Murphy

Word Count: 2,164

!!Warnings!!: Mention of foreplay while they wait in the airport.

Date: January 2017

Chapter Name: Goodbye, but not Forever.

Brief Chapter Outline: Cillian and Gabrijela spend their last day together doing whatever they can before they end it with some heated passion…

——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——-

Sitting at the edge of the bed, Gabrijela took some time to think. She thought over the past few months how amazing it had been, despite the whole mess with Logan.

She had learned so much, made a lot of long term friends. She had gotten close with Harry Kirton and had continued to chat and send funny snaps to him. With Logan, she parted okay. Yes, she was still hurt even now but she had come to learn that there was no use to dwell on such pain when life offered her a much better deal. And that good deal was Cillian.

To be honest, she had no intentions of finding love while she was here. Especially not with an actor. But she was pleasantly surprised and content to be with Cillian. She couldn't be happier. Touching the hoodie she wore, which Cillian gave her to keep, she would miss him terribly. She didn't know how she would be able to deal being so long apart from him and had no idea when they would see each other again.

It broke her heart.

But such is life and they would deal with it together. Gab promised she would always send a message or call him and he would do the same.

Cillian came into the room, "Car is packed. Checked if you left something behind?"

"Uhm, no. I don't think I did." Gabrijela said as she stood up, "If I did well, you can keep it." She smiled.

"Well, I'd be happy if you left yourself here." He said as he came over and pulled her close, kissing her deeply.

She laughed softly, but it was sad, "I wish I could baby." She murmured her hands on his chest.

He kissed her again, "One day." He replied softly as they made their way to the car. He held the door open for her and she got in.

She felt tears sting her eyes as she gazed up at the pretty apartment she had been falling in love with.

Then she watched it go away as Cillian drove off. He played one of his favourite playlists on Spotify which she was following as well, it was a mixture of both their music tastes which they both liked.

Just over forty minutes, they came to the airport. He parked and they got out, pulling out her heavy suitcase and headed in. Check-in wasn't open yet so they wandered around, grabbed breakfast and then found a sort of quiet area where they sat.

She got into his lap, his arms wrapping around her. Her arms around his neck and they held each other like that for a while.

She pulled back to look into his eyes, then kissed him deeply. She didn't care if people saw or took photos. She was going to miss him like hell and she wanted to touch him and kiss him as much as she could.

A soft groan escaped Cillian, his hand moved under the hoodie she wore. He found the soft curve of her breast and cupped it and squeezed it.

"Mmph... Cillian." She moaned lowly, "You're gonna make me needy." She kissed him.

"I want to touch you," He said against her lips as his hand dropped between her legs. He cupped her treasure, watching her eyes go wide.

"W-We can't do this out here." She gripped his forearm.

"I said I want to touch you, love. No one is around to see us." He said and kissed her again as his hand slid into her pants and began to stroke her.

Warmth spread through her body and she tried to keep her cool as to not attract any unwanted attention. She laid her head down on his shoulder, feeling his fingers poke and prod her clit. "Fuck." She whispered a soft moan escaped her.

"Good girl. So wet already." He said before he plunged two fingers deep into her.

She arched her back, sitting upright but was forced back down on to his shoulder, "Cillian! Oh... God." She gritted her teeth.

He fingered her fast and deep, his thumb circling her clit, "Lift up your hoodie." He said, kissing her neck.

She did so but enough so he could lean down and suck on her nipple, his teeth bit down gently and he tugged on it. She had such pretty breasts, he thought. He was going to miss her body against his. All the freckles that dusted her body.

"Cillian- My god, you're gonna make me cum. Oh fuck. Fuck." She gripped his forearm tightly, he was going so fast. She could feel his fingers wiggle inside her, urging her to cum.

"Come on, love. Cum for me, make sure I remember those pretty sounds." He kissed her jaw, watching her expression go from relaxed to such bliss and concentration on what he was doing to her.

"I'm- I'm- Oh god I'm gonna cum, I'm gonna cum, Cillian!" She gasped and he kissed her suddenly to swallow her cries as she came on his fingers. Her hips bucked a little before she calmed down and whimpered softly.

"God," Cillian murmured as he pulled out his fingers. He looked at them, coated in her released before he licked them clean. "Here." He murmured, bringing them to Gabrijela's lips and she cleaned them off. And then he claimed her lips once more in a heated, passionate kiss. They pulled back to look into the eyes of each other then back to kissing.

Pulling back once more, they panted softly. Their lips red a bit swollen from how long they kissed.

"I love you, Cillian Murphy. With all my heart and soul." She stroked his cheeks. "I love you so much."

He smiled, his eyes shiny from tears, "I love you too, Gabrijela. With my whole being." He pressed his forehead to hers.

It was time to head off even when they cuddled more after. They walked slowly, holding hands as it was getting harder and harder to not cry.

Gabrijela sniffled as they stood before the terminal she needed to go through. She faced her lover and hugged him tightly as tears fell down her cheeks.

His strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her up a little, "Fuck," his voice cracked from the emotions that were going through him. "I don't know if I can do this." He said as they pulled back.

Gabrijela was surprised and also shocked to see him crying, "We can do this, Cillian. I love you. I love you so, so, so much." She kissed him, tasting the saltiness of his tears. "I'm gonna miss you." She felt her hands shaking. She was a mess as she cried.

He gulped and took her hands, "I have you. Right here." He brought her hands up to where his heart was. "Always and forever. But we will see each other again." He said, holding her gaze. He just wanted to take her away and keep her forever here. Despite her being here for almost a year now, it felt way too short. There was so much he wanted to do with her.

"I love you," He reminded her, "You are an amazing girl and I cannot thank you so much for being here. Being with me." He touched her freckled cheek, "My world." He kissed her again.

"I will remember everything we've done together. I love you. You have been nothing but the best and I can't thank you enough for treating me like I mean something." She said.

"Always, love. Always." He pushed back her hair. "Good-bye, Gabrijela." He whispered.

"But not forever, Cillian. We will see each other again." She reminded him and they kissed deeply one more time before she picked up her bags and headed to the gate. She looked back once more, seeing him standing there. Alone. No one else around him. Tears streaming down his cheeks. Her heart shattered and she cried again, waving good-bye and blew him a kiss and she walked down the hall.

Once she had gone through security and all that, she just had to wait for a little bit before it was time to board. She sent Cillian and text saying she was boarding now and many hearts followed by 'I love you'. He replied almost instantly with the same words and she smiled.

On the plane, she found her spot next to the window. No one sat beside her as it was only a two-seater on the top level of the airbus. She felt her nerves kick in but she made sure to just breathe and count as the plane began to take off.

She spent the long hours going through her phone, looking at the photos she took with Cillian. Sher had changed her background to when they were celebrating the New Year in the pub. He had his arm around her and her own around his waist.

Gabrijela had one hell of a time and she couldn't have had it any better. She would make sure she would work hard and save up and return to London to see Cillian again.

Though, the only issue she had to face now was how to tell her parents she had a boyfriend. A much older boyfriend. She knew she didn't need to say it right away but there would be a time when they would ask why she wasn't looking for a man.

But that was another thing to think about. Now, she wanted to just try and sleep whenever she could and watch movies right through the trip.

Touch down in Sydney...

It was weird to be back home. She had gotten used to the many English accents around her that she was able to pick up the difference almost. She was tired and grumpy and gross, she had a five-hour delay in Singapore and she was so not having it.

But at least it was late afternoon and she could sleep in a couple of hours. Dragging her bags out of the arrival gate she saw her parents who were overjoyed to see her.

They came rushing over, her Dad made a huge sign that said welcome back in Croatian. She laughed and hugged them both, speaking quickly in Croatian as they headed off to the car.

She talked but wanted to wait till she got home to repeat it to the rest of the family that was waiting. They had thrown her a big welcome back dinner and she was so glad to see her Mum had made her favourite dish ever.

Then she answered many questions and promised she would show photos once she got her sleep.

Everyone left by the time it hit ten. She took a thorough shower and then went to bed right after. She sent another text to Cillian saying she was safe at home and was going to try and get some sleep.

But she couldn't. So she spent her time awake and going through her social media. More photos of the pair had sprouted up, and she made sure to keep her Instagram private as it seemed some people had found her account. She ignored the questions, just deleting them as she didn't want to answer any of them.

Lucia had been commenting and liking every post, which made her shiver. Her private messages were just begging for Gabrijela to forgive her. But she wouldn't.

She would update the rest of her friends in the morning when they were awake.

So she called up Cillian via video. He picked up after a few rings and it looked like he was in the living room.

"Hi, baby." Gabrijela smiled.

"Hey, love. How was the flight?" He asked, concern in his voice.

"I was okay. Nervous but okay. Look, I can see the sunrise." She giggled as she got off the bed and headed out to the balcony. It was all bush around them but they had a pretty waterfront view. They had a double story house on Scotland Island.

"Can you not sleep?" He asked, "Wow, it's beautiful." He replied.

"I can't. I'm wide awake. So I've been on my phone this whole time." She said as she sat in her egg chair. It was warm, so she didn't need to cover up.

"Aww, I'd have gotten you to fall asleep." Cillian chuckled softly.

"I know. But it's okay. I'll sleep eventually." She smiled.

"How about now?" He asked.

"Nah, it's okay. No use sleeping now, its already morning. Maybe tonight when I go to bed?" She asked.

"Okay, sure. I can do that." He nodded.

They ended up talking for another hour or two before Cillian bid her farewell as it was getting late for him.

Gabrijela smiled and held her phone to her chest as she stayed on the egg chair and listened to the morning bird calls around, thinking about Cillian and how much she knew he would love it here.

#cillian murphy #thomas shelby #peaky blinders #fanfiction #tommy shelby

13 notes · View notes

beatsfortheillperth · 4 years

Text

Words with Twin Nemesis

The United States is the homeland of a lot of the creatives we've had words with over the years, and Soph and Sylv, the masterminds behind Twin Nemesis are just two more US beat-smiths and creatives who just so happen to be cohesively moving sound-waves over in the USA.

The girls are tweaking valleys of bass that display a musical landscape that is infused with funk and wave wonder and this duo will intrigue like the piper, tame ones head to bop and, damn feet to tap with their select but distinguishing variety of tracks.

Twin Nems sound will either have you wishing you were out in an underground nightclub, bouncing by the speakers or, chilling at home on a rainy day with a hot cuppa. It can go both ways with these talents, something that's not easy to encourage, but these beat-smiths do so in the most pleasing matter.

Keeping their minds well and in tune away from producing through their studies in University and Med School. These two are not only fuelling their minds but the minds of their listeners worldwide.

Thank you Twin Nem and please don't let the studies led to a musical disappearance, Bass needs you both to continue your relationship and we need you to stay together, for our speakers' sake.

Much love and enjoy words with these unique talents.

Listen to Twin Nemesis, Saying Hello on Spotify -https://open.spotify.com/artist/0aSDNbyGRzbragp1DE9ZKk

Hey, Twin Nemesis thank you so much for taking the time to share words. I thought we would start will a few quick questions.

Favourite Food: Sophie - Mac and Cheese Sylvie - I love food, so that's gonna be hard! I'd say sushi, vanilla berry cake, gummy candy or Thai food :). Oh, and a juicy burger and onion rings. Favourite Beverage: Sophie - Mojito ;P Sylvie - Plain and simple, water! Stay hydrated, folks! Last track you listened to: Sophie - The Suburbs- Mr Little Jeans Sylvie - Jon Casey's 20/20 mix! That part at 1:30 is insane!! A childhood memory in regards to music: Sophie - The first song I remember is Karma Police..my mom was playing it in the car when I was like a few months old and it stuck with me. I heard it again maybe when I was 14? It was like a shot of lightening. I felt this nostalgia. It was insane. It's my favorite song. Sylvie - Without a doubt, driving with my dad in the car to Sergio Mendes and the Beatles. I grew up on Bossa Nova and Classic Rock :) First Album you ever purchased: Sophie - Ok Computer Sylvie - Sheesh, I can't recall to be honest! Most likely something from Sergio Mendes. Last Album you purchased: Sophie - Don't remember tbh Sylvie - I stream on Spotify, so I haven't quite been purchasing! Views on Cheese: Sophie - Give me all the cheese, just not the weird french ones Sylvie - Cheese is godly. The music you were listening to in Middle School: Sophie - Dubstep (UKF, etc) Sylvie - In Middle School, I was a huge fan of dubstep and drum and bass! UKF releases were the bulk of my then ITunes (rip) library! Still love both genres, especially the soulfulness of liquid drum n bass! What you like to do in your downtime: Sophie - Run around, play videogames, music Sylvie - I'm almost constantly studying, to be honest. However, if I do have a moment, I'll be reading medical journals or watching operations. I want more than anything to be an Emergency Room Physician, so I'm constantly reading articles about the ER when I find good ones.

I'll also often hop on a shift to volunteer for Crisis Text Line, a truly powerful platform where you can be there for people in difficult times <3. Spreading love and reaching out is incredibly important to me. I also spend a lot of hours as well training for fencing and at the gym for cross-training... Not much "free time" I suppose, but that's exactly how I like it! I'm a busy bee. :D Your ideal feast would consist of: Sophie - Pizza, mac n cheese, nugs. Basically all the foods that will send me to the grave. Sylvie - Probably too much food to realistically procure for one feast.

Thanks for that, so I'd like to start by asking, how did you both meet? Had you known each other long before you started making music together? Sylvie - We met in fencing in middle school and instantly became best friends. We just clicked! About a year into our friendship, I mentioned in fencing practice that I produced music, and Sophie wanted to join. We learned the ropes of Maschine together, and she picked up Logic faster than I did. Sophie proved to be a natural, and things just flowed from there!

Sophie - We went to the same middle/high school but met during fencing practice! We both fenced sabre for a couple of years and bonded through that. So probably like 2-3 years before we started making music.

How did your musical relationship start and at the beginning were you both making your own music separately? How long have you been making music together? You've been releasing music on Soundcloud for 5 or so years under Twin Nemesis. Had you been making music together even before releases such as "Nocturne"? Could you share a memory from your early days making music together that has inspired you to continue creating? Sylvie - Sheesh, I would say it's been 6 years. We waited a year before releasing. We're both perfectionists. Before Twin Nemesis, I was releasing creations on my personal account. Sophie vibed with them, and before long we were producing together. In high school we would have "production nights" where we would stay up all night and produce something on one computer, one Maschine. Right after? Dance party time. These have been some of my best memories to date. Sophie - Sylvie taught me everything about how to use Logic and Maschine when we first started! I remember during fencing practice she was talking about producing beats and I thought that was so unique and interesting since I didn't know anyone who did that. We started hanging outside of fencing at her house experimenting with the Maschine and I just fell in love.

What equipment do you guys use to create your sound? Also if it applies, what musical instruments do you both play? Does knowing how to play an instrument necessarily benefit someone trying to make beats more? Sylvie - I have background in drumming, so I gravitated towards the Maschine. I'm actually a classically trained violinist, and have been playing for 16 years! I also play the bass and drums. In terms of helping beat-making, I'm not quite sure. Plenty of really legendary beat-makers don't play other instruments-- I don't think it's needed to play anything. But I like to incorporate classical or jazz elements into my music when I can. Sophie - I do not actually play any instruments but I use Maschine as well as Logic and Ableton. I wish I understood the theory behind a lot of the music being put out today but playing by ear has worked out so far. Could you share a paragraph of what Twin Nemesis represents to you individually and also what Twin Nemesis represents to you both collectively? What inspired the name Twin Nemesis? Love it. Sylvie - Its really special to be able to make music with your best friend. To me, Twin Nemesis represents a creative outlet where we can express our feelings through a medium that has no words.

We're able to pinpoint that feeling, and hone in on the sonic experience that can deliver a sense of it into our listeners. I want to be able to uplift them, be there for them, show them that they're not alone, be their shoulder to cry on, and help them if I can with our music.

To me, it's my hope that we can help heal people with the joy of music, (cheesy as it sounds). There's no greater joy than helping others, and I hope we can do that not just in our day- to-day lives, but in our music as well.

Sophie came up with Twin Nemesis actually, and it's ironic, because I'm an actual twin. We are far from nemeses, my twin is a best friend as well, and I'm extremely lucky to have her. So there's no connection there, Sophie just thought it sounded cool. She's creative as heck!

Sophie - I think I came up with the name and honestly I think it came from the fact that Sylvie and I just looked very different (blonde vs brunette), yet we're both girls so I wanted to keep that dichotomy but also, yeah, it just sounds cool haha.

For me Twin Nemesis is a great way to relax. I just finished my BS at Cornell University and am starting medical school at UCSF so my life tends to be very busy and stressful. Making music really grounds me and I found during the most stressful times of my career I tend to create the best music. Going back to your track "Nocturne" I wanted to discuss it a little further as it is Twin Nems' earliest release that I felt contrasted it's follow up release on Soundcloud delightfully. That follow-up release was "Nostalgia". Were the contrasts in these two releases intentional or are the tracks unrelated? Can you share what making Nostalgia and Nocturne was like? And what you were trying to portray with each track? Sylvie - The two of those tracks were meant to be lofi hip-hop-esque. They were meant to evoke feelings of, well, nostalgia, from two different waveforms. For these two, we busted out our Maschines, and went for something as groovy as it was soulful.

The process was relatively simple, as we were still figuring out the ropes- chop up a sample, lay down a bass-line, and of course, drum out a groovy, swinging drum pattern. That was really it, admittedly, but we felt that there was a special soulfulness in these tracks, so we released them. Sophie - Skipping, tbh don’t remember much other than I was going thru a bad breakup and these songs helped haha I just wanted to add, back in 2015 Twin Nemesis released a track called Chapel of the Devil via Bandcamp and the sounds displayed in that beat could easily nurse a rap, you guys had skill even back then, much love. What was it like for you making Chapel of the Devil and how do you feel your style has adapted over the years since? Do you feel more confident with each release over time, or do you feel you were more confident with your earlier releases? Sylvie - Mmmm. Good question! Sophie was more involved with that one. She found the sample and chopped it nicely. I can't really take much credit for that. In terms of style, I've began to shift into more bass-music, experimental types of music and have started to produce a fair amount of lo-fi hip hop.

What does making a beat do for you? Does it help you in any personal sort of way like offer an escape? What is it that you think draws more and more people into wanting to create their own beats? Sylvie - Making a beat is an outlet where I don't have anything to lose. When I'm making music, I tap into my emotions, and if not mine, my boyfriend's, my close friends', the worlds', or even my dog's (I'm obsessed with her). More and more people are gravitating towards beatmaking because it's become more culturally relevant with the rise of Soundcloud- the ability to share your creativity with the world is unique, and the fact that everyone has access to that upload button makes music production rather appealing.

We live in a world of music-- it's all over us. To be able to create your own tunes has been an ever-present drive of humanity-- it's visceral. I gotta give one of my best friends, (an extremely talented classical pianist), Phoebe some credit for coming up with a quote that sums up why music itself is so powerful, especially in times like these--

"There’s nothing like the comfort of listening to a song that gets you. And that’s why music is so powerful, it can relate to any kind of person and make him or her feel safe and understood."

People are looking to make that song that gets them, to find that exact feeling that resonates with them and express it without words, in, what my boyfriend Jackson, (a phenomenal guitarist), describes as a medium that is visceral and can touch each and every person that listens differently.

He believes some of the beauty of music is the ambiguity of the meaning as well. I had to credit these two here for their deeply insightful thoughts.

Sophie - Refer to previous question, my life is very academically stressful so I use it as an escape away from the pressures of school. Twin Nemesis is also responsible for some bass-driven mixes that are just timeless. Listened to your minimix "That Wavy College minimix" which you both made two years ago and it is still relevant, thank you! Had you both always been into mixing or was it something you picked up along the Twin Nem journey? What gets you in the mood to want to create a mix and what inspires the tracklist you curate? Sylvie - YESSSSSS BASS MUSIC :) Mixing was something we picked up on the way. It really depends on who is making the mix. If it's Soph, it will be more melodic and rap-driven usually.

If it's me, it will be all about the drums. These are pretty consistent distinctions. The track-list is based on what has me bobbing my head and making the stank face at the moment. :)

Sophie - Sylvie makes most of the mixes and I loooove listening to them, especially when I'm studying. Her music taste really vibes with mine. I've tried making mixes but have yet to post anything....maybe soon... Twin Nemesis will also be doing a beatsfortheill mix which we are super humbled about, thank you both. What can our readers and listeners expect with this up and coming mix? Sylvie - You'll see ;) Bringing the timeline forward to a year ago, we have to discuss your track snüp, one of my personal favourites by Twin Nem that I feel perfects the sound you'd want any beat to create when you're trying the lay back, much love. How did you go about creating snüp, how long did it take you guys to make and what inspired it's creation? Sylvie - It was rather simple as well! Snoop Dogg acapella + sample chopped up + infectious drum groove + bass. Done. I would say it took us about 3 days actually.

The both of us love jazz, old school hip hop, and soul music, so we wanted to integrate the sound of old school hip hop with more "new school".

Adding the vinyl-ridden sample to a Snoop Dogg vocal was a contrast that we found worked very well, so we followed through with the idea and released it.

Sophie - I'll let Sylvie answer this one You also released a track called Echoes of the Past in the same year and it was a track that showed me that you guys could tackle any genre. It's chilled, slightly romantic and soothing on a lofi lovers ears, thank you for creating this track. What inspires your shifts in sound in general from genre to genre? And on the subject of this particular track, what was it like to put together? Were you trying to share anything subtly with this release? Sylvie - Shifts in genre are because of our extremely diverse tastes in music. We listen to music spanning almost all genres, (save country, and for me, indie).

This allows us to want to produce along the gamut of vibes! When we're especially enjoying lo-fi, like we were when we were making Echoes of the Past, we'll make lo-fi. If we're inspired by left-field bass/trap, we'll make something like Hello.Jpeg. It all depends, and there really is no specific reason for why make what we make, when we make it. It just happens that way! I wish I could say that I was trying to convey something... In regards to music-making, what draws you in about a certain sound or vocal that makes you want to sample it? Sylvie - For me it's all about the groove. You know, when a groove is just *so infectious* that you can't help but bob your head and get those chills down your spine and turn the volume up higher.

I'm a sucker for creamy keys as well, like a Rhodes sample, the Korg Triton, jazz chords, 7ths. I love old soul and jazz music :)

But also, I equally enjoy warping glitches and harsh sounds. For drum samples? Drums. Must. Slap. They have to cut through the mix and be powerful and beefy, with a liberal amount of syncopation added for that off-kilter groove. Sophie - I love oldies and sampling classical music, so if I'm listening to a random track and hear a catchy melody I download it right away and create something with it. I also am drawn to sadder more melancholy melodies. Not sure why but it's always been like that. The song that introduced me to your sound was "Hello.Jpeg" and I was blown away with this track. The intro reminded of something N.E.R.D could have produced and the bass will convert any avid bass listener, thank you again. What were you going for with this release? Did it take long to put together? Also, what do you enjoy most about this track? Sylvie - Awww sheesh, thanks! We were going for my favorite musical element, bounce. For me, that's what makes a track (in bass music).

It's gotta have that bounce. We'd been listening to Jon Casey, Tsuruda, Explore, Mr. Carmack, etc. for ages, and were hoping to achieve a similar bouncy, stompy feel.

This track by far took the longest to put together-- probably upwards of 2 weeks? There were a lot of elements there. As for the last question here, I think you can tell what I'm proudest of in this track.... (hint: the bounce). Sophie - We love experimenting with different genres and Hello.Jpeg was our jump. It was extremely fun and very natural to make...we're probably going to create more of that type. Do you have any Musical Recommendations you could share? Sylvie - Ahhh, yes. I'll go by genre.

In terms of bass and future beats, the "20/20" mix by Jon Casey is impeccable. Check out that 1:30 time stamp. "Spit That" by Chee has that groove and bass that keeps me wanting to come back for more. "Neptune" by Sam Gellaitry has an incredible groove in the second part that will have you bobbing your head, with that lush bass swirling around. You really can't go wrong with Mo Vibez either. "Hammer" by Tsuruda, "Deception" by Herzeloyde, and "React" by Chromonicci have that signature bounce that I love as well, I'm always scouting for bouncy songs.

In terms of more hip-hoppy stuff, I'm gonna have to recommend Tek.lun's "Seshat". It has that bossa nova feel I've always loved, blended with hard-hitting drums.

Drum and Bass! "Progression" by Flite. Anything by Dawn Wall. It's rolling and soulful. Speaking of soulful, soul!

Tom Misch nails it every time, and I cannot recommend Gareth Donkin's track, "Catharsis" enough. It's beautiful. See for yourself. Classic rock, bossa nova... okay, should I just make a Spotify playlist for y'all?

This could be too long.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27nkDj0eqPrzOl2CLGNikJ?si=btVmbVLST5SOFRqSgDs6Fw Sophie - I love Sasha Marie mixes. I've found so many songs and artists through her soundcloud page. Give it a listen. Any up and coming releases we should keep a lookout for? Sylvie - Again, you'll see ;)

Any Last Words? Sylvie - Yeah! An important part of my creative process and just, my life in general, are my amazing boyfriend and best friends, and my family, (yes, that includes my dog, of course).

Just wanna give them a shoutout here. They're always cheering me on, and I'm absolutely so blessed to have them in my life. I cannot thank them enough. Sophie - Thanks so much for all this, truly blessed to be interviewed! Support Twin Nemesis Here: Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/twinnemesismusicofficial

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/0aSDNbyGRzbragp1DE9ZKk

Bandcamp - https://twinnemesis.bandcamp.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/twinnemesismusic/?hl=en

#beatsfortheill #soundcloud #twinnemesis #interview

1 note · View note

imagines-for-the-fangirls-soul · 5 years

Text

Aftermath - Peter Parker

I Love You and I Like You Chapter Fourteen

A/N: Hello! Hello! I know it’s been a long time since I wrote ILYAILY, but I couldn’t help but add Infinity War and Endgame chapters! I’ve had this drafted since IW came out, and since seeing Endgame, I had to post. If you haven’t seen Endgame yet, there are a few spoilers at the end of the fic! I hope you enjoy! I’m sorry about the angst!

If you haven’t read the original fic, you can find all chapters in my masterlist, but long story short, Peter is now 20, the reader is 23 and they have been together for two/three years now. The reader is also a superhero and they’re currently in a long distance relationship because he is at MIT. Anyways! You’ll understand the fic if you just read this part! I’m sorry I’m talking too long! Just read!!!

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader Word Count: 5,188 Synopsis: It has been two years since the last ILYAILY chapter, and Peter and the reader are getting used to their new lives. Just as Peter returns for his summer break from MIT, Thanos sends his people down to collect the rest of the Infinity Stones.

Tags: @atomicpeacekryptonite, @spiderking-of-queens, @the-life-of-a-loser, @drunken-superheros (Taglist people!! A lot of the original list has either deactivated or changed their urls, so if you would like to be added to the list, please let me know! I have at least one more fic drafted to add!)

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Y: Are you done with your exams yet?

P: No, I have one more tomorrow.

Y: If you skip it will you fail?

P: Yes

Y: Fuck

P: Miss me?

Y: Sooo much. Check your Snapchat to see how much

Peter smiled as he changed apps and opened the Snap you just sent him, showing off your cleavage. He bit his lip and started to seriously consider how much it would affect his grade to leave Massachusetts right now and drive back to New York.

Y: What? No response?

P: I wish I could come home. You are so hot

Your next text was just a Spotify link to the *NSYNC song, Digital Get Down. He laughed out loud and immediately Facetimed you. You picked up right away, grinning at him widely.

“Hey,” Peter said.

“Hey.” You ran your fingers through your hair, purposefully knowing that it drove him crazy.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I can’t wait for you to come back to the city.”

“Me too. How’s my favorite Stark Industries engineer? Any cool projects you’re working on?”

“Weirdly enough, I didn’t send you that snap so that we could talk about my job.”

“I know,” he said, smiling, “But I can’t talk for that long.”

“You don’t even take that long in the first place.” He opened his mouth in shock, making you laugh.

“You know, I take offense to that. You’ve lost all sexting privileges.”

“I can’t lose them if I never had them,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“When I get home, we will spend every second in bed-”

“Every thirty seconds,” you teased.

“I’m staying in Massachusets.”

“No, no, I take it back,” you pleaded, pulling the phone close to your face. “I love you and you satisfy all of my needs.” Peter laughed and threw his arm around his head, relaxing back in bed.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. And I like you. You should get back to studying.”

“Yeah. I’ll call you as I’m leaving. I like you, too.”

“Bye,” you said, hanging up on him.

“Y/N!” You turned around on your way to your office inside of Stark Industries and saw Tony Stark himself running towards you.

“Hey. What are you doing here? I hear congratulations are in order!” He smiled as you patted his arm, feeling the hollow shake of where the metal plate in your hand used to be.

“Thank you. I thought it might be nice to swing by and see how things are going with my company.”

“Isn’t that what board room meetings are for?” He ignored your question as he opened the door to your office.

“You know, you don’t have to wear that,” he said, referring to your professional outfit. “I wear sweats and t-shirts when I work.”

“I know, but actually, I do have to dress like this. The rest of the men in my department don’t take me seriously unless I dress like this.”

��Fire them,” Tony said optimistically, taking a seat in front of your desk.

“I didn’t hire them,” you said, smiling slightly as you sat down.

“I know, I did, and I’m telling you to fire them if they’re being assholes.”

“I’ll take that into consideration. So, Tony, what are you doing here?”

“When does the kid get back?”

“Peter should be back tonight. Why?”

“I might have a new suit design prepared for him.” You smiled and clasped your hands together.

“I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic to see it. Do you want to come over for dinner or something?” Tony looked at you seriously, pulling his glasses down the bridge of his nose.

“You seem stressed, what’s up?”

“Nothing, I just miss my boyfriend,” you said with a sigh.

“You talk to your uncle lately?” You shook your head with a frown. “City can be pretty lonely. I know better than most. You taking care of yourself?”

“I’ve got Peter. And you.” He smiled and stood up.

“So? Dinner this week?”

“Absolutely.”

“Alright. My people will call your people.” You laughed and nodded. “Fire those assholes! And use protection! We don’t need any spider-grandchildren yet.” You rolled your eyes and turned on the computer, feeling grateful for the smile on your face.

In the past two years, with Peter being away at MIT, and Steve cutting off contact with the world, you felt really lonely in the big city. You had your family and your friends, but things weren’t the same. A nagging notion in your head told you that you were also missing your plates. Tony had turned off the slightly functioning one to keep it from destroying your hand, and their absence made you feel even more alone.

As you pulled up the schematics for the recent product from Stark Industries that would monitor radiation pollution, your phone buzzed. Expecting it to be a message from a coworker, you glanced down at it briefly.

P: Finished with my exam. On my way home!

Y: Yay! Hurry the hell up!!

This message lifted your spirits and inspired you to get some work done. You started configuring the sensor on the monitor and filed paperwork to get two of your least favorite employees out of the company. You left work early and headed down to Peter’s favorite Chinese place, picking up his favorite before getting back to your apartment. If Peter had truly left when he said he did, he should be getting home soon.

You spun your armchair around to face the door, checking your phone every few seconds to see when he would be home. At 6:53, you heard shuffling in the hall and threw open the door. Peter looked up at you in surprise, wearing an MIT hoodie and ruffled hair.

“Hey, babe,” he said with a smile.

“Oh my god,” you said, wrapping your arms around his neck. He dropped his bag and hugged you back tightly, picking you up off the ground. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” he said, setting you back down to kiss you softly. You hummed into his lips, grabbing onto the hem of his sweatshirt, holding him against your chest.

“Come inside,” you whispered, pecking his lips once more before backing up. He picked his bags up off the floor and followed you inside, kicking the door shut behind him. He tossed his bag onto the couch before coming up behind you. He snaked an arm around your waist and kissed your neck a few times.

“How was your exam?” you breathed.

“Good.”

“Good,” you said as he continued to kiss down your neck, making you smile. “I have a surprise for you.”

“What?” he asked, picking his head up. You laughed and leaned back to kiss him before leading him into the kitchen. Sprawled out on your countertop was a spread of practically everything the Chinese restaurant offered.

“Do you like it?” you asked, squeezing his hand. He laughed and pulled you in close, kissing you again.

“I love it. Of all the things I missed most-” You loosened your grip on his hand, looking at him angrily. “You are obviously the most, but food from Wok on the Wild Side is the second.”

“Damn right.” He laughed and opened up a bag, taking a bite of an egg roll.

“You didn’t have to do this, you know?” he said, his mouth full.

“Oh, I know I didn’t. But I want you to know exactly what you’re missing when you go back to MIT next fall.” He cocked an eyebrow at you, finishing his egg roll.

“So, you’re going to have buffets of Chinese food every single day?”

“Well,” you said, walking over to him, “Your surprises aren’t all entirely of the food variety.” You grabbed his hand and pulled him back to your bedroom, kissing him quickly every few steps. Once you got inside, you started to pull off Peter’s sweatshirt, which he threw over his head.

“God, I’ve missed you.”

“Show me how much.”

Coming out of the bathroom later that night, you smiled at Peter. His head was propped up by a pillow, his arm draped over his head. You crawled back into bed and kissed his chest.

“I love summer break,” he said, letting out a satisfied breath. You groaned and laid in his arms as he wrapped them around you.

“Don’t remind me that it’s only a break. I’m pretending you’re never going back to MIT.”

“Well, that’s months away. And who knows, with all you’ve got in store, maybe I won’t go back at all.” You laughed softly and tilted your head to look up at him.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” you said, poking his chin softly.

“I would never.”

“Should we bring all that Chinese food in bed with us?”

“Are you kidding me? Absolutely,” Peter said, getting out of bed. “It’s even better when it’s cold.” He came back into your bedroom with a six-pack of beer and all of the takeout boxes. You sat up in bed and smiled at him as you opened the bag of crab rangoons.

“Alright, so now that we’ve got the important things out of the way,” you said, throwing your hair up in a ponytail, “Tell me everything.”

You each discussed the projects you had worked on since seeing each other last. Peter described his new friends and his proposed idea for a thesis. You got him caught up on all the drama at your work, eventually getting to what happened today with Tony.

“He’s got a new suit for me?”

“That’s what he says,” you said, using your fork to kick around the rice. Peter noticed your mood change and touched your knee.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just-” You stopped and sighed.

“You can tell me anything.”

“I know. I’ve just,” you sighed again, moving all of the food from the bed and sprawling out. Peter laughed quietly and looked down at you in confusion.

“Okay, I was still eating that,” he said as you laid your head down on his lap. He played with your hair, smiling at you. “What’s up?”

“I’ve missed you, I miss the Avengers, I miss my stupid uncle, I am getting so mad at the idiots I work with, and I am a little bit jealous that you got a new suit.”

“Well, that is a lot. But I’ll tell you what, I’m here now. As far as I’m concerned, I’m the coolest Avenger anyway,” he said, making you laugh, “And if you want a new suit, I will make you a new suit.” You reached up and cupped his cheek.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Do you want Spider-Man to go beat those idiots you work with up?”

“So much.”

“Can I eat that food now?” he asked quietly.

“Sure, I’m just having a crisis, but by all means, eat your fucking mu-shu pork.” Peter smiled as he moved you off of his lap and onto a pillow.

“I’ve missed you so much.” You smiled, and relaxed against your pillow, you realized how tired you were. You had been bottling up so much since Peter had left, and it felt so good for him to be back and to get everything off your chest, that you expected you would sleep easy tonight.

So easy, in fact, that you didn’t even notice that you had fallen asleep. You only felt Peter tuck you in after he turned off the lights and wrapped his arms around your waist. He fell asleep next to you with a full stomach, completely satisfied.

“Pete,” you said the next morning, shaking his arm carefully. He woke up abruptly and looked at you worriedly.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, I shouldn’t have woken you up,” you said, flashing an apologetic smile at him. He laughed and folded his pillow underneath him, looking at you.

“What’s up?”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because it was 12:30 and you seemed exhausted.” You traced your thumb across his cheekbone and smiled.

“I had a lot more in mind for you last night.” He smirked and grabbed your hand, kissing your palm.

“No time like the present.”

“Hmm, I wish, but I’ve got to get to work. I’m needed in a board proposal meeting.”

“Can’t someone else do it?” he asked, pulling on your t-shirt.

“No, but I can probably leave early if you want.”

“I want that so much.” You smiled and leaned in to kiss him. “Can I cook you dinner?”

“Well, I think we have enough Chinese to last for four days, but sure, I would love that.”

“Perfect,” he said, kissing you once more before you got out of bed to get ready for work.

Your board room meeting went poorly. No matter what angle you could spin it, there just wasn’t enough money to fund all of the projects you wanted to get done. You slumped back to your office, wanting nothing more than to go home and be with Peter again.

You looked down at your phone and saw that you had only been here for two hours. Groaning, you decided to call Peter. His phone rang and rang, and eventually went to voicemail.

“Ugh, where are you? Call me back.” You sat in your office for another hour, still wondering why Peter hadn’t called you back when Pepper came into your office.

“Hey, Pepper,” you said, looking up from your computer with a smile. She didn’t match it. In fact, she looked incredibly upset. “What’s wrong?”

“Turn on the news.”

“What?” you asked as she grabbed a remote from your coffee table and flipped on the TV. Destruction was covering New York, and just as you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you saw Spider-Man swing past with Iron Man. “Oh my god,” you said, putting your hands over your mouth.

“I haven’t heard from Peter, but Tony went up with that spaceship.”

“Pep-”

“And I’m freaking out, too, but I need you to call Peter. See if you can get a hold of him.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” you said, shaking your head as you dialed Peter’s number again. It rang and rang, and just as you thought it was going to go to voicemail again, he picked up.

“Peter?”

“Y/N? I can’t believe I get reception out here.”

“Reception out where? Peter, where are you?” Pepper looked over at you, her face mimicking your reaction.

“Um, that big donut in the sky.”

“Get back down here.”

“I can’t, I’m helping Tony. And I know you like to boss me around when we . . . but you can’t really do that-”

“Peter! You can’t go to space.”

“I can- Stark- suit-” The rest of his conversation cut off until the phone line went dead. You put your phone down with a shaky hand.

“What’s going on? What the hell is that spaceship doing here?”

“I think I can explain that.” You looked to the door and saw Bruce Banner walk into your office.

“Bruce.”

“Hi, Y/N,” he said, smiling. You stood up and hugged him tightly.

“When did you get back?”

“Just a second ago. I called Steve. We’re meeting at the Compound? What happened to the tower?”

“Long story. Luckily, we’ve got a long drive. Pepper?”

“No, I need to start clean up around here. You two go.” You nodded and gave her your hand.

“Be safe. Keep in touch.”

“You too.”

“So this is the compound.”

“Fancy digs, huh?” Bruce smiled, but you didn’t. He looked over at you, his eyes softening.

“So that spider?”

“My boyfriend,” you said, parking your car outside of the compound.

“And you were both a part of Tony and Steve’s fight?”

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry.” You forced a smile at him and walked into the compound. Rhodey was waiting for you in the situation room and nodded at you as he finished up his phone call.

“Hey.”

“Where’s Steve?” you asked.

“On his way. You doing okay? Tony went up with that kid, right?” You nodded and flopped down into a chair in the corner. The remaining members of the Avengers were about to walk in here, who you hadn’t heard from or spoken to since the airport hangar.

“How’d it go with the secretary of state?”

“Not well,” Rhodey said, sitting down at the table. “I’ve been court marshaled.”

“Well, fate of the galaxy and all, I’m sure they’ll be forgiving.” Rhodey laughed softly and nodded his head as a noise came from down the hall. You looked over and saw Steve, Sam, Vision, Nat, and Wanda walk into the room.

“Y/N, hey,” Steve said, coming over to you and giving you an awkward hug. “Peter will be fine.”

“Thanks.”

You sat in the corner, not getting involved with the discussion. No matter what their plan was, you weren’t going to be involved with it. Even if you could turn your plates back on, you had no chance to hold up against a god-killing monster like Thanos.

“Y/N?” You looked up when Wanda said your name.

“What?”

“What do you think we should do?”

“Thanos is coming whether we like it or not. If we can get the stone out before he gets here and destroys it, then by all means.”

“That’s not a side,” Natasha said.

“Taking sides hasn’t really panned out for us, has it?” Steve set his jaw but nodded his head.

“She’s right. This is the only option we have where we can still save Vision. And I know someone who can help.”

“Who?” Bruce asked.

“King T’Challa of Wakanda.” Bruce looked like he needed to sit down from all the new information he’d received and you couldn’t blame him. “Let’s suit up. Y/N?” He nodded down the hall and you reluctantly followed after him.

“What?”

“It is really good to see you,” he said, touching your arm gently.

“You too,” you said genuinely, albeit reluctantly.

“I know I left you alone, and to make it up to you, I’ve had T’Challa’s sister whip up something for you.”

“Meaning?”

“She made you gloves that should harness your power without the plates.”

“I haven’t fought in two years.”

“No time like the end of the universe,” he said, smiling softly.

“Ah, I see you’ve picked up more jokes since you’ve been gone.” Steve smiled.

“A few.”

“Alright, well, thanks.”

“One last thing, though. You’ll need to get the plate out of your hand.”

“What, do you want me to just rip it out?”

“No. Bruce thinks he can remove it on the ride over.” There was so much to take in, but absolutely no time, so you had no choice but to agree.

“Okay.”

Within ten minutes, you all gathered the needed supplies and boarded the ship. Once it took off, you found Bruce. You smiled at him and he looked just as nervous as you.

“Have you ever performed hand surgery before?”

“No, but that’s what she’s here for.” He motioned over to Wanda as she walked into the room. “She’s going to be my hands and I’ve got this manual,” he said uncomfortably.

“Alright, what the hell,” you said, holding out your palm.

By the time you landed, you had cursed Wanda out twice, resulting in her using her skills to basically turn off your mind. Once you came to again, Bruce was bandaging up your hand.

“How’d it go?”

“Great,” Wanda said, putting her jacket back on.

“Great, thanks.”

Shuri was amazing. The first instance you met her you knew the two of you would be friends. Peter would like her even more. She was wildly intelligent, witty, and cute. She fitted a more advanced plate technology into gloves for you. When you put them on, you felt the familiar surge of power flow to your fingertips. This, combined with the power still embedded in your palms naturally, made you feel more powerful than anything you had produced on your own, or with Tony’s plates.

Steve looked at you with worry, but you nodded. Shuri was now working on removing the stone from Vision, and Thanos’s army was arriving.

“How do you feel?”

“Powerful,” you said, wiggling your fingers, making a few sparks come out. “Check it out.” You snapped your wrists and instantly two identical, sharp-edged shields appeared out of the gloves. Steve smiled and patted your shoulder as you snapped them away again.

“I also had her design a new suit for you.”

“You’re really trying to make it up to me, aren’t you?”

“I need to.”

“Thanks,” you said with a smile. One of the Wakandan guards led you down to a room where a pale purple leather jacket and black pants to match your gloves were spread out on a table. They were lined with bullet-proof fabric, but you didn’t know how that would hold up against alien technology.

“Ready?” Nat asked, stepping into the room.

“Yeah. Let’s stop this son of a bitch.”

Standing next to Natasha and Steve, you watched with the rest of the Wakandan warriors and your friends as the alien creatures ripped themselves apart trying to breach the wall. You wondered if Peter was having these same troubles as the wall opened up and you went running into the firefight.

As you ran, you snapped the shields into place and pushed one full force. It plunged into the chest of one of the aliens, dropping it to the ground immediately. You smirked and made eye contact with Steve who smiled back. You snapped another shield into place and took out all of your frustrations from the past two years on the aliens.

Over and over again, you sent shield after shield into the chests and skulls of the aggressive alien creatures, and over and over again, they kept coming. It seemed that Thanos had brought an infinite number of soldiers with him, and you were wondering how you were going to stop him. Wanda had already joined the fight, and even with one of the strongest Avengers, you didn’t know if you could defeat Thanos.

Just as this thought entered your head, thunder struck overhead, and everyone, including the aliens, turned to see the god of thunder himself strike down onto the ground, demolishing a slew of aliens. You smiled. Inspired by his action, you created a giant ball of force and sent it rolling across the field, flattening a group of aliens. Thor nodded at you, winking slightly as he went flying across the field.

Just as things were starting to turn around, you felt a disturbance in the air. You and Steve had run over to help out Vision when the unknown change occurred. You looked over at Steve and saw that he felt the same presence.

“Everybody on my position. We have incoming.”

A few moments later, a thick cloud of smoke grew before your eyes and Thanos stepped onto Wakanda. The rest of the Avengers gathered around you, and you all readied yourself to fight. Over and over your friends went after Thanos, and by some combination of his strength or the stones’, he took every single one of you out.

As he came towards you, you sent shield after shield towards him, but he waved them all away like he was swatting a fly. He jumped and was about to punch you into the ground with his massive fists as you created a force field around yourself. You held on as long as you could, you fingers straining with the weight of keeping the shield up, but eventually, he overpowered you.

It felt like all the bones in your body were broken, and too weak to move, you watched Thanos step over your body. Steve put up a valiant fight, as did Wanda, and you still carried hope as Thor plunged his ax into Thanos’s chest, but then, everything changed.

Thor screamed at Thanos as Steve came rushing forward, but the ugly purple alien disappeared right in front of your eyes. You struggled to sit up and watched your friends disappear to dust around you. You stumbled over to Steve, ignoring the pain in your body as you clung to him as the world changed forever.

“Oh god.”

Once what happened set in, you stood up and started pacing back towards the castle. If anyone could make contact with Peter, it would be Shuri.

“Y/N! Y/N, wait!”

“For what?” you shouted, looking back at Steve. Your eyes were frantically searching his. “What am I supposed to wait for?”

“I don’t know, but-” You ignored him and kept walking. Across the field, dead alien bodies laid with a few Wakandan soldiers. The ones who had survived had also dipped slowly in number with the snap.

You didn’t care what it would take. You just saw your friends vanish into thin air. Just the thought that the same thing could be happening to Peter made you breathless.

“Y/N!” Across the field, Steve was coming towards you. You didn’t stop him but didn’t tell him to go away this time, either.

“What?” you asked, still walking forcefully towards T’Challa’s home. He grabbed your arm and whipped you around so you were facing him.

“You’re not the only one suffering right now, but we have to figure out what’s happening.”

“We know what’s happening! We lost! We fucking lost!” you shouted, pressing your fingers into his chest as tears flowed from your eyes. “There’s a fifty percent chance that my boyfriend is dead. A fifty percent chance. I’m not going to sit around, crying for the lives I can’t save right now.”

“Y/N-”

“Steve! I have to know.”

“I know, I know you do,” he said, putting his hands up to calm you. “With what happened in Sokovia, if Peter really is-” You rolled your eyes and walked away. If Steve wasn’t going to take you seriously, you were going to figure things out for yourself.

“Shuri? Shuri?” you called, walking into her lab. There was only one person in the room, one of Shuri’s bodyguards, crouched down on the floor, crying softly.

“What happened?” she whispered heartbreakingly.

“Thanos,” you said, letting out a sigh. “Shuri?”

“Vanished into thin air.” You nodded and set your jaw, trying to think of another way to discover Peter’s fate.

“Fuck!” you shouted, kicking the nearest table.

“Y/N,” Steve said softly.

“Just, give me a minute. Go figure out what we do now. I’m fine,” you said firmly. He looked like he wanted to stay, but he didn’t want to argue with you anymore.

Your last hope for making contact with Peter and Tony was now gone, and the weight of what happened felt like it doubled. Even if they would have survived the snap, who knew if they had made it to that point in the first place? If they did survive, their chances for survival in space weren’t looking promising either.

On Titan, the world began to shift around Peter, too. He watched the weird girl, the big angry guy, the Footloose lover, and the magician disappear before his eyes. He felt something strange in the pit of his stomach, just as Tony’s eyes fell on him.

“Kid, don’t,” he said warningly. Peter shook his head, stumbling towards him.

“Mr. Stark? I don’t feel so good.”

“You’re alright,” Tony said, although his voice didn’t agree.

“I don’t . . . I don’t know what's happening. I don’t know,” he said, falling into Tony’s arms. Tony held him back, his heart thundering in his chest. “I don’t want to go, sir,” Peter cried, “Please. Please, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I have to get back to Y/N.”

“Yes, you do,” Tony said, helping him down to the ground. Peter looked into his eyes, finding similar tears in his. They both understood at this moment that they had failed and that they would never see their loved ones again. Peter stumbled over his last words.

“I’m sorry,” he said weakly, his eyes looking away emptily. In his arms, Tony watched as Peter disappeared to dust just like the rest of them. He tried to hold onto any part of him, but he was gone, and Tony was now alone in space with Nebula, with no hope of getting back to what remained Earth.

Two weeks since the snap, the world looked bleak. Power was still out in most parts of the world. Many locations still didn’t know exactly what happened and explaining it was another headache entirely. You went back to the Avengers facility with the rest of your friends, even though all you wanted to do was cry in bed.

Pepper offered all of the resources that Tony Stark could and put you in charge of divvying up what help went where. You were sure it was because Steve requested that the job be given to you to keep your mind off of Peter, but it was nice nonetheless. You got to help people all over the world, so you didn’t have to worry about helping yourself.

You arrived back at the Avengers compound late at night, ready to fall in bed and dream of Peter. As you made a bowl of popcorn in the kitchen, you saw a giant alien ship land on the yard.

“Steve? Steve!”

You raced out onto the yard, but Steve cut in front of you when he saw the shape that Tony was in. Looking pale and week, Steve went over and helped him out of the ship. It was so good to see him that for a moment you didn’t register that Peter hadn’t stepped off the ship.

“Tony,” you said softly as he came down the steps. He looked up at you but didn’t return your smile. If anything, his face saddened when he saw you. He fell in Steve’s arms, and you rushed over to help him down, along with Pepper. Even with all the love around him, Tony’s mood didn’t change as he looked at Steve.

“I lost the kid.” You took a few steps back, letting go of Tony’s arm.

“Y/N,” Steve tried gently, but you only shook your head in response.

“No, no, it’s not true,” you muttered, shaking slightly as you stepped onto the ship. The woman Tony arrived with tried to stop you, but you pushed past her. You called Peter’s name over and over, tearing apart the ship to find some trace of him until Rhodey pulled you off.

“Y/N, Y/N, hey,” he said, grabbing hold of your arms. Now that you were steadied, the loss took its full effect on you. You fell down to your knees, trying to keep your powers from shooting out like they did in Sokovia. You sobbed on the floor of the ship, finally feeling like the world had truly ended.

You waited until everyone had left you alone, and stepping onto the compound’s grounds, you let go. Even as Steve and Pepper got him away from the ship, Tony still heard your heart-shattering scream, the scream that would keep him up for the rest of his days.

70 notes · View notes

danfanciesphil · 6 years

Text

Give Me A Try (New Chapter)

Gay Instagram Model/Bartender Phan AU Part 4

(Part One)

(Part Two)

(Part Three)

(Read on Ao3)

At 10am on Wednesday morning, Dan wakes on AmazingPhil’s sofa. A whirring noise causes him to stir, dragging him out of an unconscious bliss of ignorance to his surroundings. As he props himself up on his elbows, Dan looks around his immediate vicinity, confused. The rush of realisation is quick to strike him, and his arms jellify; he flops back down onto the cushions with a ‘thwump’.

Eyes wide, Dan pulls the colourful, zig-zag patterned blanket over his bare chest. Last night, removing his shirt had seemed logical. Now, he’s painfully aware of the exposed chest and abdomen on show. He’s seen plenty of photos of Phil topless. The comparison between their muscle definition is laughable.

Dan rolls onto his side, scanning the floor for his shirt. He spots it at once, and lunges, pulling it towards him. As soon as he brings it to his nose, the stench of beer, vodka and sweat overwhelms him. He frowns in revulsion, wondering what to do.

Is it worse to confront Phil fucking Lester first thing in the morning while shirtless, or stinking of a hell-shift? Before Dan can decide, Phil strolls into the room, holding two mugs in his hands.

Phil is also shirtless, Dan notes, to his dismay. At least he’s wearing tracksuit bottoms.

“You’re awake!” Phil says, smiling at him. He walks over, placing one of the mugs down onto the coffee table. Dan stares at it; it’s Hello Kitty shaped. “Sorry if the coffee machine woke you up. I can’t function in the mornings without caffeine.”

“Oh, n-no, that’s…” Dan swallows, gazing up into Phil’s eyes. He’s wearing his glasses, and his hair is a bird’s nest. There are the faint etchings of paling pink cover creases across one of his cheeks. “Fine,” Dan breathes.

“I made you a cup,” Phil points out, gesturing to the Hello Kitty mug. “I don’t know how you like it, so I just made it the same as mine, soy milk and two sugars. I hope that’s okay.”

Dan nods, and tries a smile. He doesn’t have sugar in his coffee normally, but he’s hardly going to complain. He should drink it, he thinks, it will probably clear the exhausted fog from his mind.

Phil has moved to sit in the armchair to the right of the sofa. He sips his coffee, legs spread wide as he slumps down into it. He’s gazing intently at his phone. Dan seizes the opportunity, lunging for the Hello Kitty mug while Phil isn’t looking, so that he won’t see the flash of exposed skin peeking out from beneath the quilt.

Dan swallows down a vaguely disgusting gulp. Then another.

“Um, thank you for letting me stay here,” Dan says once he’s sat up a little, the blanket pulled up beneath his armpits. “I must’ve been really tired.”

Phil puts his phone down, smiling over the rim of his cup. “Hey, it’s no problem at all. I just hope it wasn’t too uncomfy on the sofa.”

Dan wants to laugh at that. The sofa is an enormous, deep purple, corner-style affair, with seemingly hundreds of plump, unnecessary cushions, and quite possibly the softest springs Dan has ever encountered. It’s so big that Dan, at six foot, can stretch out fully with room to spare.

He directs his smirk into Hello Kitty’s hollow head. “Not at all,” he says politely.

“So, what can I get you?” Phil asks brightly, sitting up in his chair. “Breakfast? Clean clothes? A shower?”

Dan has to admit, the lure of being clean is tempting. Not to mention the chance to sneak a peek at more of Phil’s flat.

“A shower would be amazing,” Dan says, wincing a little; he hates feeling like a burden.

“They do call me AmazingPhil for a reason.”

Dan laughs. “I thought you nicknamed yourself that because you wanted to be first in the alphabet for everything.”

The comment slips out before Dan can think it through. It’s an instinctual reflex, to reel off his AmazingPhil knowledge to anyone that will listen to him ramble on about the guy. In hindsight, Phil himself is probably not the person to ramble to.

A silence hangs in the air for a minute, during which time Dan tries to persuade any entity listening to allow the enormous sofa to swallow him up whole. Then, Phil laughs, a little awkwardly.

“Yeah, but I’m still amazing,” he says, and Dan relaxes, a little. “The shower’s down the hall, I’ll show you.”

Phil drains his coffee and jumps to his feet. He looks at Dan expectantly, and Dan realises he’s going to have to emerge, shirtless, from beneath the blanket, in order to follow him. Cringing already, Dan opts for a slow reveal, looking steadfastly away from Phil, cheeks burning. He stands, arms crossed over his chest, and waits for Phil to lead the way.

As Dan follows him through the flat, Phil chatters about something Dan can barely listen to, insecurity overwhelming him completely. He stops outside a door and pushes it open, then turns to Dan.

“Just use anything in there,” Phil tells him. “Towels, shampoo, shower gel. Maybe not the toothbrush?” Phil laughs. “But then again I’ll probably never know if you did.”

He winks, sending Dan’s stomach crashing to the floor, and then leaves Dan to it. Unsurprisingly, Phil’s shower is one of those alien spacecraft types, with a touch screen panel to operate it, different pressure settings, and a built in radio. Dan accidentally turns the radio on as he’s attempting to figure it out, and Phil’s Spotify playlist ‘Shower Time’ comes on. The first song is ‘My Heart Will Go On’. Dan laughs at this, manages to switch it off, and eventually gets the shower to a relatively normal temperature.

Phil’s shampoo is melon flavoured, and his body wash is something called ‘s’mores ‘n’ mores’. Dan’s not used to smelling so sweet, but he appreciates the pleasant, syrupy aromas as he massages the various substances into his skin and hair. As he’s scrubbing himself, his mind wanders, and the thought drifts into his brain that he’s currently standing in the same spot Phil does every morning. Every day, Phil Lester steps into this very shower cubicle, naked as Dan stands now, and rubs the same gels across his body.

Dan quickly loses concentration, and slips, yelping as he struggles not to fall on his bare ass. He manages to stay upright by clinging onto the faucet. As he regains his balance, there’s a knock on the door.

“Uh, are you okay, Dan?”

Flushing, Dan pokes his head out of the cubicle. “Y-yeah, I’m fine! Sorry, I slipped.”

There’s an unmistakable chuckle. “Okay. I thought I’d throw your clothes in the wash if you want? You can borrow something of mine in the meantime.”

Dan chews his lip, deliberating. While he really doesn’t want to go through the whole debacle of borrowing more clothes from Phil, it’s a mildly horrifying thought to step out of the shower and pull on his smelly, damp work shirt.

He resolves that this will be the very last time. “That’d be great actually, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Phil says cheerily, and then, somehow, the bathroom door is opening.

Dan squeaks, ducking back into the cubicle. The glass is opaque with steam, but Dan can’t help feeling ridiculously exposed nonetheless. He can hear Phil walking across the tiled bathroom floor, humming away as if it’s perfectly normal.

“I’ll just grab them,” Phil is saying. Dan just presses himself against the one wall that isn’t glass, watching Phil’s blurry outline move through the room towards the sink where Dan’s clothes are. “I’ve left you a t-shirt and some jogging bottoms on the side.”

“Thanks,” Dan says meekly, heart hammering.

Just before he leaves, Phil seems to pause. “It smells really good in here.”

“Yeah,” Dan says. The thunder of the shower against the floor is deafening. “You’ve got good taste in shampoo.”

There’s another pause, and then Phil is moving closer to the glass. Dan wants to hide, to curl up away from him; Phil almost definitely can’t see any defining features of Dan’s body, but still, it’s mortifying to think that Phil Lester, the literal model, might be able to see any of his unshapely, naked form. A hand, or what looks like a hand, reaches out towards the glass.

Rivulets of water trickling over his stricken face, Dan watches as Phil’s finger trails through the condensation, drawing a smiley face.

“There’s more coffee when you’re done,” Phil says softly, and then he’s gone, closing the door behind him.

Dressed in Phil’s clothes, sitting on Phil’s sofa, drinking Phil’s coffee. Perhaps he never woke up, Dan can’t help but think.

“...but that’s my mum for you, she’s obsessed with RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Phil finishes. Dan’s only half-listening, distracted as he is by the way the Sunnydale High t-shirt Phil gave him clings to his damp skin.

He’s seen Phil wearing this t-shirt in various photos in the past. It’s always looked slightly too small for him, the sleeves straining around his thick arm muscles, the hem riding just a smidge too high on his abdomen. It hangs loose over Dan’s concave stomach, and his poor excuse for a chest. His arms thread like noodles through the same sleeves.

“She really tried to get you to audition?”

Phil laughs, his signature tongue-poke laugh. “Yeah, I’m not sure she really gets the concept of the show… but she loves it anyway.”

“It’s cute that she’s supportive,” Dan says. Phil laughs, nodding.

“She means well.” Phil sighs, draining the last of his coffee. “Another cup?”

Dan nods, though he knows he should refuse. Phil stands from the sofa, and for some reason Dan stands too, following Phil towards the kitchen at one end of the spacious, open plan room. As they walk, Dan takes the opportunity to peer around at his surroundings. Phil’s flat is gorgeous, with lots of wide spaces and natural light, though it’s sparsely decorated. There are still boxes of stuff laying around, as he has only been here for a couple of months. Inside them, Dan spots a variety of colourful decorations, some of which he recognises from Phil’s old place; he used to film Instagram stories in his last flat a lot, so Dan can easily pick out the Tetris lamp Phil used to have on his mantelpiece, and the framed Studio Ghibli posters he had mounted on his bedroom walls.

As Phil pours them more coffee, Dan leans against the breakfast bar, watching him. It’s only as Phil places a second mug before him that Dan remembers something.

He steps backwards before he can stop himself, cheeks flaming. At first, Phil seems surprised, but his expression quickly melts into a smirk. He leans casually against the breakfast bar, sipping coffee with an amused expression.

“Everything ok?”

Fighting the urge to splutter and embarrass himself further, Dan just shrugs his shoulders. “Thought I recognised this spot,” he mutters.

A couple of weeks ago, Phil had posted a particularly risqué photo. Dan remembers it well, for obvious reasons, as Phil had been completely naked. He’d covered the more intimate parts of his body with artfully arranged bed sheets, but it had been a memorable image nonetheless. In the photo, Phil had been sprawled out on a breakfast bar, his chest covered with berries and other fruits, as well as an array of croissants, cornflakes, and other breakfast foods. The caption, if Dan remembers correctly, had been: ‘I’ll even make you breakfast after…’.

In the hours after receiving that notification, Dan had found himself rather… occupied.

“I promise I’ve cleaned it since,” Phil says knowingly, a glimmer in his eye.

Dan just avoids his gaze, cheeks burning.

“Who took the photo?” Dan reaches for his coffee with shaky fingers, careful not to touch the surface of the marble top lest he combust on the spot.

Phil is quiet for a moment, taking another sip. “Charlie.”

Dan forces himself not to grimace at the news. “Oh.”

“We often take each other’s photos if we hang out,” Phil says, shrugging. “We have to post things about three times a day, more or less. So, we hang out, and snap each other doing some random stuff. It’s just easier to have someone else do it for you, especially if they know your angles.”

Dan nods, pretending to understand. In reality, he doesn’t quite see how having Charlie there to take photos as they ‘hang out’ equates to Phil posing stark naked on a countertop covered in delicious food. Maybe he’s missing something, but to him, that seems a little different to simply ‘hanging out’.

“Y’know, I should… probably get going soon,” Dan says, feeling very awkward all of a sudden.

The image of Phil, reclining on this very surface, has suddenly become tainted somehow. He kind of wishes he’d never asked who took the photo.

Bizarrely, Phil’s face drops into one of sincere disappointment at Dan’s news. “Really? But your clothes aren’t dry yet.”

“Right,” Dan says, fidgeting. “Um…”

He’s not sure what to do. He feels he’s overstayed his welcome already, but he doesn’t want to run off in Phil’s clothes again.

“Do you have work later?”

“No,” Dan admits. “It’s my day off, actually.”

“So stay!” Phil beams. “I mean… you don’t have to,” he laughs, seeming awkward. “I don’t want to keep you prisoner. But I have Mario Kart, and DVD’s, and nothing to do all day… we can order pizza and hang out? At least until your clothes are ready.” Phil twirls the cup in his hands. “Y’know, if you want.”

There’s a tug in Dan’s chest, and he almost groans. Life is tempting him, cruelly. He looks around himself, trying to decide. The bare walls and unpacked items suddenly seem a little sad. He wonders if, since moving down to the coast from Manchester, Phil has had the chance to make any friends.

“Sure,” Dan blurts, his heart pushing the words from his mouth before his brain can regulate them. “But uh… I will wreck you at Mario Kart. Just a warning.”

“Oh, really?” Phil smirks, leaning towards Dan across the breakfast bar. His bicep muscles flex, subtly, throwing the image of him sprawled, naked and seductive, right here, back into Dan’s exhausted brain. “Well, I guess we’ll have to see about that.”

Dan ends up staying all day. He stresses that he doesn’t want to impose on Phil, but if anything Phil seems keen for Dan to remain right where he is, so he does. They order Dominos, they drink copious amounts of Ribena, and Dan, as promised, destroys Phil over and over again at Mario Kart.

At six in the evening, Phil finally admits defeat. “Okay, okay, I submit! I throw my flag down at your feet, Dan. You are the King of Mario Kart.”

“Damn straight.”

“I hope not.”

Dan looks at Phil, blushing faintly. “What?”

“Wouldn’t be great to work at a gay bar if you’re weren’t gay, I imagine,” Phil explains, winking. He stands from the pile of cushions they’d placed on the floor next to his sofa, gathering the pizza boxes.

“Oh.” Dan nods to himself. “Right, yeah, I guess that’d be pretty sucky.”

Phil shoots him a dazzling smile, then takes all the boxes to the kitchen. “So how’d you get so good at Mario Kart?”

Dan opens his mouth, about to explain that it’s simply a matter of holing oneself up in one’s room and playing the game for hours at a time, without breaks, until one’s eyes are bleeding, and one’s butt has lost all feeling.

Before he can get these words out however, the buzzer sounds. Phil’s face instantly drops, and he throws a vaguely worried frown towards it.

He looks over at Dan, apologetic. “Hang on.”

Dan just smiles, sipping Ribena. He watches Phil cross the room to the door, where the buzzer is.

“Hello?” Phil says into it.

“It’s me, let me up.”

The voice is indistinct, and Dan can’t quite hear properly. Phil, on the other hand, seems to recognise it at once. He sighs, turning to glance over his shoulder briefly, at Dan.

After a moment, he presses a button, albeit reluctantly. He turns back to Dan, grimacing. “It’s Charlie,” he says. “Sorry. He has a tendency to drop by unannounced.”

“Oh,” Dan says, his heart sinking. He glances down at himself, cheeks growing warm. “Should I… change?”

Phil’s brow creases. “Why would you need to-”

There’s a knock at the door, interrupting Phil’s sentence. Phil goes to open it, and Dan tries to brace himself for yet another awkward, probably unpleasant conversation with Charlie Hickory.

“Ugh, it’s fucking pouring out there,” are Charlie’s first words as he pushes past Phil into the flat. “Seventy euros this hair wax cost me in Milan, and it’s ruined by a splash of-”

He stops short, halfway through unwinding the scarf from around his neck. His eyes are fixed on Dan, who has remained, rigid and unmoving, on the floor beside Phil’s sofa, mug in hand.

“Hi,” Dan offers.

“The fuck is he doing here?” Charlie mutters, whipping off his scarf and throwing it onto the couch.

“Charlie, for God’s sake, could you at least pretend to be nice?” Phil asks in an unusually cross voice.

Charlie rolls his eyes. He flops down onto the sofa, lengthways, and kicks off his shoes. They land beside Dan, nearly knocking into his shoulder.

“Fine,” Charlie says. “Dan, is it? Hi. What are you doing in Phil’s flat?” Charlie’s eyes narrow, and he sits up, squinting at Dan. “And in his fucking clothes.”

Charlie’s head whips round to face Phil, who is stood, awkwardly, in the middle of the room.

“Did you fuck him?”

“Charlie, for Christ’s sake-”

“No,” Dan says, quickly. “No, he didn’t- we didn’t-” he pauses, trying to gather himself. “I just stayed here. On the sofa. And Phil washed my work clothes. So I’m borrowing his for a bit.”

Charlie settles back down into the sofa cushions. “Figures. Any excuse to whip his top off for a randomer.”

“I was just heading off, actually,” Dan says, deciding he’s had enough.

“You don’t have to,” Phil pipes up, meekly, though from his awkward stance, it’s clear he thinks it’s probably for the best as well.

“No, really,” Dan insists. “I need to go home at some point, luxurious as this little one night holiday from reality has been.”

Phil nods sadly, sending Dan a small smile. Dan stands, wobbling slightly; it’s been a while since he moved from this spot. He makes his way over to Phil, very aware that he’s being watched closely. He hands his half-empty mug back to Phil, returning the smile.

“Thanks for all the coffee and pizza,” Dan says. “And for letting me stay on your sofa.”

“Anytime,” Phil says, making Charlie mutter something under his breath. “It was really fun. Even though you wiped the floor with me at Mario Kart.”

“Hah, yeah… well, if you ever fancy your luck at a rematch.”

“Might have to hold you to that.”

“So,” Dan says, shifting from foot to foot. Phil just stares at him, obviously not getting why Dan isn’t already moving towards the door. “Um… my clothes?”

“Oh!” Phil exclaims, practically jumping on the spot. “Sorry, I totally forgot. I’ll be right back.”

Dan wants to grab hold of him, to wrap his arms around Phil’s waist and beg him not to leave the room, to leave him alone with the man he possibly would least want to be alone with on the planet, but he doesn’t get a chance. Not that he would ever deem himself worthy of locking his arms around Phil Lester.

Slowly, Dan swivels back towards Charlie, who is regarding him with one eye open, an arm behind his head. Dan scrambles for something to say, but as usual, Charlie gets there first.

“He’s out of your league, you know.”

“Oh, um, I’m not trying to…”

“Not trying to… worm your way into his life? Parade around in front of him in his clothes and make him lust over your non-existent little ass?”

Dan shuts his mouth, already fuming.

“Look, Dan,” Charlie sighs, smirking as his eyes close. “Phil’s the kind of guy who just… can’t say no to a puppy-dog face, y’know? A heart of gold and all that. He’ll crawl down into the gutters to help someone he feels sorry for. But that’s why he needs me, to stop him from lowering himself too far into the muck.”

“How noble of you,” Dan says, voice grating. “Must be hard for you to reach into the gutter for Phil’s hand. Wouldn’t want you to mess up your seventy euro quiff.”

Charlie’s eyes narrow, and he opens his mouth to retort, but at that moment, Phil wanders back in, a pile of clothes in his hands. Fury still coursing through his veins, Dan stalks over to Phil and takes the load from him, too angry to stay here a minute longer. He grabs his shoes and jacket, his quick movements obviously startling Phil, who just watches with wide eyes.

“I’ll bring your clothes back to the bar, Phil,” Dan says through gritted teeth. “Come get them whenever. See you.”

He yanks open Phil’s door and steps out into the hall, not bothering to put on his shoes and jacket. He slams it shut behind him, marching to the elevator. It’s not until the doors slide shut behind him, sealing him away from the scene, that Dan allows himself to breathe.

To: Phil From: Dan hey. im really sorry for storming out tht was so rude. i had a great time and thanks sm for having me. if u decide to talk to me ever again, i’ll be at the bar. x

Dan hits send before he can think his way out of it, then strips off Phil’s clothes, and crawls into bed. It’s only eight-thirty, but Dan has had enough of today already. There’s something about Charlie. The guy knows exactly how to piss him off.

He reaches for his charger, about to plug his phone in, when it buzzes in his hand. He takes a deep breath before looking, not sure he’s going to like the response.

To: Dan From: Phil hey dw about it!! im sorry if i did something to upset u. or if anyone else did something… xx

Dan sighs, head flopping back against the pillows. Charlie was right about one thing; Phil truly does have a heart of gold, it would seem. Just then, another text pops through.

To: Dan From: Phil i had a really great time too! i’ll totally be coming in to the bar soon :) maybe tomorrow? xx

A slice of panic swoops through Dan’s chest; he sits upright.

To: Phil From: Dan oh, maybe not tomorrow… theres an event on every fourth thursday x

To: Dan From: Phil im intrigued… what sort of event? more bingo? xx

To: Phil From: Dan it’s a charity auction x

To: Dan From: Phil what’s up for auction? xx

To: Phil From: Dan it’s a ‘servant’ auction. so people sign up, then others bid for them lol x

To: Dan From: Phil Sounds fun! I’ll be there xx

Oh, God. Dan chews his lip, trying to picture this. On one hand, Phil is probably open minded enough to enjoy this stupid charity event and all the ridiculousness that goes along with it. On the other, he’ll have to watch Dan auctioning off the scantily clad idiots that sign themselves up for it.

To: Phil From: Dan haha… ok. just prepare urself. its a lot. x

To: Dan From: Phil i have a question though. xx

To: Phil From: Dan yes? x

To: Dan From: Phil where do i sign up? ;) xx

(Part Five!)

#phan #phanfic #phanfiction #dan and phil #bartender au

144 notes · View notes

wineanddinosaur · 4 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: How New Zealand’s Wine Industry Is Leading on Sustainability

The growth of the New Zealand wine industry over the past few decades is one of the great success stories in the world of wine. What’s all the more remarkable is that that growth has come along with a nationwide commitment to sustainability, shepherded by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, founded in 1997 and currently certifying over 96 percent of the nation’s vineyard land.

On this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, Adam Teeter, Erica Duecy, and Zach Geballe are joined by Clive Jones, winemaker and general manager at Nautilus Estate, to discuss New Zealand’s dedication to sustainability, learn more about grape growing and winemaking in the island nation, and examine how the wines have changed and evolved over the last few decades.

Listen online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or check out the conversation here

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York. I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

Adam: And this is the VinePair Podcast. And guys, it’s another week of Covid.

Zach: Well, not for our guest, spoiler warning.

Adam: I know. Seriously, they’re the only country that’s really done it really well. which is probably why none of us will get to go there anytime soon. ‘Cause we’re all basically infected, even if we’re not, if you’re from America, I think it’s just assumed that you have Covid. So what are you guys drinking this week?

Erica: So this week I got a hold of a bottle of Plantation Rum. It was their 20th anniversary rum, and I made an Old Fashioned with it, and, oh goodness. So good. Rum Old Fashioned is my favorite. I know it’s my thing. And now that we’re moving into a little bit colder days, that’s all I can really think about having. I’ve been going between bourbon and rye Old Fashioneds and rum Old Fashioneds, depending on the day.

Adam: I want to tell you, Erica, I want to commend you right now because that’s not what I thought you were gonna say.

Erica: Oh, really?

Adam: I thought you were going to humble brag a little bit about that whiskey you drank this weekend that you let us know about at the editorial meeting. And I got super jealous, and I was like OK. Do you want to tell us what that was anyways?

Erica: Oh yeah, it was the Yamazaki 18, and that’s a really hard bottle to find. There’s not many of those around, so that was incredible. I mean the finish —

Zach: Where did you have that?

Erica: I had it upstate at a friend’s house and the finish on that whiskey is — it just goes on for many, many minutes and it is the most pleasurable whiskey I have ever had.

Adam: Yeah. I mean, you talked about it in the editorial meeting and I was like, man, this sounds ridiculous. Yeah. So I was, I was pretty jealous, but yeah, I wanted you to talk about it anyways. Zach, what about you?

Zach: Yeah, well thanks, Erica, for not leading with the incredibly delicious, incredibly impossible to find single malt.

So I this last week was drinking — I’ve been on a real Alsatian white wine kick. I taught a class on Alsace last week. And so, especially Alsace Pinot Gris, which to me is a category of white wine that I love, in part from being kind of exposed to it by visiting there a couple of years ago, and really is to me a quintessential fall wine. Because they’re often a little bit richer in style, not oaked, but the Pinot Gris as a variety is essentially red grapes that we make into white wine.

So it has a little bit of that kind of savory, earthy character to it inherently, even when it’s vinified white. And in particular, I think probably [the Zind-Humbrecht] Pinot Gris that I had a couple of nights ago, which is one of the top producers in Alsace. And it makes a lot of different wines but they’re just, it’s hard to say entry-level, but their basic Alsatian Pinot Gris is really delicious. And yeah, that’s kind of where I’ve been.

Adam: Amazing. So for me, I had this really cool drink. So on Sunday, since it was a long weekend, we went out to Governor’s Island. And, for those who are not familiar with what Governor’s Island is, it’s an old military base in the New York Harbor on an island obviously. It’s been turned into a public park and you take a ferry to get there, and now it’s actually really nice because thanks to Covid actually, they’re restricting how many people can be on the island at the same time. So you make reservations online and then you’re on a ferry that instead of being packed to the gills with people is actually very nicely spread out.

And you get to the Island and you have lots of space. You can rent bikes, you can do other things. And while it’s technically illegal, we did bring some alcohol with us. You’re supposed to only buy it from vendors on the Island, but we did bring some in and one of things we brought which I thought was really delicious — and I have to give credit to Aaron Goldfarb, one of our writers for introducing it to me — is Low Ball.

It’s this cider made by Shacksbury. And what’s amazing about this Low Ball is they have figured out how to use cider and make it taste like whiskey. And so they’ve created a Highball in a can, that is cider-based. So they age the cider in whiskey barrels for — they don’t say how long, I’m assuming it has to be longer than two or three months — but they age the cider and then they bottle it, carbonate it, and they add lemon to it, and a lot of the other quintessential whiskey Highball flavors. And it’s just absolutely delicious. It’s 5 and a half percent alcohol. Right. So it’s the perfect level of alcohol for walking around a large park basically. And just hanging out and very refreshing, really delicious. I was very impressed by it, and definitely plan to keep it on hand in the future ’cause it’s just, it’s really, really good.

Erica: That’s what I’m saying.

Zach: It reminds me, I wrote a piece for VinePair a few months ago on cocktail beers with the same basic idea of how do you transmit these kind of classic cocktail flavors through beer.

And I think someone I talked to talked about doing some things with cider, too, but I don’t think it made it to the final cut of the piece, but it’s definitely interesting to see just how much, how deceptively whiskey-like, or rum-like, or tequila-like, you can make a beer or a cider just through things like the aging vessel, and a little bit of creative, adjunct ingredients. But yeah, it’s definitely nice to have that flavor without all the booze.

Adam: Absolutely. Well, so let’s get into today’s topic because I’m really excited to have this discussion today. So today’s podcast actually is being sponsored by a New Zealand wine, and we are really lucky to have as a guest to talk all things New Zealand wine with us this week Clive Jones, a Nautilus Estate winemaker and general manager. Clive thank you so much for joining us.

Clive: It’s great to be here.

Adam: So most important question for you right off the bat, when it comes to New Zealand, where do you all get your same sense of humor from?

Clive: We need to be well-balanced, and we’ve got chips on both shoulders. Yeah. We’re a reasonably friendly bunch, I guess. And we take what we do seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. And perhaps that is where the kind of kiwi sense of humor comes from.

Adam: Yeah. I mean, I have to thank you for giving me my favorite television show so far in Covid quarantine, “What We Do in the Shadows.” Which is just an amazing, amazing show. Yes, I love the New Zealand humor. It’s absolutely amazing.

Clive: But have you seen the movie?

Adam: Yes, I’ve seen the movie as well, which is amazing. The movie is amazing and now it’s even funnier to me because they’re on Staten Island as opposed to being in Aukland, but it is a really hilarious, hilarious show.

But in all seriousness, so it’s really exciting to talk to you about New Zealand. Obviously, I’m assuming most people who listen to podcasts are familiar with New Zealand wines, maybe some more than others. Erica, you have traveled to New Zealand twice. I know a big fan of the wines. I’d love you to just give us a little bit of an overview of what makes New Zealand so special when it comes to wine and why more people should have it on their radar in terms of a winegrowing region, if they don’t already.

Clive: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean Zealand’s a long, skinny country down the bottom of the South Pacific. So you’re never very far away from the sea, even Central Otago, which is our most inland wine region. It’s still only two, two-and-a-half hours’ drive from the sea. So, we’ve always got this moderating influence from the ocean, so we’re definitely a cool climate. Even in the warmer parts of New Zealand, we’re definitely classified as cool climate. And we always get this vibrant refreshing style for our wines. Most known for our white wines, and Sauvignon Blanc particularly, we produce such a distinctive style that really has taken the world by storm. But we also make aromatic wines. Pinot Gris, more recently Albariño, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and our Chardonnay is probably our best-kept secret. Chardonnay is one grape that grows actually throughout New Zealand. And again, with Chardonnay we can produce certainly nice complex wine, with that hallmark freshness, that freshness that gets you back to that seeking glass. And then on the red wines, really Pinot Noir is the major focus on the South Island of New Zealand and in the bottoms of the North Island. As it gets a little bit warmer up towards the middle of the North Island and a bit further north, then you can find a Syrah or Cabernet.

Adam: So New Zealand’s always been obviously a really great wine-growing region, and you did mention one wine that we have to talk about, which is Sauvignon Blanc. And I feel it’s now just become standard for Americans to expect that if they want a Sauvignon Blanc, it should come from New Zealand, and more specifically from Marlborough. What is it that’s made this wine, you think so attractive to us? That Americans are just so obsessed with it, and how has that impacted wine in New Zealand across the board? I mean, obviously I’m assuming it helped a lot of people grow their wine businesses, but what else has that done for New Zealand wines as a whole?

Clive: Yeah, look, I’m still completely amazed — you know, we’re not used to traveling around the world when you can see your face in the trade shows. Where you’ll get someone, if they haven’t tried a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, before you give them a glass you say try this and their first reaction is “Wow.” And we get this particularly with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, it’s got this natural high that’s the climate, the soils. You know, the variety just sings in this particular region.

And you know we do get quite distinctive characters that they’ve got good vibrancy, they’ve got quite powerful fruit flavors, so for some people they can actually be a little bit too bright in a way. But they’re so refreshing, and just delicious into the type which is the most important thing for wine, I believe. So yeah, it has taken the world by storm. I think a couple of years ago, about 28 percent of Sauvignon Blanc sales in the U.S. were from New Zealand, which is quite remarkable given the size and scale of our industry. Could well be more than that by now.

Zach: So let’s talk a little bit about sustainability and grape growing in New Zealand, because I’m fascinated by this. But I know that sustainability is a huge focus. I think probably for New Zealand as a country as a whole not just the wine industry, but can you talk a little bit about kind of how that manifests in the winemaking or in the grape growing, and maybe why it’s maybe more prevalent in New Zealand than say other parts of the world?

Clive: Yeah, well we made that call early on, I guess, so our sustainability program was initiated in 1997. So it’s been going over 20 years now. And the focus was that at the start on water use, waste streams, pests, and diseases. So it’s kind of monitor, measure, reduce, repeat. So really monitoring your inputs and outputs and making sure you’re doing it in the most sustainable way possible.

And so we set up the certification Sustain Winegrowing New Zealand, and we got a really good takeout from the industry to the point where we are now at about 96 percent of our vineyards are certified sustainable through sustainable wine-growing. And then there’s another 7 percent that are operating under other sustainability programs, site organics, or biodynamics. There’s a little bit of overlap there because some people take some certifications, but in more recent years, I guess we kind of look to broaden the scope of our sustainability program and we’ve reviewed it and kind of checked our wines up with the United Nations sustainability goals. And so we’ve introduced other aspects like climate change, people, and soil along with our waste, pests, disease, and water. And that sort of relates to that three-pronged approach to sustainability. You’ve also got heavy economic sustainability, and you’ve also got social sustainability as well, you’ve got to look after the people.

So the system has always evolved. And we were world-leading certainly, and particularly with the high level of takeout of sustainability with the New Zealand wine growers, and we can’t rest on our laurels. We’ve got to keep evolving and making sure that we’re doing the right thing for sure.

Erica: So you mentioned that there are a couple different aspects of what those focus points are, but can you just go through, I think there was six focus points that I saw, and talk through what each of those are?

Clive: Sure. So, pests and disease, so that’s monitoring any pesticide use, anything you have to use on the vineyards to control any pests and disease. This powdery mildew detritus that can affect grape vines, so we need to be able to monitor that, and mitigate those fits. So that’s in our spray program, but it’s all about doing it reactively, not based on the calendar. So, you’ve really got to justify anything you put onto the vineyard. Most of our vines in New Zealand are irrigated, and that’s driven partly by the fact that again, we’re a long skinny country down the bottom of the South Pacific. One of our big secrets is it’s windy, and Erica, you may have experienced a half-blown waster when you were here, I’m not sure when you were here, what time of the year.

When the wind gets up it really sucks the moisture out of the soils. And we’ve got a lot of vineyards started in riverbeds, and very stony soils. So, we’ve got quite sophisticated monitoring systems in the vineyards. So we continue to challenge how much water we use and look at reducing our usage. Waste is any sort of waste stream that we generate throughout the process of winegrowing. So I can relate to composting all of our skins. So that’s a quite common practice, producing a compost that goes back on the vineyards.

Climate change. It’s becoming more and more topical and we are starting to see it in New Zealand, but manifesting itself as a bit more variability over here rather than necessarily getting hotter. I mean, yes, we have had some warmer seasons but I did a vintage in Burgundy in 2004 and this year I’ve noticed that — I traveled just before harvest — this year I noticed that the company I worked for had finished harvest before the date I left the country last time. So in 14, 15 years the harvest has come forward almost a month. In New Zealand, we’re not seeing anything like that, though we may be up to a week earlier in the warm season, but we are seeing a bit more variability so we could get more frosts. We could get more rain during the harvest period. So we are starting to think about how and what we can do to mitigate that, both from a practice point of view on the vineyard but also reducing our carbon footprint.

So, we aren’t missing any impact we have on climate change. And we’ve got a goal of being net zero emissions by 2050 — which has been lead by the government. The government has set that as a goal for New Zealand as a country and in the wine industry where you see if we were ahead of the pack, we we want to match that, we want to make sure we were ahead of the game in terms of achieving that.

Obviously, soil’s really important. And now, with a lot more understanding on the low grounds part of the grapevine and how important that is — James Milton, who’s a well-known winemaker in New Zealand, he’s actually biodynamic but he says you’re not standing on the roof, you’re actually standing on the rooftop of another kingdom. And the low-ground kingdom gets all that microbiological activity, that is just so important. And then maintaining the health of the soil, as well as the health of the plant that you can see above the ground.

And also people, we’ve got social responsibility. We need to look after the people that are working in our vineyards and wineries. We rely on a seasonal labor that comes in from the islands. So we have a government-sponsored scheme that facilitates people coming in from the islands to work a season in the vineyards.

Now they come in and they work for a three- or four-month period. They work very hard, and they’re great workers, and they leave their home that may be one of the Pacific Islands. They’ll go and be in the community, take a cash injection that helps them maintain a lifestyle at home. That’s only a quick overview of the six elements, but those are the elements that we decided to focus on as an industry for sure.

Erica: Yeah, it’s so interesting. I was in Central Otago in January before the pandemic, and it was fascinating to me to see over the span of 10 years just how much the wines have changed.

And this article that we’ll be publishing this week, I’m looking at the Pinot Noirs of Central Otago and how vine age and winemaker know-how over that period has really created a revolution for the Pinot Noirs. So 10 years ago, the wines were what some people called “fruit bombs.” They were much more fruity and bright, and now, through this confluence of both the winemaker know-how and the older vines have become these incredible world-class wines with just so much complexity and beautiful structure. So I am working on this piece and have been thinking a lot about the evolution of not just Pinot Noir, but all of New Zealand’s wines over the past 10 years, and wanted to ask you, how have the wines of Marlborough and the Sauvignon Blancs, in particular. changed during that span?

Clive: Yeah, absolutely. That’s the unique thing about this, you get one chance a year to make wine and every year is different. So every year you learn something, so you’re able to apply those learnings back on to whatever you experience in the future. And certainly Sauvignon has evolved, probably it was more of the green grassy spectrum when it first took the world by storm back in the late ’80s. As we work on our chemistry managements and understand one of the distinctive characters about Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is the set of aromas that are called volatile files. And we discovered how to measure those, and there’s three chemical compounds with rather long names, but they give the, basically the passionfruit, passionfruit skin, and the boxwood-type characters. And we’ve measured them and now know that they are particularly responsible for things distinctive of Marlborough character. Yeah, and of course once we measured them it’s like well with a lot of things with wine, if this much is good than more is better. So there was a sort of swing to really great fruit-driven, punchy wines that kind of licked out of the glass.

They went too far, they were almost overpowering and you got almost a slight sweet character coming out of them. But we also found out that those compounds are relatively unstable. So they’re very, very important, but you can’t rely on them themselves. So you want a mix of flavors and aromas and, and a lot of the wines you see from the Marlborough area, and the Sauvignon Blanc area, regional leads because that’s what we’re trying to assemble all of those different flavor options and putting them together in a blend. The whole concept of blending is one plus one plus one doesn’t equal three, it equals four. So you get the synergistic effect and the different components working together to make a wine that’s, at the end of the day, more balanced and more pleasurable.

But I’d certainly say — same for Pinot Noir in Marlborough — that we’d gone through this 20-year period of having the right vines and the right clones on the right sites. And, so much of the structure our wine is coming from fruit. Whereas in the early days, you did have those fruit bombs that were sort of propped up by some nice oak character. Typically these days, they’re falling into the background and we’re getting much more structure from the fruit itself. And vintage plays a huge part of it.

Zach: Clive, I want to ask a very straightforward question, but to me, it’s one of the questions that comes up the most with New Zealand, which is why does everyone there use screw caps?

Clive: Well, I mean, it comes back to that we make these fresh, fruity, vibrant wines and for us, a screw cap is at the moment, the most appropriate closure that preserves those. Plus the fresh aromatics. And it was driven from the fact that we used to think that all the rubbish corks would seep down to the bottom of the South Pacific.

Yeah, and we did have a mess of problems with the cork taint, which just ruins wine. The cork industry has done a lot to improve that, but the wines with a screw cap do age. They evolve, they evolve probably a little bit slower, but they do evolve, and they evolve consistently.

So you can open a dozen bottles of a 10-year-old wine, and then they’ll all taste the same. Whereas if you’re making a dozen bottles of 10-year-old wine on the cork, you’re much more likely to get some variations. And it’s convenient, too, you don’t have to rush around to find a corkscrew, you can just pop it off and you’re away. So, yeah, we’re sold on screw caps at the moment.

Adam: And Clive, is that mandated? Or is that just an agreement that everyone’s doing it?

Clive: There’s no regulation at all. It’s just, that’s the way people feel as the best closure for our one wine cellars.

Adam: Wow. How, how large is the New Zealand wine industry?

Clive: We’ve got, just under 40,000 hectares. So what’s that about a hundred thousand acres? So we are very small. I’m just trying to think of a direct comparison to that, but we’re a drop in the ocean compared to California as a state by itself. So I think we make somewhere between 1 and 2 percent of the world’s wine but we do make more than we can drink ourselves. Because we’re only a population of 5 million, so that’s why we we do seem quite well for our season and look for people to help us out consuming it.

Adam: So I mean obviously, in the early days when you started thinking about sustainability, it wasn’t as much on the forefront of consumers’ minds. But now it very much is, amongst our readers, et cetera. How have you seen that change in terms of the consumers that you’re interacting with? Twenty years ago when you guys were talking about sustainability, did you find that you had to explain more to consumers what you were doing and why, and is it now a lot easier for them to understand why you would do this and actually value it and be willing to pay more for it?

Clive: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So we have the sustainable certification logo on the back of our bottles. It’s part of every conversation I have with wine buyers or consumers directly, if you’re in that situation. So it is important.

And look, in New Zealand we’ve got ahead of an awakening about the Maori culture, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and they actually have a really strong philosophy on sustainability as well to say they have a couple of concepts. One of which is called tikanga whakapapa, so that’s our equivalent to terroir if you like. Another word beginning with T that is perhaps difficult to explain, but sort of the broad translation is, tikanga whakapapa is it’s a place where you stand, a place where you feel empowered if you need to. It’s the foundation, it’s your place in the world.

And that makes so much sense from a winegrowing point of view, if I’m standing in this vineyard making wines from this piece of soil. And, you feel really connected to it and that relates, Erica, to how much progression you’ve seen in the wines in the last 10 years with a real much deeper understanding of sight and how it influences particular wine styles. And the other concept that the indigenous people use is kaitiakitanga, and that’s about guidance and protection. So and that sits really nicely with sustainability in terms of the wine industry.

So, you’re managing an environment where the people are closely connected to the land and nature. And the simplest way of putting it as, as they say, you don’t inherit the land from your parents, you borrow it from the children. So it’s about making sure that, in fact, we’re being smarter about preservation as well. We’re also starting to improve it and restore and you start with your restorative agriculture as a bit of a new bus. And it’s not just about maintaining the current situation, we want to make it better. So we’re getting frank heading ahead of the garden.

Erica: I was going to say, I think that was one of the things that really came across to me when I was in New Zealand earlier this year is just this commitment to both stewardship of the land and the transparency of the terroir and really looking at the site specificity, looking at the specific vineyards and what is the message that they are trying to convey. As I visited a dozen different vineyards and talked with all the winemakers, I think I’ve never been to a wine region where literally every single person I talked to was on board with the idea of this continuous improvement of this forward-thinking idea of passing along a better place. It was just such a unifying experience that I haven’t found in any other wine region or frankly, any other country that I’ve traveled to, where literally there’s an entire community that is thinking and committed to moving forward in pretty much almost the exact same direction. Some people are doing biodynamics, some people are doing organics. Some people are doing the other sustainability programming, but it’s really a unifying characteristic of the winemaking community.

Clive: Yeah. Look, we, we are a cooperative community of winemakers, we help each other out. We share our knowledge. We understand. When we’re traveling overseas, often the first conversation we have is about New Zealand. Thankfully more people know where we actually are now. Since The Lord of the Rings came out. But yeah, it’s a conversation about New Zealand. It’s a conversation about region and perhaps variety, and often the conversation about your brand is well down the track in terms of what we’re talking about. So we do have this community feeling and yeah, absolutely the industry has grown tremendously, but it’s still relatively young. And I guess probably in the last 10 to 12 years, there has been the opportunity just to perhaps — not focused so much on growth, but understanding of the resources we’ve got and how to keep the beast out of the vineyards and also help to protect and preserve them. So there’s a little bit of maturity coming into the industry from that point of view.

And then also I think now if I think back 20 years, particularly with Pinot for instance, we’d be going, “Yeah, let’s look at some Pinots. Let’s look at a lineup of Burgundy” and say, well, how close are we? Are we making wines like this yet? And now we’re actually going, we absolutely respect and aspire to the wines of Burgundy, but we’re not trying to make wines like Burgundy, we’re trying to make the best New Zealand Pinots that we can. And we’re much more confident in our sites and our style. And so it’s more about celebrating what we’re doing and, but still respecting the history of the Old World, but we much more self-confident in what we’re doing ourselves. We’re not trying to make Burgundy. We’re trying to make the best New Zealand unites that we can.

Adam: That’s really awesome. Well, Clive, I want to thank you so much for joining Erica, Zach, and myself to talk a little bit about New Zealand wine. It’s been really interesting to get your perspective and to learn a lot about sustainability and just what the country is doing as a whole.

Clive: Thank you. Pleasure. And hopefully Adam and Zach, you might get to come down and visit sometime. Of course, Erica, you too.

Zach: Yeah. We’ll have to take the podcast on the road.

Adam: Totally. So guys, Erica, I need to hear from you now that we’ve heard from Clive, so you’ve been twice, right? I mean, what’s it like? I mean, I’ve obviously always seen it in the Lord of the Rings and things like that, but I’ve only seen the amazing pictures of New Zealand and I can only imagine what it’s like to actually be there. And then to also see what the vineyards look at, but I’d love if you could tell us what your impression was when you went and why so many people are so enamored by it.

Erica: Yeah I mean, for me, New Zealand was really the place that changed my life from a perspective of falling in love with wines. So I had been to many wine regions before as a travel guide book editor, as a travel writer. And when I went to New Zealand, the wines and the wine community, the collaborative nature of the people, and just frankly, the incredible beauty of the place —it just struck me so viscerally that by the end of this trip that I was on, a couple of weeks in, all over the, North Island and the South Island and then ending up in central Otago, by the time I left, I said, you know what? I think I want to go into wine. So it had a huge impact on me. And that was a decade ago.

I mean, it really is one of the most gorgeous places that you could ever travel to. The people have the incredible sense of humor that you mentioned, but are just so cool and easy to talk to. And there’s this no tall poppies kind of idea. Have you heard this expression? So, what it is, is that people don’t want to stand out and talk about themselves. And so like Clive was saying, people don’t want to talk about their brands. They don’t want to talk about their individual winemaking and to shine a light on the amazing things that they’re doing.

They actually have a hard time, the winemakers, coming over to the States and talking about how great their brands are, because that’s just not part of the culture. And so too, as a journalist to try to pull out the information about the very cool things that they’re doing, all of the trials that they’re doing, all of the amazing experiments and their individual vision is very difficult, but, these winemakers are among the most humble people that I’ve ever encountered in wine. And it feels like an underdog situation where as a journalist, I just want to do my part and tell the stories of the incredible wine that’s being made. This place that does not get the level of attention that it should. And from my perspective, how the Pinot Noirs have evolved over time, I think they’re frankly, some of the most exciting wines that are on the market today.

The article that I have coming out, it’ll be a couple of days after our podcasts launches, is really talking about how the wines have evolved over the past decade and what makes them among the most exciting in the world. So I’ll leave a couple spoilers. I won’t spoil the entire piece, but I really think it’s been one of the most pleasurable experiences in my career to watch the evolution of the wines from this country really get to the level where they can compete among the world’s best.

Adam: That’s awesome.

Zach: And I think what’s cool about New Zealand, and Clive mentioned this as well, and it’s an important point not just for New Zealand, but I think for a lot of other, younger wine industries is getting to that point where you are confident enough in the wines you make, in the quality of your fruit, of your terroir and of your wine-making people that you can say, Hey, we’re going to make the best possible wine we can and we’re not trying to make some that tastes as much Burgundy or Sancerre or whatever European wine people might be most familiar with me from this variety or these varieties.

And I think new Zealand’s a great example of that. I think there are some other ones that we’re seeing as well from, from other parts of the world where winemakers and wine regions have said, “we’re confident that we can make an amazing, delicious, interesting, complex, world-class wine. That is its own thing. And that has slightly different flavors and it has slightly different aromas than what you might be familiar with, but it’s as legitimate an expression of these varieties as the place where they might’ve originated or might’ve first become famous.” And that is, I’m sure, something that you feel Erica. And it’s something that I, as not someone who’s traveled there, but as someone who has tasted plenty of New Zealand wines over the last decade plus have noticed as well. And again, it’s just super exciting.

Adam: I mean, I think it’s a really good point. I think the biggest thing, right, that you should just be asking consumers is, is it delicious? And if it’s delicious and it’s enjoyable then why does someone else have to say “oh, and it’s also so Burgundian in style.” Right. That shouldn’t matter. It should just matter that the wine is really, really good.

And so, yeah, I love that answer, too, Zach, and I’m glad you brought it up. I thought the way that they talked about that was really interesting. And I do think it is really amazing. And we have a lot to learn from this country in the way that the entire country has really embraced this idea of protecting the environment. I know a lot of it does have to do with the fact that it’s such a gorgeous place. They want to protect themselves, but I wanted to ask Clive as well (but then I thought, well, I don’t want to get political here) but what have they done in New Zealand that really has forced the entire population to believe in all of this and to really realize that this is something that’s so vitally important? And what can we learn as citizens of the U.S. and take back from what they’ve done and say, here’s what New Zealand is doing? And here’s why it’s just as important here, and here’s what we’ve got to do to get you to believe in it as well.

Zach: Well, I mean you could look at some other things that they’ve done in New Zealand in the last, say, seven or eight months, better than us and maybe get a sense for, I don’t know, maybe just science being a thing that’s taken more seriously.

Adam: I mean, look, they do have a pretty amazing leader. She’s pretty awesome. So yeah, I do think they do just understand that when you need to listen to experts, you listen to experts. You don’t say that you’re the expert when you’re not. But anyways, guys, this was great. And I want to thank Clive again for joining us and New Zealand wines for supporting the podcast. It’s really amazing. This was a really great excuse to talk about a wine region I know Erica really loves, that I need to learn more about. Zach, I know you’ve never been there, as well. So yeah, thanks, this was a great conversation, as always. I’ll see you next week.

Erica: Thank you.

Zach: Sounds great.

Adam: Thanks so much for listening to the VinePair Podcast. If you enjoy listening to us every week, please leave us a review or rating on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show. Now, for the credits. VinePair is produced and hosted by Zach Geballe, Erica Duecy, and me, Adam Teeter. Our engineer is Nick Patri and Keith Beavers. I’d also to give a special shout-out to my co-founder, Josh Malin, and the rest of the VinePair team for their support. Thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you again right here next week.

The article VinePair Podcast: How New Zealand’s Wine Industry Is Leading on Sustainability appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/new-zealand-sustanability/

0 notes

johnboothus · 4 years

Text

How New Zealands Wine Industry Is Leading on Sustainability

Listen online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or check out the conversation here

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York. I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

Adam: And this is the VinePair Podcast. And guys, it’s another week of Covid.

Zach: Well, not for our guest, spoiler warning.

Adam: I want to tell you, Erica, I want to commend you right now because that’s not what I thought you were gonna say.

Erica: Oh, really?

Erica: Oh yeah, it was the Yamazaki 18, and that’s a really hard bottle to find. There’s not many of those around, so that was incredible. I mean the finish —

Zach: Where did you have that?

Erica: I had it upstate at a friend’s house and the finish on that whiskey is — it just goes on for many, many minutes and it is the most pleasurable whiskey I have ever had.

Zach: Yeah, well thanks, Erica, for not leading with the incredibly delicious, incredibly impossible to find single malt.

Erica: That’s what I’m saying.

Zach: It reminds me, I wrote a piece for VinePair a few months ago on cocktail beers with the same basic idea of how do you transmit these kind of classic cocktail flavors through beer.

Clive: It’s great to be here.

Adam: So most important question for you right off the bat, when it comes to New Zealand, where do you all get your same sense of humor from?

Clive: But have you seen the movie?

Erica: Yeah, it’s so interesting. I was in Central Otago in January before the pandemic, and it was fascinating to me to see over the span of 10 years just how much the wines have changed.

Zach: Clive, I want to ask a very straightforward question, but to me, it’s one of the questions that comes up the most with New Zealand, which is why does everyone there use screw caps?

Adam: And Clive, is that mandated? Or is that just an agreement that everyone’s doing it?

Clive: There’s no regulation at all. It’s just, that’s the way people feel as the best closure for our one wine cellars.

Adam: Wow. How, how large is the New Zealand wine industry?

Clive: Thank you. Pleasure. And hopefully Adam and Zach, you might get to come down and visit sometime. Of course, Erica, you too.

Zach: Yeah. We’ll have to take the podcast on the road.

Adam: That’s awesome.

Erica: Thank you.

Zach: Sounds great.

The article How New Zealand’s Wine Industry Is Leading on Sustainability appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/new-zealand-sustanability/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/how-new-zealands-wine-industry-is-leading-on-sustainability

0 notes

chorusfm · 7 years

Text

Misterwives

The indie pop band Misterwives just released their sophomore full-length album Connect the Dots. It’s a technicolor shot of adrenaline to the music industry and quite simply one of the most fun listens of the year. Just before their explosive set at Firefly Music Festival, we got a chance to sit down with Misterwives’ Mandy Lee, Jesse Blum, Etienne Bowler, Marc Campbell and Will Hehir, to discuss a variety of topics. In our discussion, we touch upon how some politicians have a tendency to hide immoral action under party politics, why the music industry is a tough place to work, and just how many drummers is too many drummers in a band. We’re here with Misterwives at Firefly Music Festival. You guys just released your second full-length record Connect the Dots last month. I know you guys are excited about that for sure. Now that it’s been about a month have you guys been pleased by the reaction or surprised with the songs fans are gravitating towards? Mandy: Yes to all of the above. We’ve been very pleased with how everyone has receiving the new music. They’ve been far too gracious. And it’s pretty cool that everyone has a favorite song off it. There hasn’t been just one. Every tweet goes through the whole entire list of the album. I know sometimes you’ll see a post like “What song do you want to see on tour?” and the replies are just every song on the album. Mandy: Yeah! It’s really amazing, because you never want to have just like one song and then filler. That’s not how we approach an album. So it’s cool to see people gravitating towards others. So when you went in to start writing Connect The Dots did you go into the writing with a conception of what you wanted it to be in relation to your first record? Or did that start to take shape as you were writing the record? Mandy: We definitely wanted it to be a gradual step up from the previous album. We really pushed ourselves sonically and lyrically to create the best music that we could. But yeah it kind of just happened, where we said “alright, let’s rip it off like a Band Aid. Let’s start writing and see where this takes us.” And naturally the whole concept and theme of Connect the Dots came together from how the music came together. So were there songs on this record that were particularly difficult to write or put together? Songs that perhaps you really wanted to get on the record but weren’t sure if they would make it? Mandy: “My Brother” was one that I had the most difficulty with. I can see how that would be difficult to find a place for in the tracklisting, considering its a step-down in tempo from a lot of the other tracks on the album. Marc: It was. We actually recorded it as one of the first three or four songs. We actually tracked the whole thing and we were like 95% done, and then we went back to other songs. And then it ended up being one of the last songs we finished for the album. Mandy: Yeah, we went back over it in our apartment. We were like, “We have to redo this. It’s just not feeling right.” But I like slow tempo songs. That’s how we started out was doing those kinds of songs. I have always loved those songs from you guys. I saw you guys before the first album came out and remember seeing “Not Your Way” and how the tempo would change around and gravitating towards those songs. Mandy: That’s this guy here. Our drummer. (points to Etienne) Etienne: I like fast. Drummer like fast (everyone laughs) I feel like you’re sitting back there saying “I’m kinda bored by this slow stuff let’s speed it back up again.” Mandy: It’s nice to have a break and collect your thoughts. Will: There is no fast if there is no slow. (everyone laughs again) That’s so poetic. So at the start of a new album cycle, do you guys set goals for yourself for where you want to be by the time you start the next one, or are you just enjoying the ride? Mandy: We’re definitely enjoying the ride, but we’re also setting the bar high. We just want to be as big as we possibly can and grow our fanbase and continue to fulfill this dream. Etienne: Yeah, we’ve put so much energy into the record. And then so much energy into the live show. We just want that to be successful. And lyrically I know you guys definitely pushed yourselves pretty hard on this record. Etienne: We pushed ourselves so hard (points to Mandy and everyone laughs) So I wanted to bring up “Revolution,” because it’s a song that I gravitated towards when I was listening to the record. It’s certainly the most expressly political song on the record, I would say. So was that a song that was written before or after the election? I don’t want to talk politics if you don’t want to. Mandy: Yeah, to me it’s not even politics. It’s human decency and human interaction. Marc: Were you talking about “Oh Love”? I was talking about “Revolution” but I suppose “Oh Love” could apply here as well. Mandy: It applies as well, yeah. But “Revolution” is the more positive outlook on things. It was during the whole election season (that we wrote “Revolution”). There has been so much injustice, and wrongness, and turmoil and negativity. We wanted the message of unity and equality and love to ring louder than all of that. But it is really hard to see all of these things happen. And you feel really powerless. And we’re just lucky we have music to be a vehicle to bring to people together and spread that message. That’s so great. And you know I didn’t want to bring it up and discuss it if you guys didn’t want to because I know it’s difficult. But for me that was a big part of the song. I know for me when the election happened and the Muslim Ban was signed, I personally was in the process of applying to law school. And when I saw there were a dozen lawyers sitting on the ground at JFK filing paperwork to allow refugees and immigrants to enter the country, and I decided I had made the right decision right there. Mandy: Oh wow, good for you. So that’s why that political song, even if it’s just meant as a more unifying rallying cry, still means a lot. Mandy: And it’s so crazy that that is deemed political when it’s really just about being a good person. It’s just the foundations of morals. And it’s sad that in this day and age that’s what counts as politics because things are so fucked up. And people can say, hide their immorality behind the guise of political party. Will: The political veil, yeah. You put it in a different platform and you have the capacity to all of a sudden say it’s for political reasons, so you don’t have to deal with the fact that you’re being a dickhead. Jesse: To me, it makes me really happy to be a part of an organization that is striving for something better and to have a platform where we can do it. When (Mandy) came in with that song it made me really happy. So the other song I wanted to talk to you about for a bit was “Machine.” The first song had a few songs like this as well which were addressing the music industry and the commoditization of success and sort of the assembly line production of music. Has managing that side of the music business gotten easier for you guys as you have had more success? Mandy: Noooo. Nope. Jesse: It’s just the same annoying thing forever. Mandy: It’s just the same nonsense. And you would think if a label could see how far we’ve come. Or there’s people like me where you have to go from one interview right into another interview unfortunately. (laughs) Mandy: Oh, not it’s not that at all. Jesse: That’s not what we’re talking about. You know that, right? We don’t mean you. I know I was just being self-deprecating for a minute. I know you’re discussing the label politics of it all. Mandy: It’s the man. We’re sticking it to the man. Who doesn’t let you be who you are and write your own music and have your own brain and your own thoughts. Who doesn’t let you be expressive and celebrate individuality. Those are the things that are shunned, and you are told you’re not gonna make it, and you need to play by the playbook, and all this crazy shit that really gets your blood boiling. Cause you would think, we’ve done pretty well just being ourselves and you would think they’d see that and say, “maybe there is something good here.” Some people will say, “you need a single for this album,” and you’ll be sitting there saying “I wrote the best 12 songs I could” or whatever. Mandy: Yeah, because you don’t have ten writers on it, that’s considered a gamble for them. Marc/Will: They’re scared of the real. They treat it so much like a business. Where it more comes down to metrics and things. Mandy: Numbers! Instead of it being about connecting to your audience, connecting with people. Mandy: Rather than listening to the music and being like, “Do I like this or not?” instead it’s all about, “well, your numbers don’t show the growth we want.” And who knows, there’s a million different things that could go into why the first week sales aren’t there… And that’s another thing, the first week sales is what decides it now? Mandy: Yep, that is it. You could have millions of people listening on Spotify, but if you don’t sell 100,000 copies in Wal-Mart apparently people care. It’s a bizarre set-up. Marc: It’s insane. Jesse: Thank you, statistics. For nothing. Mandy: Well, Jesse’s just working on getting a hacker. Jesse: I’m gonna be working on modifying the numbers. All you have to do is go into Hits Daily Double and add a few zeroes and you’ll be fine. Jesse: How hard could it be to hack into Billboard? Probably not hard. I wanted to ask Mandy, there’s a lot more love songs on this record than on the first record. Mandy: Yeah (leans in towards her fiancee Etienne) But it’s really them too! (motioning to everyone else in the band) So how has performing these new songs, and being able to perform them next to your fiancee. How has that affected your enjoyment of these new songs? Mandy: Yeah, it’s just been really amazing and fun to be able to perform these songs and he’s playing the drums behind me and we’re a unit. And it’s really not just the two of us, now. It’s also to the crowd too. It’s a love song to everybody. We’re the luckiest people in the world to be able to do this together, and to fulfill our dreams and to be in love. Jesse: It’s very nice to be around that. Mandy: He doesn’t talk much about it, but I talk too much about it, hence why there are so many of those songs. You think you guys are going to play your own wedding? Or how is that going to work. Mandy: Hell no (laughs) Hire another band for that! Mandy: We do want to make it like a music festival though. Live band weddings make all the difference in the world. It’s crazy how much the difference between a DJ and a live band at a wedding makes. Will: Yeah, definitely. Mandy: Oh yeah. Live music is incomparable. I have one more silly question for you. I’m a big fantasy football. I see the looks on your faces already so I’m not going to ask you about sports. Will: Thank God. There’s not always a big overlap between sports and music, I get it. But I will ask you, we used to do this thing on our site called the Fantasy Band Draft, where you pick a guitarist, bassist, drummer and singer to form a fantasy supergroup to like play this festival or whatever. Any bands out there. Who would you pick? Mandy: Okay on the drums… Jesse: We could do either Chris Dave or Dave Grohl. Someone with the name Dave. A lot of people do pick Dave Grohl. Marc: Or Taylor Hawkins. You could just have Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. Mandy: 2 drummers! Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. We already know they have good chemistry with one another. Mandy: We’ll definitely have Chance The Rapper. For sure. He was amazing last night. Marc: I feel like Flea has to be on bass? Mandy: Is it just Chili Peppers all around? Etienne: I know cause I would really want John Frusciante. It’s too bad you guys were in Carrboro last night because Chance blew it out of the park here. It was until like 2 AM. Mandy: I know. It’s insane. Hmm, for singers, we should pick someone alive. Obviously, Prince or Michael Jackson would be great, but… Jesse: I was thinking like an a capella group with like Prince and Michael Jackson, and just all vocals. Etienne: We would put Prince on guitar too. Mandy: James Murphy, on percussion. I saw him this summer too, it was incredible. Marc: That’s good. He’s a genius. Mandy: Who else? Marc: I think we should go back to Chris Dave on drums. Jesse: So we’re having three drummers? Three drummers, seven singers. Mandy: No we need a keys player, synths? Marc: Kenny Kirkland? Jesse: I don’t know. All I can think of is like fusion guys. Mandy: I know, I know. Jesse: No one who would just want to be in the background just playing. Marc: How about the guy in Spinal Tap (Viv Savage), for comedic relief. Mandy: And Beyonce, just because she’s Beyonce. Jesse: We need to get Beyonce. Mandy: She’s the lead singer. For those following along at home that means Misterwives’ Fantasy Band Roster is as follows: * Chris Dave – Drums * Dave Grohl – Drums * Taylor Hawkins – Drums * James Murphy – Percussion * Flea – Bass * John Frusciante – Guitar * Viv Savage – Keyboards * Prince – Guitar/Vocals * Chance the Rapper – Vocals * Michael Jackson – Vocals * Beyonce – Lead Vocals So I have one final question for you, that I forgot to ask before. I know we were just talking about Chance the Rapper. Last year, you guys released the “Same Drugs” cover, and it was one of my favorite things that came out last year. Are there any plans to do another cover maybe in a different or the same genre for this album cycle? Mandy: We have a cover coming out in like a week actually. We recorded it with Spotify. Etienne: You will have to check Spotify to find out what song we covered. I would say it definitely pushed us. Mandy is very impressive on this one. Marc: It’s really a wild ride. Jesse: One could say it’s the wildest of rides. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. Misterwives are on tour now supporting their new album, which you can listen to on Apple Music or Spotify. For more tour dates and information, you can visit their website. --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/interviews/misterwives/

1 note · View note

whittlebaggett8 · 5 years

Text

Facebook’s shareholder meeting was a sad display of impotent groveling, and it’s the future in store for many other investors, Defence Online

Facebook shareholders expressed disappointment with Mark Zuckerberg’s running of the enterprise at its yearly shareholder assembly Thursday.

They could do minor about the condition, however, simply because Zuckerberg’s shares give him the skill to identify the result of any shareholder vote and to command Facebook’s board.

The issue confronted by Facebook shareholders is likely to be repeated at other corporations in the long term, for the reason that a escalating quantity are in the same way supplying a disproportionate volume of control to insiders.

That command insulates professionals from accountability and poses potential risks to shareholders, employees, and the general public at huge.

Check out Defence Online’s homepage for additional stories.

As upset as lots of could have been, there was totally zero likelihood Fb investors had been going to oust Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday or even curtail his energy in any way.

The end result of the company’s annual shareholder assembly was determined a long time before it even started.

That plain simple fact shouldn’t just gall Facebook’s shareholders. It should really fret traders and coverage makers as a whole. Which is because the variety of would-be Facebooks is escalating, and their shareholders and the public will have related trouble attaining control of them must they at any time go off the rails like Zuckerberg’s company has.

It was clear at the assembly that several of Facebook’s investors are furious with the way Zuckerberg has been working the corporation. Shareholders got two proposals on the ballot this yr that would have limited his energy. And at the assembly, a number of buyers spoke out versus him.

Browse this: Facebook’s former protection chief says Mark Zuckerberg has as well substantially ability and demands to stage down as CEO

One shareholder instantly requested Zuckerberg regardless of whether he would resign as the Facebook’s chairman. Zuckerberg did not respond to the issue, as an alternative reiterating his own call for govt regulation. An additional shareholder asked Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Facebook’s lead impartial director, if she would hold a meeting of the company’s board with the specific goal of ousting Zuckerberg as chairman she claimed no.

Facebook traders have good induce to be furious

Facebook’s shareholders have very good reason to be disappointed with Zuckerberg and the company’s management. The social-networking big has observed a seemingly non-quit string of scandals considering that the 2016 election, from Russian interference in that campaign to recurring and large leaks of user details to the spread of genocide-marketing propaganda.

The fiascos have harmed the company’s popularity, prompted customers to get started averting its service, spurred expanding calls for regulating or breaking up the business, pressured it to considerably raise its spending on issues these as human moderators, and most likely will lead to a multi-billion dollar fantastic from federal regulators.

Inspite of all of that, Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, his prime lieutenant, have resisted all calls for any form of particular accountability. Zuckerberg has refused to phase apart or to force Sandberg out.

Unfortunately for shareholders, they are powerless to do significantly additional than rant. Solely by himself, Zuckerberg can determine the final result of any shareholder vote. He can install or substitute board members as he chooses. And he can establish the company’s route and plan with out any enter from any person else, if which is what he would like.

What presents Zuckerberg this energy is Facebook’s governance framework. The enterprise has two classes of inventory. Its Class A stock, which is held by every day traders, get one particular vote for every share. Its Class B inventory, which is principally held by Zuckerberg, gets 10 votes for each share. Thanks to these additional votes, Zuckerberg controls nearly 58% of the voting power at Facebook, even however he only owns or has electrical power in excess of about 14% of its whole shares.

Buyers are beggars, many thanks to alternatives created decades in the past

That method leaves shareholders – nominally the house owners of the corporation – in the situation of beggars. Since they can’t regulate Facebook’s board or way, they’re lowered to sounding off – or pathetically pleading with Zuckerberg for change.

Investors in fact referred to as on Facebook to ditch its dual-course system on Thursday. Just one of the shareholder proposals they voted on would have urged the business to phase out its twin-class inventory structure “at the earliest practicable time.” You don’t have to be a psychological genius to know how that went down.

Facebook’s shareholders are struggling the penalties of decisions built 7 many years ago. The bankers who took the company community and the institutional investors who bought shares in its first presenting effectively signed off on giving Zuckerberg his disproportionate energy. But what is galling is that those people early buyers created that settlement not just for on their own but for each individual Facebook trader that would adhere to them. If you get a share of Facebook today, you have to stay by the settlement they struck.

That is what’s referred to as an agency challenge. It may perhaps very well have been in the bankers and institutional investors desire to give Zuckerberg’s outsized energy their stamp of approval they ended up acquiring in on what was expected to be a hot IPO, after all. But their preference – which will dwell on in perpetuity, simply because Facebook’s dual-class framework has no established end date – was not automatically in the passions of later on buyers in the company.

Backers of dual-class buildings normally argue they permit visionary founders to target on setting up lengthy term worth for their firms relatively than on the normally short-phrase worries of the public markets. That was the scenario Facebook’s board manufactured in opposing the shareholder proposal to do away with the structure.

“Our board of administrators thinks that our capital structure contributes to our stability and insulates our board of administrators and administration from limited-phrase pressures, which allows them to concentrate on our mission and very long-expression achievements,” they mentioned on the company’s regulatory doc it filed in relation to the vote. They continued: “Zuckerberg is invested in our extensive-term accomplishment, and less than his guidance we have recognized a monitor record of producing value for our stockholders and navigating important possibilities and difficulties.”

Twin-course structures are bad for investors and society

But, as Facebook has demonstrated, this kind of constructions also insulate company supervisors and directors from the legit problems of buyers and the public. They permit them to function with impunity with very little concern of being held accountable for their missteps, no subject how egregious.

Even appeared at by means of the narrow lens of shareholder returns, these kinds of buildings are normally lousy bargains for buyers. Research from the US Stability and Trade Fee signifies that businesses that have dual-course constructions that exist into perpetuity are inclined to underperform all those that have sunset provisions.

If Fb ended up the only corporation or a person of only a handful with this sort of buildings, it would be poor enough. But the twin-stock challenge has been metastasizing.

A lot of of the tech corporations that have gone community about the previous two many years – which includes Lyft, Pinterest, Zoom, Snap, Dropbox, Spotify, and Roku – have constructions that give insiders extra votes and disproportionate power. And a lot more are on the way, including these types of properly-regarded startups as WeWork, Slack, and, probable, Airbnb.

Whilst lots of of those companies would not look to pose the exact amount of risk to modern society as Facebook has revealed alone to be, some could. As 1 case in point, driving – the activity at the heart of Lyft’s service – actually puts life at stake.

Even if they never pose these kinds of societal-amount hazards, the companies’ twin-course structures pose other dangers. The absence of accountability they empower can encourage fraud, self-dealing by management, reckless shelling out, and additional, any of which could negatively affect not just the companies’ shareholders, but their employees, and the communities in which they operate.

At this stage, curtailing twin-class constructions is probable likely to take an act of Congress. And offered that community policy makers do not look to have targeted on this issue and that Congress alone is hopelessly divided appropriate now, such constructions are not likely away whenever before long.

So be ready to hear about additional investors ranting at corporate professionals but unable to do anything at all about it. Mark Zuckerberg is only the most visible member of the growing class of safeguarded CEOs.

Got a tip about the tech marketplace? Get hold of this reporter through e mail at [email protected], message him on Twitter @troywolv, or deliver him a safe message by means of Sign at 415.515.5594. You can also get hold of Defence On the web securely through SecureDrop.

The post Facebook’s shareholder meeting was a sad display of impotent groveling, and it’s the future in store for many other investors, Defence Online appeared first on Defence Online.

from WordPress https://defenceonline.com/2019/05/31/facebooks-shareholder-meeting-was-a-sad-display-of-impotent-groveling-and-its-the-future-in-store-for-many-other-investors-defence-online/

#Dual-class shares #Facebook #Finance #Mark Zuckerberg #News #Opinion #Pinterest #Roku #Sheryl Sandbe

0 notes

wineanddinosaur · 4 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: Is the Gin Boom Finally Here?

Despite gin’s historic popularity in the United Kingdom, and surging popularity in much of Europe, the United States has long lagged behind in botanical clear spirit appreciation. That hasn’t stopped bold prognosticators from predicting an incipient “gin boom” in the U.S., but there was never much proof of a gin-loving American public — until now.

Gin has seen a spike in both sales and general consumer interest in 2020; that we know, but the question of “why” remains. Is it due largely to the gin and tonic, that summer staple that’s been even easier to make at home in the Covid-19 era? Is it because of the slew of gin-based cocktails that great bars have popularized over the past decade?

That’s what to tune in for on this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, when VinePair’s Adam Teeter, Erica Duecy, and Zach Geballe discuss why this time, the “gin boom” might just be the real thing — along with what’s driving it and how we’re tracking where it’s going.

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or check out our conversation here

Adam Teeter: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica Duecy: From Connecticut, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach Geballe: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair Podcast. And before we launch into today’s topic, a word from this week’s sponsor. This podcast is sponsored by Gosling’s Rum. The newest addition to the Seal family, Gosling’s presents the incredibly drinkable Gold Seal Rum. Take that Black Seal. An initial sweetness leads to complex caramel flavors and layers of spice and the finish is dry and smooth — that sounds really good. Aged in new American oak, the rum attains a color of rich burnished gold with a brilliant glow. A blend of continuous and double pot distilled rums, Gosling’s Gold Seal Rum is uncommonly versatile and may be enjoyed straight up, on the rocks, or as a mixture that will enhance any rum cocktail mix. Mix it with Gosling’s stormy ginger beer for a Bermuda Mule. For a limited time, use code VinePair at checkout on reservebar.com for free shipping on your Gosling’s Rum order.

Z: All I’ve got to say is, Andrew Holmes, Gosling’s brand ambassador and former guest on this podcast, where is my bottle of Gold Seal Rum?

A: Seriously, I never got a bottle, either, come on guys!

Z: I’m not going anywhere, I need some rum

A: So, how’s everybody doing? I’m going on vacation so you guys are going to do the podcast without me next week. But how are you guys doing?

E: Good. I’m ready for a rum cocktail. It has been hot, hot, hot.

A: It’s gross, right? You know it’s really funny, I had a conversation with someone today that was like, “Adam, love the podcast. Just one comment, you guys talk about the weather a lot at the beginning of the show.”

Z: That’s because we’re f***ing old. What do you guys want?

A: That’s really funny and then without telling you that happened, Erica talked about the weather.

Z: I will tell you it says it is sunny and 70 degrees in Seattle today so New York can kiss my a**.

E: It is muggy and disgusting here, just yuck.

Z: Adam, does your entire neighborhood smell like garbage? I remember that not so fondly.

A: No, because I’m in Brooklyn. Well, have you guys drank anything really delicious recently?

E: I’ve been sticking to my Ranch Waters. That’s what I’ve been drinking. That and some rosés, that’s pretty much been my landscape for the last week.

A: Zach?

Z: I actually, I’m going to say something that close listeners of the podcast are going to be shocked by, I actually have been drinking some Pinot Noir rosé, which has been really delicious — a couple of Oregon producers. This gives me the perfect opportunity to shamelessly plug my upcoming free Pinot Noir class on Tuesday. Tuesday, Aug. 18, it’s about a 45-minute class all about Pinot Noir. You can find more information at my website disgorgedwine.com. I will now stop plugging myself and we can talk more about anything else.

A: I drank some good stuff last weekend. I had a bottle of Cos that was amazing. I love that producer so much — from Sicily. I had their Frappato and it was sick. I got it at this wine bar I love — we had them on the podcast a while ago. I wanted to go and see how they were doing. They and a few other restaurants on their street petitioned to fully shut down Vanderbilt which is the main thoroughfare of Prospect Heights, the neighborhood in Brooklyn, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It’s really cool because while I know some people that live in New York and listen to the podcast may be used to seeing the dining in one parking spot —the parking spot in front of your restaurant you’re allowed to build a little platform and put as many chairs and tables that are socially distanced acceptable on that platform in that one spot, but now on Vanderbilt, they’re allowed to spread out throughout the entire thoroughfare. It’s really awesome. You walk down the middle of the street and there’s just tons of tables and restaurants. Dave, one of the owners of Lalou, was saying it could really help save a lot of these restaurants because a lot of them, due to this, are now able to be at or even over the capacity they normally would be if they were just indoor dining. And even though it’s just three days, it’s three days of the week that people go out and spend the most money. So some restaurants are able to use this to help fuel them now that the question “what happens as it starts to get cold?” as we’ve talked about before and we’ll talk about more as the fall continues — but I thought it was super cool and I got to take this amazing bottle of wine home and drink it with Naomi. It was absolutely delicious.

E: Nice.

Z: And it seems like the kind of thing where once we’ve started doing it societally you go like, “Wow, this is a lot nicer than just cars going by.”

A: it is.

Z: It’s a lot better for the quality of life in the neighborhood.

A: He was saying a lot of people in the neighborhood who have cars were really pissed because they’re like, “It’s so much harder to get my car to my street.” But wouldn’t you rather have a place where the entire neighborhood can congregate and be outside? There were kids in the street playing together and throwing the football as their parents all sat around drinking great cocktails because Weather Up is also an amazing cocktail bar that is on that block. It was just super cool to watch and there’s not really other places that this can happen because once you’ve decided that you’re sitting at this restaurant in this parking space that’s where you are. And this felt much more like a community coming together to support the businesses on this thoroughfare and really have a place that everyone could be whether you are eating or drinking at the spot or not. Obviously, kids were not drinking cocktails. It was super cool. So let’s get into today’s topic which I think is really interesting and that is something we’ve talked about a little bit on the show before. I have some theories, I’m sure you guys do as well, and that is there ever going to be or are we already beginning to see a gin boom in the U.S.? People have been predicting this gin boom for years and that is based on the fact that there’s been a massive gin boom in Europe. Apart from Spain that’s been in love with gin for well over a decade, you’re now seeing gin being wholly embraced in France, Italy, Greece, you’re also seeing gin continuing to be this massive spirit in Great Britain, where it’s always been very popular. But it never had as massive a following in the U.S. as I think a lot of people thought it could be. I’m going to start our conversation with a very bold statement and that is, I think it’s more likely now than ever and I think the reason for that is thanks to Covid-19. And what I mean by that is I think a lot of the reason that a lot of people really never truly embraced gin is because they never understood how delicious a truly well-made gin and tonic could be. And that’s because so many people around the country have been drinking gin and tonics in which the tonic water has been coming off the gun at a bar. And most of that tonic water is usually pretty garbage. Now that people are home and they’re buying their own tonic water and they’re making gin and tonics they’re realizing how delicious that drink is and that’s making them explore lots of other gins and lots of other gin cocktails. that’s my take. What do you guys think?

E: Nice. I think that that is a good assertion. It’s also an easy cocktail to make, so as you are thinking of what you’re going to be sipping, it’s so easy. This winter I was drinking a lot of Martinis, I was exploring different Martini recipes, and playing with variations and then that just spilled over into the gin and tonics of summer. I’ve tried all sorts of different tonic waters, all sorts of different gins. Some of them are savory, some of the tonic waters have a Mediterranean influence, I think there’s so much variety. But I think that we as journalists have been saying for years, gin is a thing, gin is happening, it’ s finally happening, nope this year it’s happening, nope next year it’s happening. But I think, finally, we actually are starting to see that traction. If you look at Nielsen data over a couple-year period you do see this upward trajectory just in the last 12 weeks the sales have been up 37 percent. To put that in context that’s a little bit lower than tequila, which has been on a massive tear, but it’s higher than bourbon or Irish whiskey, or rum or vodka. So in gin I think we’re finally starting to see that it really is moving up in people’s mind and that people are probably using them most often in a gin and tonic. I’m glad to see that it seems like it’s actually happening.

Z: I think that one of the interesting pieces of this is that pre-Covid in the landscape where gin was maybe on the come but no one really knew who that was going to happen, the problem was there was a real divergence between the gin cocktail as a gin and tonic, or even a Martini, where the gin in and of itself is really the centerpiece and where the thing that could hold it back as a drink is crappy tonic water, sh*tty vermouth, someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. That is on one side of the gin equation. The other side is a whole host of really delicious, interesting cocktails: Negronis, Last Words, all this stuff that rely on gin but not really designed to showcase gin as much as integrate it into a much more complex whole. And in that area, gin has made great strides in cocktail programs around the world and the United States and other places. But weirdly, in both my professional experience and experience as a consumer, the gin that’s used in a lot of these drinks, as long as it’s of decent quality, it’s almost better the less intrusive it is. So you had this weird split where you had a cocktail in form — a gin and tonic or the Martini — where an expressive, distinctive, interesting gin really shines but one that maybe was not being enjoyed by a lot of people, and then you have this other format where an unintrusive less distinctive gin is more appreciated so that the vermouth and liqueur can shine through. And I think, despite what we’ve talked about before on this podcast, you’re seeing a lot more people making gin and tonics than making Negronis at home. So I think, yes, it’s given an opportunity for gin, as the spirit itself really takes the center stage here. And I think that is really exciting and I don’t expect that to walk backward, but what I wonder is, are you going to see those other gin-based cocktails kick up in popularity for home bartenders as people just get more comfortable working with gin as a spirit?

A: That’s what I’m curious about. And I’m deferring to Erica here, our cocktail book author. What other cocktails are out there that you think that if you’ve now embraced the gin and tonic, could be the next big gin cocktail that really does showcase how delicious gin is? I think Zach is right that people will probably make more Negronis and things like that, and maybe now with better gin, but what are some of the other really classic gin cocktails that should be on people’s radars?

E: There are so many ways to use gin. One that’s my favorite is the bee’s knees, a gin sour that uses lemon and honey and that is kind of a back-to-classics. It was made classically around Prohibition, and the lemon and honey were used to mask the hard smell of bathtub gin. That’s kind of a fun version. There’s a variety of different ways to use it. The Last Word I would say is one of my favorites that hasn’t gotten enough traction. That’s equal parts of gin, chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur, and fresh lime. That one was actually a cocktail out of Detroit during Prohibition, and it has lineage back to the Detroit Athletic Club where all these well-heeled imbibers who were the titans of the car industry in Detroit would be at their gala events … and they’d slip outside to this speakeasy out back where the Last Word was being made. That’s one of my favorite variations and one of my favorite cocktails that I think is super underutilized. You can also play with various different Gimlets with some mint, cucumber, and blackberries, these summery Highball cocktails. There are so many ways to use gin, it’s really versatile and I would say that that’s one of the things that I think is driving interest in gin right now. For a long time, you had these traditional London dry gins that have that profile of coriander and angelica root and citrus and licorice and the juniper, of course, but then you moved into a phase where there is so much innovation happening in the spirits space but with gin in particular. The botanicals that people are using, the regions that are producing it, the different consumers that are being targeted, it’s really dynamic. You’ve got pink gin, you’ve got savory gin, you’ve got gin spiced with all these different botanicals. And this New Western style of gin, that we’ve written about a lot at VinePair, I think has really taken off. What that means is that the New Western style of gin is less focused on juniper and more focused on other things. For example, I know that there’s a gin out of Texas that is focused on lavender, grapefruit, and even has pecans in it. There’s one out of Japan, Suntory’s Roku, that is a yuzu-driven gin. It has flowers and herbs and botanicals, even tea in it, and a little bit of Sancho pepper that is a really incredible flavor expression that you would have never found with gin before. With this explosion of innovation, that’s one of the key things that’s driving this category forward.

Z: I want to add a couple of cocktails to Erica’s recommendations.

A: Please. I’m sure you’re adding the Aviation.

Z: No, I’m actually not, although that is another cocktail that I actually do love. I was going to offer a couple that I think are maybe easier stepping stones for people who are moving away from a gin and tonic. I think one great option for people is the French 75 — that’s a gin-based cocktail that also usually includes lemon juice and sparkling wine of some sort, some people will also add a sweetener like simple syrup. But again that, to me, is a nice option for someone who wants the lightness and brightness of a gin and tonic, the summery freshness, but is going to get more of a citrus note. Depending on how much lime you add to your gin and tonic, that could be equivalent. And then a Gin Fizz, another really classic cocktail — it is traditionally made with an egg white, but you can skip out if your don’t want it or if that’s too daunting for you — but again, a cocktail that marries gin and citrus but showcases the flavors of the gin you’re working with quite nicely. And then, to Erica’s point of these Western-style gins, I want to mention St. George Spirits in California, because to me they were one of the first producers that I came across that was really focused on, “we’re going to make a gin that is really reflective of where we are,” and their Terroir Gin is based on only local botanicals in the North Bay Area, and it’s really cool. It’s an awesome example of what gin can be, which is this platform to showcase a lot of different flavors, as Erica mentioned.

A: Do you both think then that part of gin’s appeal — besides the fact that the gin and tonic is so easy to make and now that people are finally making it with good tonic they’re realizing it’s delicious — is this local aspect of it that it really can reflect where it’s made in a way that a lot of other products can’t and that’s what makes it so interesting to so many people?

E: From my perspective, it’s really these small distillers who have been significant in the growth of gin. The smartest thing they’ve done is really focus on providence, they’ve focused on these authentic brand stories. There are of course the big Tanquerays and so forth out there, but when I think about the gin category, and even when you walk into a store, there are so many craft producers — and they all are telling a different story they’re trying to reach different types of consumers, they’re leveraging those different flavor profiles. So, I think that this trend is really timed perfectly with consumers’ growing interest in authentic brand stories, and in experimentation in a pretty simple and easy way. And to add to what we were saying about simple cocktail variations, with all of these new ones like the Japanese yuzu-driven gins and these other ones that feel very terroir-oriented, I think one thing to note is that you don’t necessarily want to be [using] it in a Negroni because that’s not a London Dry gin, that’s not what that cocktail was created for. The place to showcase all of these different flavors and different expressions of gin is in something simple: either in a gin and tonic, or I like the idea of a French 75; I also really like the idea of a Collins. A Collins is super simple, it’s just gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup, and then you can add an additional flavoring. If you want a little bit of berry, add a little bit of elderflower cordial —which needs to make a comeback — and then just top it off with soda. It’s a long drink, it’s a highball. But these simpler expressions are going to be the best place to highlight those very diverse gins.

A: It sounds like you both think a gin boom is going to come.

Z: I might be marginally more skeptical.

A: Why?

Z: Here are the two reasons. One, is that maybe the gin boom as defined in like “the gin-and-tonic boom” I can buy in. I’m still a little skeptical that the average consumer is going to move too far away from that. Again, as we started this conversation, it’s such a simple drink yet yields such great results if you use good gin and good tonic that I think a lot of people are happy to stay there. And that’s fine. And for a lot of these gins that we’re talking about, that’s great. As Erica said, that’s a great way to showcase these more terroir or pronounced driven gins, it’s frankly delicious — gin and tonic is one of my absolute favorite cocktails — and that’s totally fine. When I think of the gin boom I think of the idea that the average person who is reasonably serious about drinking at home has four, five, six, seven different gins on hand. And I kind of think that gin is still going to largely exist in the space that vodka has existed in that, for most people who consume at home, they have a brand that they turn to or at least one bottle at home at a time than when they drink that they go buy another. Not like how they might look at whiskey or tequila or something like that where they are like, I have to have a few different bottles on hand because I want different versions of this. Now I would be happy to be wrong. Gin is delicious and I would love for there to be more money going into the gin producer direction and less in some other spirits. But I think that I’m skeptical that people are going to see the need for three, four, five, six different gins on their bar shelf at home, even in this world where that is the only place you’re getting a cocktail for most people.

E: If you do want some gins that are more versatile, we have a massive resource of what the best gins are. It’s called “The 30 Best Gins for Every Budget 2020,” we update this every year. We tasted through over 100 different gins this year. I helped, it was on my Instagram and it was so much gin, it was shocking. But we have “the best gins under $25,” the best gins under $45, etc. That is a great place to go and read the reviews, they all have the tasting notes, and figure out what is the best gin for you. Because I do think it is a great idea to have maybe one or two bottles. Right now, I’ve got two bottles in my house and that’s enough. One is more savory, one has more of a floral botanical profile, and that’s enough for any type of cocktails that I want to make.

A: Yeah, I agree. Zach, I do agree with you that I think it’s going to be connected to the gin and tonic, but hey, I think that’s all it needs. The tequila boom is really being fueled by the Margarita. If you look at the explosion of the Margarita as a cocktail it’s very aligned with the explosion of tequila in general. That’s mostly how people are consuming tequila. Now some people are branching off and having Ranch Water like Erica or Palomas but it’s pretty much the Margarita. If it’s the gin and tonic that continues to fuel the boom, that’s great. I think the thing that’s really crazy about the gin and tonic that we’ll definitely see within the next few months is probably a lot of canned gin and tonics. There’s got to be some of these gin brands that already have them in development. There’s no way that gin and tonics aren’t coming out in cans very soon. Again, because of how delicious the cocktail is, to most people how simple it is, and how easy that probably is to put a high-quality tonic in a can with good gin.

E: I know that Greenhook Ginsmiths has one. We do have an article about some of the best canned gin and tonics, I know Cutwater has one. They’re coming out more and more. And I think whereas they weren’t so good in years past, they’ve really started to nail what we like to call “the citrus problem.” That’s the biggest problem with these canned products, is nailing the citrus notes. It’s so difficult and we’ve done multiple articles looking at how you fix flavorings, how you get these natural flavorings, how you incorporate them, how they’re shelf-stabilized, all of the technology that goes into creating a really good lime experience in a canned cocktail is significant. When we did our tasting we said that Greenhook Ginsmith’s gin and tonic was the best one on the market, and this was last fall. So if people have other gin and tonics that they are excited about, let us know.

A: Seriously, let us know, [email protected]. And if you have some samples send them our way, I’d love to taste a canned gin and tonic. I know Zach would but he wants his Gosling’s rum first.

Z: I can drink both of them at the same time, let’s be clear. I have a question for you two about gin and the gin and tonic: Am I weird for sometimes preferring just a gin and soda?

E: No. That’s partway to a Collins, add a little bit of lemon juice and simple syrup. No, I think gin and soda is nice.

A: Yes.

E: You think that’s weird?

A: I do.

Z: Yeah, Adam clearly does. That’s fair. What I would say is, I’m not really sure what I’m going for in that cocktail other than just a longer drink. I love Martinis, although I can’t drink them in the summer, weirdly, despite it being a gin-based drink, it’s too intense for me.

A: I agree.

E: Yeah [me too].

Z: I want my Martinis in the fall and winter. But I do like just gin sometimes. Sometimes I’ll just do gin on the rocks but I like to lighten it just a touch. I don’t do that with other spirits too much but with gin, I think just a little bit of soda water or tonic certainly, but sometimes the sweetness in tonic is a little much for me, especially with these more delicate, aromatic floral styles of gin, I want them to be dry. A gin and soda is maybe a borderline “do-I-have-a-problem? drink” because it’s very pleasurable, there’s not a lot of things that generally get us excited about drinking [in it]. But on the other hand, I really enjoy it.

A: Hey man, you have to do you.

E: I think it’s the perfect way to showcase a gin if you really want to appreciate a gin, and all the botanicals it’s bringing to the table. For the yuzu gin from Suntory, that’s the perfect way. You want to showcase all the different things that are in it, the tea and florals, and a little bit of pepper, and anything else is probably going to cover it up a little bit, so I would go soda.

A: See, Zach, Erica came to your rescue. You’re not a weirdo.

Z: I’m not sure the person who wrote a cocktail book, she’s the authority, but she was inclined to be on my side, anyhow.

A: Guys, it’s been a really interesting conversation as always. I hope you have a really fun one next week without me. It probably won’t be as good. But I know you’ll get through it. What are you guys going to talk about? Seattle?

E: No idea. Probably Seattle.

Z: We’ll just talk about the weather in Seattle.

A: Tune in next week when Erica and Zach dissect the weather in Seattle.

E: It’s going to be riveting.

Z: We’re going two hours, folks.

A: For everyone else, they’ll see you back here next week, I will see everyone in two weeks.

Z: Have a nice vacation.

E: Take care.

A: Before we go, a word from our sponsor, Goslings Rum. The newest addition to the Seal family, Goslings presents the incredibly drinkable Gold Seal Rum. An initial sweetness leads to complex caramel flavors and layers of spice and the finish is dry and smooth. Aged in new American oak, the rum attains the color of rich burnished gold with a brilliant glow. A blend of continuous and double pot distilled rums, Goslings Gold Seal rum is uncommonly versatile and may be enjoyed straight up, on the rocks, or as a mixture that will enhance any rum cocktail mix. Mix it with Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer for a Bermuda Mule. For a limited time use code “VinePair” at checkout on reservebar.com for free shipping on all of your Goslings Rum purchases.

Thanks so much for listening to the VinePair Podcast. If you enjoy listening to us every week, please leave us a review or rating on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show. Now, for the credits: VinePair is produced and hosted by Zach Geballe, Erica Duecy and me: Adam Teeter. Our engineer is Nick Patri and Keith Beavers. I’d also like to give a special shout out to my VinePair co-founder Josh Malin and the rest of the VinePair team for their support. Thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you again right here next week.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Is the Gin Boom Finally Here? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/is-gin-boom-finally-here/

0 notes

johnboothus · 4 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: Is the Gin Boom Finally Here?

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or check out our conversation here

Adam Teeter: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica Duecy: From Connecticut, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach Geballe: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

Z: All I’ve got to say is, Andrew Holmes, Gosling’s brand ambassador and former guest on this podcast, where is my bottle of Gold Seal Rum?

A: Seriously, I never got a bottle, either, come on guys!

Z: I’m not going anywhere, I need some rum

A: So, how’s everybody doing? I’m going on vacation so you guys are going to do the podcast without me next week. But how are you guys doing?

E: Good. I’m ready for a rum cocktail. It has been hot, hot, hot.

Z: That’s because we’re f***ing old. What do you guys want?

A: That’s really funny and then without telling you that happened, Erica talked about the weather.

Z: I will tell you it says it is sunny and 70 degrees in Seattle today so New York can kiss my a**.

E: It is muggy and disgusting here, just yuck.

Z: Adam, does your entire neighborhood smell like garbage? I remember that not so fondly.

A: No, because I’m in Brooklyn. Well, have you guys drank anything really delicious recently?

E: I’ve been sticking to my Ranch Waters. That’s what I’ve been drinking. That and some rosés, that’s pretty much been my landscape for the last week.

A: Zach?

E: Nice.

Z: And it seems like the kind of thing where once we’ve started doing it societally you go like, “Wow, this is a lot nicer than just cars going by.”

A: it is.

Z: It’s a lot better for the quality of life in the neighborhood.

Z: I want to add a couple of cocktails to Erica’s recommendations.

A: Please. I’m sure you’re adding the Aviation.

A: It sounds like you both think a gin boom is going to come.

Z: I might be marginally more skeptical.

A: Why?

A: Seriously, let us know, [email protected]. And if you have some samples send them our way, I’d love to taste a canned gin and tonic. I know Zach would but he wants his Gosling’s rum first.

Z: I can drink both of them at the same time, let’s be clear. I have a question for you two about gin and the gin and tonic: Am I weird for sometimes preferring just a gin and soda?

E: No. That’s partway to a Collins, add a little bit of lemon juice and simple syrup. No, I think gin and soda is nice.

A: Yes.

E: You think that’s weird?

A: I do.

A: I agree.

E: Yeah [me too].

A: Hey man, you have to do you.

A: See, Zach, Erica came to your rescue. You’re not a weirdo.

Z: I’m not sure the person who wrote a cocktail book, she’s the authority, but she was inclined to be on my side, anyhow.

E: No idea. Probably Seattle.

Z: We’ll just talk about the weather in Seattle.

A: Tune in next week when Erica and Zach dissect the weather in Seattle.

E: It’s going to be riveting.

Z: We’re going two hours, folks.

A: For everyone else, they’ll see you back here next week, I will see everyone in two weeks.

Z: Have a nice vacation.

E: Take care.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Is the Gin Boom Finally Here? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/is-gin-boom-finally-here/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/vinepair-podcast-is-the-gin-boom-finally-here

0 notes

isaiahrippinus · 4 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: Is the Gin Boom Finally Here?

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or check out our conversation here

Adam Teeter: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica Duecy: From Connecticut, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach Geballe: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

Z: All I’ve got to say is, Andrew Holmes, Gosling’s brand ambassador and former guest on this podcast, where is my bottle of Gold Seal Rum?

A: Seriously, I never got a bottle, either, come on guys!

Z: I’m not going anywhere, I need some rum

A: So, how’s everybody doing? I’m going on vacation so you guys are going to do the podcast without me next week. But how are you guys doing?

E: Good. I’m ready for a rum cocktail. It has been hot, hot, hot.

Z: That’s because we’re f***ing old. What do you guys want?

A: That’s really funny and then without telling you that happened, Erica talked about the weather.

Z: I will tell you it says it is sunny and 70 degrees in Seattle today so New York can kiss my a**.

E: It is muggy and disgusting here, just yuck.

Z: Adam, does your entire neighborhood smell like garbage? I remember that not so fondly.

A: No, because I’m in Brooklyn. Well, have you guys drank anything really delicious recently?

E: I’ve been sticking to my Ranch Waters. That’s what I’ve been drinking. That and some rosés, that’s pretty much been my landscape for the last week.

A: Zach?

E: Nice.

Z: And it seems like the kind of thing where once we’ve started doing it societally you go like, “Wow, this is a lot nicer than just cars going by.”

A: it is.

Z: It’s a lot better for the quality of life in the neighborhood.

Z: I want to add a couple of cocktails to Erica’s recommendations.

A: Please. I’m sure you’re adding the Aviation.

A: It sounds like you both think a gin boom is going to come.

Z: I might be marginally more skeptical.

A: Why?

A: Seriously, let us know, [email protected]. And if you have some samples send them our way, I’d love to taste a canned gin and tonic. I know Zach would but he wants his Gosling’s rum first.

Z: I can drink both of them at the same time, let’s be clear. I have a question for you two about gin and the gin and tonic: Am I weird for sometimes preferring just a gin and soda?

E: No. That’s partway to a Collins, add a little bit of lemon juice and simple syrup. No, I think gin and soda is nice.

A: Yes.

E: You think that’s weird?

A: I do.

A: I agree.

E: Yeah [me too].

A: Hey man, you have to do you.

A: See, Zach, Erica came to your rescue. You’re not a weirdo.

Z: I’m not sure the person who wrote a cocktail book, she’s the authority, but she was inclined to be on my side, anyhow.

E: No idea. Probably Seattle.

Z: We’ll just talk about the weather in Seattle.

A: Tune in next week when Erica and Zach dissect the weather in Seattle.

E: It’s going to be riveting.

Z: We’re going two hours, folks.

A: For everyone else, they’ll see you back here next week, I will see everyone in two weeks.

Z: Have a nice vacation.

E: Take care.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Is the Gin Boom Finally Here? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/is-gin-boom-finally-here/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/626795145479798784

0 notes