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I depend on readers to underwrite the labor that goes into producing this newsletter. Thanks for reading!—Dave.

If you’ve been reading the boozeletter for any length of time, you know it’s my considered opinion that drinking is an inherently political act. From pro-NATO beers and Busch heiress Senate campaigns, to greenwashed hard seltzers and Let’s Go Brandon brand positioning, Fingers has covered dozens of ways alcohol, power, and culture intertwine. These are serious subjects! Much less serious, but no less important: The Fingers Horseshoe Theory of Alcoholic Beverages, a new infographic from the Fingers Design Department that dares to ask: what if, instead of simply being political and cultural, booze was actual politics and culture? Wow, damn, really makes you think. (If you’re not familiar with the concept of horseshoe theory, congratulations on avoiding online discourse for the last six years, you’re definitely better off than the rest of us.)

This infographic, which is factually accurate in every way and shall not be amended no matter how many angry emails I receive, originally appeared on the official Fingers Instagram, which you should follow right now if you haven’t already. Go ahead, I’ll wait:

I’m reposting it here because a) I’m finishing up a story that needs a little more reporting before I pressed publish, and needed something to run at the top of today’s email; and b) the boozeletter has over 2,100 readers but only ~780 followers on Instagram, and it’d be cool to get those ‘gram numbers up! Mostly (a), if I’m being honest. But seriously: follow Fingers on Instagram! I post daily original memes about drinking culture, being online, and beyond, and it’s always free. Plus, I never post Reels, because who has the time? Not me.

📬 Good post alert

Thank you to Friend of Fingers and publisher of the essential Brutal South newsletter Paul Bowers for sending in this good post. See a good post that the Fingers Fam should know about? Please send me that good post via email or Twitter DM.

🧾 The Settle-Up

Each Friday in 🧾 The Settle-Up, I round up a bunch of stories from the booze business and beyond that caught my eye, but that I didn’t feel merited full-blown coverage in that particular edition of the newsletter. Then, I editorialize the shit out of them for our collective amusement. Paid-up Friends of Fingers can access an archive of May 2022’s Settled-Up headlines any time right here:

If you haven’t yet, now is a wonderful time to buy a subscription. And now, headlines from this past week… for everyone’s amusement?!

• Big Coffee Companies’ Vague Sustainability Pledges Don’t Hold Up?! Say It Ain’t Joe

• Not Your Father’s… Drive-In?! Why QSR x FMB Combo Sonic Hard Seltzer Is Surging

• Starbucks Workers Win Unanimous Union Election in… South Carolina?! Damn, Lowest Labor Density in the Nation Be Damned

• Pinot Noir… Drunk-Driving?! Nancy Pelosi’s Husband Catches DUI, Giving Lie to Kristof’s Classist Canard

• Worse Than Corngate?! Spirits-Based High Noon Slings Mud at Malt-Based Hard Seltzers

• Miller, Inflation Killer?! Molson Coors Head Honcho Says Drinkers Still Sucking Down Higher Pricepoints

• Connect with Wine Producers… By Blockchain?! Sounds Grape to One Former Amazon Exec 

• Stealing Cowboy Valor to Pass the “Pool Party Test”

• Cali Booze Breakthrough?! No-Food To-Go Cocktails Nearing Greenlight in Golden State

• Trend Watch: Purple Yam Beer?! Ube-tter Believe It

• MN Lawmakers Finally Doff Growler Cap?! Turn Up the Volume (of Brewery Sales, That Is)

🤝 Michael Graham of Austin Beerworks on the “boomtown conundrum”

Earlier this week I published an interview with Michael Graham, a cofounder of Austin Beerworks. He’d recently tweeted about his hometown’s growth spurt over the past decade (which has roughly coincided with a three-year stint atop U.S. News & World Reports’ “Best Places to Live” rankings, plus the arrival of major employers like Apple and Tesla, plus the pandemic.)

As someone who spent 3.5 years in Charleston, South Carolina, his mild gripe really resonated, so I called him up for an interview. Michael and I spoke about what I’m shorthanding as the “boomtown conundrum,” in which the things that make a place attractive to live (craft breweries being one of them!) contribute to the ascendance of its national profile, which touches off literal and figurative growing pains that make said place… well, maybe not quite as attractive, and certainly not as affordable. If you’re in a normie tax bracket, that’s a distinction without a difference, but whatever, you get it. Anyway, check out the interview here:

Paying subscribers get access to this and every full-length interview on The Fingers Podcast. If you’d like to listen to it, please buy a subscription today:

I depend on reader support to fund the boozeletter’s independent journalism. Thanks to all the paying Friends of Fingers who have stepped up to underwrite this work!

📈 State of the Boozeletter™️: May 2022 edition

May 2022 was a pretty solid month! Some topline metrics:

• Total subscribers: 2,179

• Paying subscribers: 269

• Net new paying subscribers: 24

• Net new total subscribers: 214

• Additional gross annualized revenue: $1,718

• Average open rate: 48.75%

Full update here:

The upshot (as you’re likely familiar with by now) is that despite the strong trend lines, I need to sell more subscriptions to Fingers to keep this thing going. If you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll purchase one to support this project.

📲 The best Fingers meme ever and/or lately

Don’t miss out, follow Fingers on Instagram today. It’s free, and your feed will thank you. (Not really, that would be weird. But you know what I mean.)