You can't find quality of life in the industry

Gerard Leary currently owns a craft beer concept in Sunnyside, Queens called Sweet Avenue. It's a cool place.

His previous place was cool too, but it was a grind. So when he started looking into opening Sweet Avenue he started asking himself some questions.

• Was there a way he could pair his love of craft beer and the industry with a life actually lived in his home neighborhood?
• Could he open up an awesome bottle shop within walking distance from his home that allowed him to spend more time with his family and his neighbors?
• Could quality of life actually be possible for an NYC bar owner?

Yes, yes, and yes. Check out the interview to hear more from Gerard:

Why worry about menu design?

Easy. A well-designed menu can:

• Make your customers want to spend time with your menu.
• Help customers figure out what to order more easily.
• This puts customers at ease: coming back to the menu to order another drink isn't a daunting task. It's a pleasant one.

In other words, your menu can increase your sales.

How can I get a well-designed drink menu?

One option is doing it manually. How you'd implement it depends on what works for your budget/team, but it would almost certainly involve finding a graphic designer, finalizing a design, training team members, and updating whenever the selection changes.

For any parents out there, Elizabeth Mitchell has been a fantastic find. My little guy has some big emotions, but Mitchell's simple songs seem to calm him and ground him.

Other children's music also has that effect, but it can get really annoying to my grown up ears. Mitchell's music is different—it sounds like real music that an adult could conceivable choose to listen to. It's in the folk tradition, as proven by her great Lisa Loeb collab cover of Bob Dylan's New Morning.

If you have any other recommendations along these lines please let me know!

• Hops for climate change. The BBC profiled scientists working on hop varieties that can more easily withstand climate change.
• Bud Light slump solidified. According to Bloomberg big grocery chains are dropping Bud Light's shelf space by 15% in favor or other brands. It's amazing how long an idiotic protest by Kid Rock can stick around and turn into real world results.
• "Neighborhood restaurant" used as marketing ploy. The Guardian ran an interesting op-ed about how many new restaurants are using the term "neighborhood restaurant" to describe themselves, when they're really far from it.
• Hurricane Ian recovery in Fort Myers Beach. For a feel good end to the newsletter, check out these before and after shots of bars and restaurants that were annihilated by Hurricane Ian a year and a half ago. Many are back from basically nothing and are once again packed every evening for sunset.