Welcome to The Pellicle Mixtape, a regular feature where I (Pellicle co-founder Jonathan Hamilton) will be asking people from across the food and drink industry to create a playlist set to a theme of their choosing.

The hope is to gain a small insight into that person and their place of work through not only their song choices but also the thought process and level of obsessiveness they put into their mix. I’ll also be asking them what they’ve been enjoying eating and drinking recently, and finding out what else has been exciting them in the world of food and drink.

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Welcome back.

It’s a new year, and whilst things feel fairly similar to how they did when I was writing the introduction for the last mixtape of 2020, I feel hopeful that things are looking up for us in 2021. The days are getting longer—here in the UK at least—and with each passing week taking us closer to Spring, I can almost feel the warm sun on my skin. I’m excited about that feeling, and I’m sure you all are too. But it’s still January for a few more days, and until Spring comes we should take comfort in the familiarity of Winter, a time when we can indulge in the pleasure of hiding under the covers from the cold weather, or if you’re lucky, enjoying a log fire or being able to build a snowman.

It is perhaps fitting then that this month’s mix is something of a continuation in theme from our December mix from Yokefellow Brewery’s Garrett Crowell with more relaxing and ambient sounds to help guide you through the last few weeks of Winter.

This month, in our first Pellicle Mixtape of 2021 we have the wonderful food and drink photographer Cory Smith. You may remember from his piece on Broaden and Build brewery and restaurant (sadly no longer operating) on this very publication back in 2019. Cory had only recently moved from New York to Copenhagen and both Matt and I were aware of Cory’s work with Good Beer Hunting, so when he pitched us some ideas for articles he wanted to write about his new home in Denmark we were more than happy to oblige.

I don’t think we could have asked for a better person to tell the tale than Cory. His love of food and drink was evident from his writing and his photos are still to this day some of the most visually striking on our website.

As these things go, the fortuitous meeting of great minds can often lead to collaboration, and after his piece on Broaden and Build, Cory went on to do more photography and marketing work with the brewpub over the next months. This meant that in August 2019 Cory attended the London Craft Beer Festival with head brewer Tiago Falcone (who I also worked closely with during my time at Beavertown) and chef-owner Matt Orlando.

My memories of that festival all circulate around Broaden and Build: The tap takeover in Dalston, where world-renowned chef Matt-Bloody-Orlando cooked up cheese toasties on the grill at Red Hand; the spent-grain crispbreads that they had at their stall at the festival, which they woke up each morning to make at Lyles in Shoreditch; to chatting chips and dips with Matt at the afterparty. The whole thing was a whirlwind of sensory overload.

Of course, it also meant that I got to meet Cory. One of the greatest things about running a publication is when I finally get to meet the people who have contributed to it in person. Sadly for the last year that hasn’t been able to happen. But, I know that like my meeting with Cory in London, that my path will one day cross with all of these people, and that gives me both hope for the future and great joy. I have a pretty good feeling that all of these future encounters will be as lovely as when I met Cory, with his signature baseball cap. We are all lovers of food and drink, it’s what brought us all together in the first place, and despite the hardships of the past year, it is still the glue that keeps us talking.

Anyway, I’m getting carried away. Enjoy these calming sounds from our friend Cory. Until next time.

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The Pellicle Mixtape Volume 18 — Food and Drink Photographer Cory Smith

I wanted this to be thematic, tapping into what I’ve spent most of my time listening to lately. As a freelancer, I’ve been working from home a lot, though I suspect with everything that’s going on in the world, working from home is not entirely unique. Whether I’m editing photos to deliver to a client, or taking on a writing assignment, I almost always have music on in the background, with “background” being the operative word.

This list compiles a number of ambient tracks, or at least tracks without lyrics, that I’ll ordinarily have on as I toil away in Lightroom. Some of them are beat-oriented, some of them are textural pieces, but they all occupy a space where I can hit play and let the music drift by while I work. To be fair, this isn’t all that I listen to while working.

There are definitely days, particularly when dealing with photo edits when I’ll throw on heavier music. Lately, I’ve been listening to the new Touché Amoré or Origin when I want/need a more aggressive fix. By and large, however, it’s non-lyrical that gets me through those long editing sessions.

There is a bit of variation here, I don’t want it to seem this is all music that sounds like it’s part of a movie soundtrack. Tracks like James Holden’s Blackpool Late Eighties isn’t exactly a relaxing track. It sounds downright dark at times. Four Tet’s My Angel Rocks Back and Forth is probably more on the glitchy side of things, but it’s still one of the most beautiful pieces of music he’s produced.

What have you been drinking recently?

I think at a high level, I’ve been reaching for low ABV beers a lot lately. I’m an avid runner currently chasing a new yearly run total best and that requires consistent running on my part, generally four runs a week, though some weeks it’s only three. That is often at odds with wanting to also enjoy a few beers. Coming from America, “session” beers had a floor of 4%, you never really saw anything lower than that. When I arrived in Denmark, I noticed a wealth of offerings of beers south of that number. Canned Heat from FrauGruber, at 2.9%, is one example. But there are plenty more.

Track’s Sonoma (3.8%) and Cloudwater’s Pale Ale (3.7%) are two other examples I reach for whenever they hit shelves here. As someone who drinks beer for the experience and the flavour, getting drunk is not a goal, is not even on my radar, so having these options has been eye-opening. Sure, many of them don’t quite reach the fullness of flavour of bigger beers, but that’s a trade-off I’m willing to make in service of my running. If I can have a few beers to wind down the day and still get in some solid miles the next morning, that’s the perfect balance for me.

Don’t get me wrong, however—I still love a big stout or DIPA every now and again, I just tend to enjoy those on an evening when there are no plans to put in miles the following day.

Where/What have you been eating recently?

If you follow me on Instagram [you really should—Ed], this answer will come as no surprise. To say that I eat at one of Rosio Sanchez’s establishments often would be an understatement. My wife and I joke that we’re there at least once a week. Only it’s not a joke, it is fact.

There is simply no other place I’ve eaten at more than either Hija de Sanchez or Sanchez Restaurant. And now she has a new location, Sanchez Cantina, so there’s now more temptation. Prior to our move, my wife participated in an artist residency in Oaxaca, Mexico. And prior to that, we took an extended weekend in Mexico City. Further, just a block over from our Brooklyn apartment was a wonderful little restaurant Oaxacan-inspired restaurant called Claro, one of our local favourites. That is to say, we’re huge fans of Mexican cuisine, so having Rosio’s restaurants, with all of the care she and her team put into the food, available to us is huge.

For less formal meals, we love doing takeaway pizza from Corsa. We live on Islands Brygge and decided to give Corsa a try, full-on ready to be disappointed, having just moved from NYC and the wealth of good pizza that city affords. To our great, and fortuitous surprise, the pizza is super solid. That’s not to say it’s a slice shop you’d compare directly to NYC spots. It’s Neapolitan style pizza using fresh sourdough, organic ingredients and baked in a wood-fired oven, of course. It’s just really solid, no-fuss pizza.

I’m a big fan of coffee and will often dip into a café for a small pastry and a cortado if I’m out and about. I usually make it at home in the morning, but if I’m out and about and need a cortado fix, there are loads of great spots around the city. If I’m in Nørrebro, I’ll hit up April Coffee which recently opened. Prolog is my go-to if I find myself in Vesterbro. If I’m in the city centre, Sonny is a great little spot which not only serves La Cabra coffee, but they also have a small, but well-curated list of small bites.

What have you been reading recently?

Sadly I have to admit to my lack of reading—unless you count the daily deluge of bad news in the form of websites I read when I first wake up. Not long ago I started reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s We Are the Weather but never found my way back to finish it (which reminds me, I should).

Generally, when I want to unplug, I head out for a run. This year, more than any prior, and perhaps it’s due to the increased consistency, running has been my refuge when I want to turn off the brain for a bit. Just south of where I live, to the west of the airport, there’s a long, paved path that snakes along the water. I’m pretty methodical and love repetition, so it’s the path I run all the time, making mental note of visual markers along the way, indicators that I see so often.

On one side I have the water, on the other, a large nature preserve and bird sanctuary, making for a picturesque run. As I head out, running south towards what is essentially the end of Copenhagen, it increasingly gets less populated and quieter. There are other cyclists and walkers out there, but sometimes, on the right day, it’s just me and the sound of my feet, which is always a welcome break.