About

Hi - I'm Skylar, a writer, photographer, and obsessive one-bag traveler. My work is primarily supported by kind people like you. If you find it of any value, please join the fray and become a member of The Cellar.

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If you have questions or just want to say hi, email me at skylar@thedailygrog.com - I'll do my best to respond.

Some Details

What I'm drinking: a negroni - but ask me tomorrow.

What I'm cooking: probably shakshuka - I make it better than you, come at me.

What I'm watching: the NBA playoffs

What I'm reading: Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

The Origin Story

My first trip abroad ever came in 2017. I had just finished paying off my student loans and had been waiting for a few years to treat myself. I got a very cheap, $230, round-trip flight to Belgrade, Serbia. I had NO idea what was in Serbia, only vaguely aware of where it was on a map. But it was somewhere foreign, somewhere different. And that's what mattered to me at the time.

That trip changed me. There are so many memories from that trip that I can still, and probably always will, see so vividly in my mind. Perhaps more than any was a small, unsuspecting basement bar tucked away in downtown Belgrade called Rakia Bar. They served, well, rakia - a Serbian/Balkan brandy made from different types of fruit. It was delicious, I had never had anything like it before. The bartender, who was about as curious in my curiosity as I was, explained the different types of fruits and poured a little of each into small glasses for me to try.

From that moment on, something started percolating in the back of my mind.

Then, a few years later, some friends and I took a tour of the Jameson Distillery on a trip to Dublin. Our tour guide told us a story about how back in the day, workers used to get a ration of whiskey after their shift, dubbed “the daily grog.”

That was it - The Daily Grog was born.

Published Work

Projects

In November of 2023, I started The Morning Tipple, a pop-up newsletter that investigated why so many pubs are closing in England. Over the course of two weeks, I went to 32 pubs and interviewed 8 publicans and brewers.

A word on platforms - let me be clear, I HATE just about every form of social media. Seriously. But I do begrudgingly use them on occasion:

Business Stuff

Once upon a time, I built data products for universities to better manage their data and analytics infrastructure on campus. If that's your sort of thing, find me here.

Support

I run and maintain this site and newsletter by myself. As such, my work is primarily supported by kind people like you through memberships to The Cellar. If you find my work worth something of value to you, you can support The Daily Grog by:

Subscribing to the FREE newsletter
Join The Cellar
Buying me a coffee
Simply emailing me, saying hi, and showing your appreciation