Post-election anxiety? Get lost in this awesome Great Western Malting VR video and become one with the barley

I need to buy a VR headset on the CBB credit card, because goddamn it, nothing is going right for me this morning and I should be indulged. I want to watch the virtual reality video above from Great Western Malting properly, which means in another completely immersive dimension.

The kind folks at Great Western Malting dropped us a note about the release of its Virtual Malting Odyssey, a virtual reality (VR) experience that starts in sunny Idaho fields and ends at Great Western Malting’s state-of-the-art malt plant in Pocatello, Idaho. It couldn’t have come at a better time, when a lot of us just want to get away.

In fact, you can find me here. I’m falling asleep in growing green fields of barley, looking up at the sun, my ghostly, freckled carcass somehow already burning from too much gorgeous shine. Even without a headset, this virtual reality experience is still a cool 360-degree YouTube video that can be spun in a zillion directions and watched in 5K resolution (if you have enough Ks).

Here’s how Great Western Malting describes it:

Participants can experience the beginning of barley’s journey to beer in the field with a virtual ride alongside a farmer in his tractor in Pocatello, Idaho. Continue the journey with the harvested barley’s sights and sounds through all the malting stages: steeping, germination and kilning. The tour ends with a visit to Great Western Malting’s quality control laboratory, the last stop before the finished malt is distributed to brewers and distillers. Through this Virtual Malting Odyssey experience, we want to provide brewers, distillers, and consumers a direct connection to the barley’s journey to malt, the backbone of craft beer and craft spirits.

Turn off your TV, block all election-covering news sites and I’ll meet you in Idaho. VR headset recommended, but not required. Headphones highly recommended.