10/7/10

Beeradvocate.com Rating- A-

Southern Tier Pumking Ale- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 22 oz. bomber into Pub Glass- 9.0% ABV- I have been waiting to try this beer for awhile! From what I have heard this one of the best pumpkin beers around, so here goes. Poured thick with a two finger head, slightly orange foam with nice retention. This beer smells like pumpkin pie crust to me. Its really powerful on the nose. Strong vanilla, graham crackery smell. Nice slightly hazy light orange color. Not as much lacing as I expected. Real nice medium bodied mouth feel with subtle carbonation. I have heard this beer is like drinking "pumpkin pie". I wouldn't go that far. But of the three I have tasted I would say this has the most "pumpkin taste". Though its still not overly pumpkiny, I taste more of the spices associated with pumpkin pie than actual pumpkin and that is probably because it has such a powerful aroma. Definitely nutmeg, cloves and vanilla qualities in this beer. I would probably drink this beer again and would like to try it on draft. I would like a thicker body on this one more closer to a stout and I would think this was real good and actually like drinking pumpkin pie. Additionally I do get bit of the alcohols presence but it kind of works with this beer, a nice warming affect.

On the turntable The Final Cut- Pink Floyd- Recorded in a number of studios in England in the 2nd half of 1982. I am showing my roots with this album. Its fall and one of my oldest friends is getting married tomorrow and its making me feel a bit nostalgic so one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums seemed like a good choice. I am not sure why but when the leaves start to turn and the air gets crisp my friends and I refer to it as "Alice In Chains" weather. Now this is not an AIC record but Pink Floyd in someway are in the same vein as AIC. Fall is my favorite time of year and it is a great time of year to get a little old school with music. This was an album that was listened to by me countless times but I lost track of over the years. About four years ago I finally got it again on vinyl. Pink Floyd was a very important group to me growing up and this album in particular has a warm place in my heart. It may sound cheesy but just by listening to it I am transported to emotions I was having when I was 15 and 16. I have had conversations with some of my friends who are big Floyd fans and we all agree that owning this album is an indicator of whether you like Pink Floyd or love them. Its definitely an under appreciated Floyd album and is rarely mentioned in magazines with the reverence of their other albums. This could just be bias because it has been described as Roger Waters first "solo" album and original keyboardist Richard Wright was fired shortly before they started putting it together. For me this album lyrically is some of Mr. Waters best work even though,again, many consider this album to be cast-off's from The Wall sessions. The album, which is dedicated to Waters father Eric Fletcher Waters who died in World War II, is filled with similar imagery that is found on The Wall (fascism, war, broken families and lovers) and on some songs equals if not betters The Wall Lyrics:

From a The Final Cut:

Through the fish-eyed lens of tear stained eyes
I can barely define the shape of this moment in time
And far from flying high in clear blue skies
I’m sprialling down to the hole in the ground where I hide.
If you negotiate the minefield in the drive
And beat the dogs and cheat the cold electronic eyes
And if you make it past the shotgun in the hall,
Dial the combination, open the priesthole
And if I’m in I’ll tell you what’s behind the wall.
There’s a kid who had a big hallucination
Making love to girls in magazines.
He wonders if you’re sleeping with your new found faith.
Could anybody love him
Or is it just a crazy dream?

From Paranoid Eyes:

You put on our brave face and slip over the road for a jar.
Fixing your grin as you casually lean on the bar,
Laughing too loud at the rest of the world
With the boys in the crowd
You hide, hide, hide,
Behind petrified eyes.

You believed in their stories of fame, fortune and glory.
Now you’re lost in a haze of alcohol soft middle age
The pie in the sky turned out to be miles too high.
And you hide, hide, hide,
Behind brown and mild eyes.
“Oi!”

Its hard for me to look at these songs individually but I wanted to give an example of some of the lyrics. Of course taken out of context these lyrics can be misinterpreted but taken as a whole they reveal a sharp analysis of the effects of war on both the participants and the ones left at home. Unlike today when people are guilty jumping from song to song, like myself sometimes, this was an album that I always listened to this album from back to front. All the songs together were a means to an end and listening to them separately did not and doesn't do justice to it as a whole.