Wednesday, July 28, 2010




7/29/10

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA- Whole Foods Houston St., NYC- 12oz glass into Brandy Snifter- 7% ABV= Slightly hazy light orange color. Looks pretty in the glass. Little head and light to medium lacing. There is carbonation there but it is pretty mild. Mouth feel is light bodied beer.Aroma consists of some orange and hops, not super piney like some of the double and imperial IPA's I have tried. I believe this is the second west cost IPA I've tried and I'm digging it. This beer has some nice characteristics to it and is not very bitter. No clingy aftertaste like the Saranac last week. Just a nice refreshing beer, I could definitely drink a few of these. I think I am liking this because it does not seem as "malty" as some of the other beers I have tried lately and has more of a balance going on. Like I have said before I am new to this whole "tasting" thing. This beer received an A- review overall on beeradvocate.com and I would say it deserves it.

On the turntable is Tres Hombres- ZZ Top- recorded in 1973 and this LP has a London Records label. Suprisingly for after referring to Wikipedia I learned this record was recorded in Ardent Studios in Memphis which I mentioned in my last post! I had no idea until today, so that is kind of cool. ZZ Top, one of America's premier power trio's, and the second power trio on my blog to boot. Having come of age in the 1980's and 1990's I was more or less a product of MTV, even though we didn't have it at home until my senior year of high school. Subsequently I was always under the impression that ZZ Top was a product of that time to, obviously I was very wrong! It wasn't until after college that my friend told me ZZ Top knew Hendrix and my friends dad had been a big fan of them since the 1970's. Then through reviews in Guitar World I became exposed to their older albums and started seeking them out. Tres Hombres was their third LP but it was there first million selling record propelled by the success of the single La Grange. This is just a great record front to back and is a great beer drinking, barroom record! The gatefold LP, as you can, see is a photograph of a giant Mexican feast with a large frosty brew and the bottle of beer from which it was poured appears to be Southern Select, which is probably long gone from the beer shelves. I would love to taste it, much like I would like to taste the original recipe for Schlitz Beer. It reminds me of my one trip to Austin, Texas with my wife when we drank alot of Lone Star Beer longneck's. That all said, I could listen to Jesus Just Left Chicago on repeat all night and be pretty content with life.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010




7/26/10

Sugar Hill Golden Ale- Whole Foods Houston St., NYC- 12oz glass into Brandy Snifter- ABV?- Dark orange bordering on amber in color, which is curious since this beer is described as a golden ale. Little to no head with no retention or lacing. All I can smell in this beer is malt. No real hop or fruit presence in the aroma that I can detect. Minimal carbonation and a medium to light body mouthfeel. Taste is actually a little unpleasant, I almost taste a sourness. I'm not sure if I got a bad bottle but I would take an ice cold Budweiser or Miller over this beer any day. The label on this bottle is kinda cheesy, as you can see, and I assume was stewed up to evoke the Harlem jazz age. Unfortunately its a poor design and looks like it was produced with a cheap clip art computer program. If I saw this somewhere on tap I would try it again just to see if this bottles freshness may have had any affect on my experience with this beer.

On the turntable is The Box Tops- Best of, issued on Bell Records. The Box Tops were a pop/rock, some describe them as "blue eyed soul", combo out of Memphis, Tennessee lead by a teenage Alex Chilton. Mr. Chilton recently passed away and was also known for his influential early 1970's group Big Star. The Box Tops recorded in and around Memphis at American and Ardent Studios under the sometime tutelage of Dan Penn (writer of Dark End of The Street) and later Chips Moman (Stax and American Records producer). Mr. Penn wrote there first and probably most recognizable hit The Letter. I recently picked up this record and I'm glad I did. I have never owned any of there records before and have been curious about them for awhile. This record contains some really cool songs like the aforementioned The Letter, Soul Deep and nice version's of Break My Mind and I Shall Be Released. The real gem on this record for me is the last song on side two called I Met Her In Church. This song is a great example of what these southern artists of the time did so well: a fusion of gospel, country and soul music. Bold gospel chord changes, mighty background singers and a few measures of nice, swirling pedal steel guitar which really lends itself to the mix. There is something about the mix of an organ and a pedal steel guitar that just really does it for me. My only regret is that this song does not last any longer and that this record only has ten songs!



7/24/10

Saranac Imperial IPA- Whole Foods Houston St., NYC- 12oz glass into Brandy Snifter-8.5% ABV- Reddish amber color. About a finger and a half of creamy head. Pretty strong retention with a moderate amount of lacing. Hoppy, piney aroma. Creamy mouthfeel with lots of little bubbles. I sense I am tasting some alcohol in this beer. Also bitterness which doesn't seem complimented by anything, just kind of bitter. There is a clingy, stickiness in the aftertaste which is kind of unpleasant. Not really digging this beer and I certainly wouldn't want to drink more than one of these today. I chose this beer because I don't normally see Saranc beers around to often. Saranac Pale Ale, to the best of my knowledge, was the first microwbrew I ever had back in college around 1994. Saranac was the micorbrew of choice if we drank one. It was pretty rare. We mostly drank 12 oz. bottles Milwaukee's Best which we bought by the case for about 6 or seven dollars. The bottles came in a rugged cardboard box which if returned with the bottles we could get about half the cost back of the case and in turn put it towards the cost of a new case of beer. We were also fond of Busch Beer kegs and Olde English 40's. I am sure alot of people would like this Imperial IPA and although it has nice qualities, its not exactly the beer for me.

On the turntable is Lightnin' Hopkins- Gotta Move Your Baby- Recorded with Sonny Terry on Harp, Leonard Gaskin on Bass and Belton Evans on Drums. After drinking a few beers last night and talking about Charlie Patton with my cousin I decide to throw on some blues today. My friend generously gave me this record back around the time when Martin Scorsese's Blues Series was playing on PBS. I had started getting into the blues in the late 1990's with John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Leadbelly but there were a lot of guys I was unfamiliar with. One of those guys was Lightnin' Hopkins and he has become one of my favorites for acoustic blues. I don't have a whole lot of first pressing blues records, due to their general high price and the fact that I can find most good collections way cheaper on CD. Though listening to blues music on vinyl is nice. This record does look like a first pressing for Prestige Records but I think it is a reissue because the record label says 1972. The recording I am guessing is from the early 60's when Prestige Records had a subsidiary label Bluesville Records. Developed I have read primarily to record older blues musicians who regained popularity in the early 1960's during the folk boom. This recording was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, the legendary Jazz producer and engineer for hundreds of classic jazz recordings from the 1960's through 1970's. Another really nice cover on this one, the picture of Lightnin' looks like the prototypical old time bluesman!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010




7/7/10


Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted IPA- Brouweij Lane- Greenpoint, Brooklyn- 32 oz- Poured into a Pub Glass- 4.2% ABV- Golden, pilsener color. About a half a finger of head dissipating quickly. Medium amount of lacing. Subtle fruit and hops to the aroma. This is a nice blend, not overpowering but it lets you know there is something going on in this beer. Medium bodied mouth feel with a bit of creaminess and nice carbonation. Compared to last week’s beer this is more to my liking. Goes down smooth. I almost bought a Smuttynose Double IPA but after I tasted it I realized it was a little too much for today. It has been a brutally hot week in NYC and this really is a pretty refreshing beer. It is low on the ABV but has some complexity to it which is nice. I would definitely buy this on tap in a bar. This actually is the second Scottish beer I have had this week. My wife and I had a Twisted Thistle IPA at Shoolbred’s in the East Village on Saturday night which was very good yet different in character than this. At least in presentation that beer appeared more like a traditional IPA. This IPA I am drinking now looks more like a pilsner to my eyes. I don't think I've had too many Scottish beers in my day but I would like to try some others.



On the turntable is Area Code 615- Area Code 615- This was a record which had been on my radar but I had no real hope of finding it in a local record store. Then I found it, in a local store, sitting in the front of a record bin when I was looking for something else. This is an instrumental record recorded by the cream of the 1960's Nashville session musicians. The 615 refers to the area code in Nashville and its surrounding areas (I am not sure if it is the same now). The album was recorded in 1969 in a place called Cinderella Sound Studios, which from the photograph on the back cover appears to be a small house in Madison, Tennessee. Weldon Myrick- pedal steel guitar, David Briggs- keyboards and Wayne Moss- guitar are some of the names I am familiar with from the group and have seen noted on many country and pop records from that era. Wikipedia stated these musicians helped Bob Dylan record parts of Blonde On Blonde and Nashville Skyline. David Briggs went on to play keyboards with Elvis Presley’s TCB (Taking Care of Business) Band during parts of the sixties and seventies. Members of Area Code 615 went on to play in Barefoot Jerry a group who appeared, albeit briefly, in the film, Heartworn Highways about Texas based songwriters in the 1970's including Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. Barefoot Jerry was featured playing a fierce instrumental in the film. The Area Code 615 album has a Soul/ Country vibe with surprisingly thick, Fender Bass and some drumming which wouldn't sound out of place on a break beats compilation. There were a few originals and some nice cover versions of Otis Redding's I've Been Loving You To Long, Bob Dylan's Just Like A Woman and The Beatles Lady Madonna and Hey Jude. Nice record.

Saturday, July 3, 2010




7/1/10

Boulder Beer Hazed and Infused Pale Ale- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 22oz Bomber into tall Pilsner glass- 4.8% ABV.Definitely hazy, orange amber color. About a half a finger worth of head and little to no lacing on the glass. There is a distinctly fruity aroma to this beer. I just can't place it. Apple? Some type of citrus? I'm not sure, my palette is still pretty amateurish. Definitely some maltiness there too. Light bodied mouth feel with highly concentrated carbonation. This beer is, I hate to say, is a bit of a disappointment for me. Cool label, check. Cool name, check. Taste though is really kind of bland and dry. Now that the beer has warmed a bit I am getting less of a fruit aroma and more of a malted, caramel smell. The beer actually tastes a bit sour to me which I don't really care for. After I reached the bottom of the glass I did see a fair of sediment at the bottom which I have yet to see in any of the other beers I have tried.

On the turntable is Art Garfunkel- Watermark- I found this LP when I was actually looking for Simon and Garfunkel's In Central Park Lp. I found that LP, with its original booklet. The Watermark LP I had never heard of and just happened to look at it when I found the other LP. Looking on the back of the LP I found a whole bunch of things that peaked my interest. First off it was recorded with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Then I noticed a lot of cool session musicians and guests who are notable. David Crosby, James Taylor and Paul Simon provide backup vocals. Paul Desmond on Alto Saxophone, the "cool jazz" musician, who played with Dave Brubeck and wrote the cracklin' "Take Five". Richard Tee on the electric piano, who played with a who's who of the 60's and 70's soul jazz scene. Billy Payne of Little Feat played keyboards and the traditional Irish group The Chieftains added their instrumental backing to a number of tracks. To top it all off 10 of the 12 tracks were written by none other than Jimmy Webb. Jimmy Webb wrote some of my favorite pop songs from the 60's, largely popularized by Glenn Campbell, including By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman and Galveston along with dozens of other songs. All in all this is a really good album if you can find it. I don't know if it has ever been reissued on CD but you should pick it up if you find it. A pretty mellow album on the whole with polished mid seventies arrangements, think Steely Dan-lite, augmented tastefully on a few tracks by The Chieftains. Suprisingly the song Paper Chase on Side Two reminds me of Billy Bragg a bit.

Thursday, July 1, 2010




6/30/10

River Horse Hop Hazard Pale Ale- Brouweij Lane- Greenpoint, Brklyn- 12 oz. bottle into a Brandy Snifter- 6.5 % ABV. Described as a unfiltered pale ale. This this seems pretty dark for a pale ale. Dark amber in color. About a half finger head, with nice retention and lacing. Aroma? This I think has the "piney" qualities I see described on beeradvocate.com. Small, crisp carbonation. A smooth, medium bodied mouthfeel. I also read that some people detected some sediment in this beer but I actually can't see much. That may be the result of the beer being as dark as it is. Hoppy yes, but not overpowering. A nice ale, but again probably I wouldn't order it if I saw it on tap somewhere.

On the turntable is Rush- All The World Is A Stage. Recorded in Massey Hall- Toronto, Canada June 1976 and covers material from their first 4 records. Massey Hall was also the venue for a recently released Neil Young album from 1971 and the classic album Jazz at Massey Hall recorded by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach in 1953. Both of these albums I recommend especially Jazz At Massey Hall which is a quintessential live jazz album by the masters of the be-bop genre. I pulled this LP out because I recently watched the new Rush documentary Beyond The Lighted Stage and felt like listening to some Rush. This and the Moving Pictures LP are all I have as far as Rush vinyl goes but I may actually try to find some more when I go record hunting again (particularly Hemispheres and 2112) It was a quality documentary and should play again on VH1 Classics soon since it seems they play the same movies in rotation for a few months. For example I must have seen the recent Iron Maiden tour film 3 or 4 times in addition to multiple viewings of the films Woodstock, Spinal Tap and A Headbangers Journey. Rush has aged well and has garnered more respect and appreciation outside of its hardcore fanbase in recent years. I was never a huge Rush fan and I didn't grow up during their heyday. But they were around when I was growing up and I knew some rabid second generation Rush fans in high school in the early 90's. I was exposed to them on the radio where a classic rock staple and I appreciated them from afar because I knew they were good musicians and some of my favorite bands from back then were fans i.e. Primus. Primus quotes the Rush song YYZ to great affect on their live album Suck On This which was a favorite of mine back in college. It really was a great documentary and the old footage they included was fantastic and it was pretty much all new to me since i've never really seen any Rush footage before. A friend gave me Drummer Neal Peart's Ghostrider book, its packed away at the moment and I still need to read it. The book has come highly recommended by a few people and is based on Peart's experience after the death of his wife and daughter in separate tragedies in the same year and his healing process precipitated by an extensive motorcycle trip through the USA and Central America. This is a fun album to listen to but probably not the best live Rush record out there. I would recommend it for a good, power trio hard rock fix if your looking for one.