I'm gonna miss her bloodshot alcoholic eyes...

6/10/10-

Killer Penguin Barley Wine- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 22oz Bomber into Brandy Snifter- My first barley wine! Also my first beer to ever have its cap covered in wax, fancy. Fluffy head, good retention and a fair amount of lacing. Reddish brown color. 10.0 % ABV. Fuity but not overpowering aroma. Definitely smell some raisins in there or something comparable. Never smelt those in a beer before. More carbonation than I expected, I actually expected very little carbonation. The beer felt pretty smooth in my mouth and going down. I kind of taste some alcohol in here. I like this definitely some wine qualities to it though I don't drink much wine, but sitting here I get that bit of heat in my throat I associate with wine. My one complaint would be the "raisin-ish" quality to it, kinda weird but I suppose i'm just not used to it, I wish that taste was a little subtler, but otherwise this is an interesting beer. I will definitely like to check out some more barley wines...
As this beer has warmed, the aroma has become overcome with what is described on beeradvocate.com as...dried fruits...whoah.

Since i'm drinking barley wine I decided to listen to some British music being that I associate barley wine with England. I'm not really pairing beer with music on the blog but in this instance it seemed appropriate. In this case I chose The Kinks- Muswell Hillbillies. I was going to play The Faces, another quintessential English band with a passion for American music. Like many Kinks records there are distinctly British social themes throughout the album but the music definitely has a rootsy American feel. I chose this LP as opposed to The Faces because I haven't had the chance to listen to this album as much as I would like to. This record seems to bridge the 60's Kinks to the 70's Kinks and I have definitely listened more 60's Kinks records than those from later on. This album is very good and actually has some similarities to The Faces style of the time. A British interpretation of American roots music inspired in someway (most likely) by The Band. In addition to the blusey, country vibe of the record there seems to be some vaudevillian and/or musical elements there which can also be found on other Kinks records like The Village Green Preservation Society. Great album cover to, an old English pub with both the young and old mixing it up. Reminds me of one of my favorite bar scenes in a movie from Withnail and I.