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.