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.