11/11/10

beeradvocate.com- B+

Watkins OSB Old Style Bitter- New Beer Distributors, Chrystie Street New York, NY-16.9 oz. bottle into Pub Glass- 4.5% ABV- From the U.K. I have always wanted to drink a Bitter style beer, but I have never been to England and going into a bar in NYC and asking for "pint of bitter" would make me look like a jackass. But I found this at downtown shop and thought I would give it a try even though the style is probably best experienced from a cask, in an English pub. Poured light brown with an orange hue, quite cloudy. Nice head which did not retain very long. Little to no lacing. Malty, possibly fruity aroma. Raisins, apples? Minimal carbonation, kind of reminds me of the barley wine i had a few months ago. In my opinion this has some wheat beer qualities, it definitely does not taste like a pilsner or a traditional ale but maybe somewhere in between. Definitely bitter in a way I am not used to. I actually like this quite a bit and could see myself putting a few of these away. Would love to try it on draft since this has probably been in the bottle for sometime, but actually still tastes fairly fresh based on my limited experience with the style.

On the turntable is The Crossing- Big Country. Recorded in 1983 presumably in Scotland where the band originates. I bought this 6 or 7 years ago at a record sale in Tribeca put on by an organization who is in the process of developing a collection of every recorded piece of music ever. The groups name escapes me now but on the board sits Lou Reed, Keith Richards, etc. They have a sale just about every December to get rid of whatever they don't need which they receive through donations. Its a pretty good sale for "staple" records but I have never found anything to unique but definitely filled some holes in my own collection. I bought this album as merely a fan of the song "In A Big Country." Often times I will buy a record based on its cover and often times the music is not nearly as good as the cover. In this case the music is far superior to the cover. To my eyes this cover resembles some cheap 12' inch dance single and does not indicate in any way the quality material which is on this album.. I knew nothing of their other material and I was happy to learn that this album is great front to back with no filler that I can hear. I spent the day out at the beach (Veterans Day, I had a holiday) with a few friends and my godson. There is nothing like being at the beach in the fall and as much as i like going to the beach in the summer being at the beach in the fall is something I really enjoy and don't get to do often enough. For some reason it makes me feel very alive. This album is atmospheric and gives one the sense of standing on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Subliminally maybe its the video for In A Big Country that does this. It features sense of the band on 3 wheeler's driving along the Scottish coastline. But I have only the seen the video a handful of times and I don't think its really that. Its the music itself which has a vast sense of space and the chiming guitars. I read the guitar player used various effects and an e-bow to create the chimey, bagpipe style guitar lines which serve these songs quite well. Stuart Adamson also had a wonderful voice, a bit raspy, and projected with great emotion. Its unfortunate that he committed suicide in 2001. Its also unfortunate that among all of the 80's bands that get mentioned these days and their influence on so many new bands that Big Country is hardly ever mentioned. Based on this LP alone they deserve to mentioned with the same reverence as say Echo and the Bunnymen who in alot ways share similar qualities as Big Country.