Pourmeanother's Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting Room
 

I have amateur music knowledge, but a professional degree in alcohol. Come here to hear my musings on both.

Random check of 5 songs currently heavy in my rotation:

1. Heartless Bastards - "The Mountain"
Erika Wennerstrom's voice grabs you and holds on throughout this track (and the album for that matter). The track has a monotonous tone and cadence until 2:55 in, when Erika belts it out before transitioning into a minute-and-a-half solo to finish it off. Song of the year potential IMO.

2. P.O.S. - "Purexed"
Beat seems minimalist as it builds towards the hook, where all hell breaks loose. Bass booms, crashing percussion, no even flow. Punk-hop?

3. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - "Get Yo Sh!t"
Spoken word until the soulful hook. Pure entertainment as well. I will let the lyrics explain why this song is ****ing hilarious...
"'Come on baby let me back in the house, you know I love you'
She said 'You don't even buy me presents'
'Yeah I did. I bought you a box of chicken, but I ate it on the way home'
She said 'You don't even know my name'
I said 'Yeah, it's Melissa'
She said 'Nah dumbass, it's Roxanne'"

4. Grizzly Bear - "About Face"
This track was overall ignored in my early listens of the album, because by the time I hit "Dory" (which makes me want to punch a wall) I typically go on a skipping spree. This song is picking up steam with me, though.

5. E-40 - "White Gurl"
White people dance to this because they are stoked to have a Black person rapping about them. Unfortunately, they don't listen too closely to the lyrics outside of the hook (White girl x infinity). This song is about cookin' up and doing Coke. What most people who casually listen to it hear: "White gurl, white gurl, white gurl..... ice cream, candy..... shines like a pearl.... Lindsay Lohan.... sun tan..... Sir Mix-A-Lot.... snow bunny?.... bust nuts in your curls white gurl". One of the most quotable lines in bay area rap: "AK'll light up your chest like E.T."

An ode to...

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.

Sierra Nevada - located a few miles away from me in Chico, CA - is the gold standard for craft brew in the US.

Great ****ing beer, while nearing 100% sustainability. You read that right... 100% sustainability... they have taken recycle, reuse, reduce to a whole 'nother level. Leftover food scraps that most restaurants chuck are even put to good use by Sierra Nevada.

A tight thing, in my opinion, is that they don't flaunt their practices- even in a market where being "green" (in any way, shape, or form) is "cool". They go out and do their thing, and don't do it for praise or to boost sales.

Alright, enough talking about NOT beer, on to talking about beer...

The one you've seen
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...m-plbeerb2.jpg
The green label (Pale Ale) is complex and flavorful. Perfect. There are more hops in this than there are naked pictures of Vanessa Hudgens on the net- a lot.

The one you haven't seen
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...bot-bottom.jpg
This beer is a replacement of the old red label (Wheat). Yellow label (Kellerweis) is a hef that is very refreshing on a hot day. It's got a banana undertone, worth trying...

The one you should probably avoid
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...oot_bottom.jpg
To be fair, Barleywine beer is an acquired taste. With that said, Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Ale is the only beverage they produce that could make me vomit in small quantity. It checks in near 10% alcohol content, and has so many intense flavors... Ugh. This is an award winner, though, so if you're into that kind of thing- then who am I to judge?

...(to be continued)....

...(continued from above)...

Everything else
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../stout-bot.jpghttp://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...m-pobeerb2.jpghttp://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...orpedo-bot.jpg
The now red label (Stout) is a quality dark beer with heavy malts. I've toured the place and tasted the fresh dark barley that goes into this- good then, and good after brewing. Brown label (Porter) is worth trying. The Torpedo IPA is a newer release- I actually know the chemist who helped craft this beer- and I would say it ranks high in terms of India Pale's (not quite the Lagunitas variety, but not bad either). Every seasonal is worth tasting- I like them all, but some consider them hit or miss- I would recommend any of 'em as a last drink to a dying man and not think twice.

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Bottom line, there's something to be said about a company who goes out to protect the environment without expecting people to bow down and give them a blowie for doing so. They don't sacrifice ANYTHING in their beer to make this happen, nor does their beer cost twice as much as a result.

Buy some cases and enjoy some of the best beer America has to offer, while supporting a truly amazing ****ing company.

I am a fan Of both Music and Alcohol

:rofl: Excellent analogy there. Looks very tasty, I wish I was 21 so I could actually by my own alcohol, but I'll attempt to find that anyway and try it soon. As for the bands, Heartless Bastards and Grizzly Bear tracks are good, I haven't listened to any Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears but apparently they are amazing songwriters :p Looks good keep up the journal!

You for got about their amazing harvest ale, dry-hopped and brewed just once a year in the fall. Their celebration ale, which is their christmas release, is pretty outstanding too.

Haha, I like this thread. I found your music reviews and beer reviews very entertaining.
I was just wondering, since you seem like an expert beer connoisseur, if you have ever made your own brew? I don't know if this will interest you or not, but my grandpa and I make homeade wine and beer every year. Last year we made a Canadian Blonde (much like Coors Light) and the majority of people like it the best. Then we made a couple heavier lagers. John Bull, and Bavarian Bock and we also added hops to them. Not many people were too keen on these, as they were very high in alcohol content and very strong on the hops taste. Its also not something that they were used to tasting. Next time I think that we will leave the hops out and try their actual flavor first and then decide if we need to add anything. Have you tried any of these?

Appreciate the responses ladies and gents...

Always great to meet a fellow Malcoholic. Alc-sician?

Thanks phantom! Although I don't publicly condone underage drinking, I will say this privately... go drink some beer! If you haven't had much beer in your time, the Pale Ale might be a rough place to start (fyi).

I did mention that all of the seasonals are excellent, although you're definitely right in that I didn't do them proper justice by lumping them into one sentence. I was just getting a little long-winded... BUT, the Harvest is quite good, and the Celebration is a perfect winter beverage- great hoppiness, good color- a solid way to bring in the holidays.

Thank you Flower Child! I'm actually just getting started in the world of home-brewing. I have all of the supplies except for a 5-gal secondary fermentor, which I haven't ponied up the cash for yet. I have the ingredients to start on a Honey Wheat, which were put together by a local home-brew shop. Sounds awesome! Seems like a cool way to spend time with the g-pa... Even though the results are sometimes mixed, I imagine it's a fun experience to sit around sipping on some beer that you made! I would love to hear any advice or tips you might have to offer, because it sounds like you are a seasoned brewer at this point! :beer:


COMING SOON: The Black Keys' discography dissected.

The Big Come Up (2002)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ig_Come_Up.jpg

1. Busted
2. Do The Rump
3. I’ll Be Your Man
4. Countdown
5. Breaks
6. Run Me Down
7. Leavin’ Trunk
8. Heavy Soul
9. She Said, She Said
10. Them Eyes
11. Yearnin’
12. Brooklyn Bound
13. 240 Years Before Your Time

The Big Come Up is the debut album for the duo known as The Black Keys, featuring Patrick Carney on drums, and Dan Auerbach on guitar and vocals. One-third of the album is comprised of covers—RL Burnside’s “Busted”, Junior Kimbrough’s “Do The Rump”, Muddy Waters’ “Run Me Down”, and The Beatles’ “She Said, She Said”. That does not take away from the talent and creativity of these two, mostly that of Dan Auerbach.

As with other artists in the genre, the album appear to be rather minimalist. It’s minimalist enough for people to notice, but not so much so as to turn them off from it like other duos and trios. Listening to each track is becomes apparent that this album is heavily guitar driven. At times you forget this is a duo, as opposed to a single man with an electric guitar and a fuzzy amp.

“Busted” is a heavy start to the album; it really wakes you up in the last minute, and kicks things off with a bang. Right around “Countdown”, Dan Auerbach’s creativity on guitar starts to show, and doesn’t let up. “She Said, She Said” seems out of place, and the album takes an interesting turn at that point, with potential to derail—only to get back on track, if you will, with a catchy riff and soulful vocals in “Brooklyn Bound”. The track starts off ominous and slow, only to build speed… Till Auerbach proclaims ‘Oh, I’m going East darlin’/Hope you burn in hell’, which is followed by a one minute eargasm. Woah!

A lot of people’s first taste of TBKs (although, probably not most on MB) was the 2008 album Attack & Release, which is unfortunate, ‘cause this album is a polar opposite—and many may find it harder to get into as a result. This garage/blues/rock release is worth listening to, and certainly is not money (or time, if downloading) wasted.

Rating: 4/5
(1-sh!t/good frisbee…..2-subpar/gathering dust…..3-decent/listenable…..4-good/repeat value…..5-excellent/”desert island” top __ quality)

Marquee Tracks (In order of appearance on album): “Busted”, “Countdown”, “Breaks”, “Leavin’ Trunk”, “Heavy Soul”, “Brooklyn Bound”

You may have heard...: "I'll Be Your Man" is the theme song for the HBO series Hung. The more you know...

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...7/IMG_2062.jpg
Dan Auerbach--The Black Keys at The Fox Theater in Oakland, CA