Mike’s LP #6—CANDY APPLE GREY (Husker Du)

“Worrying is like paying on a debt that may never come due.”
--Will Rogers

I’ve got a few albums from the 80s on my list, and I’m guessing that quite a few will fall into the “had to be there” category. CANDY APPLE GREY is just not one of them. The album has caused me untold anxiety over the course of my life, and if nothing else, I’m glad that I can put this chapter to rest.

I really wanted to like it. The title and the cover art were both pretty cool. And the band name had not one, but two umlauts. There would have been an excellent story arc here if I ended up enjoying it.. After all, the tape sat in a drawer in my bedroom for years, lend by that weird Southern dude who moved to Long Island during my junior year. I felt bad every time I opened the drawer. I felt guilt over keeping the tape for so long. I also felt the loss of opportunity, the shame over neglecting this tape when, let’s face it, all I had to do was pop it into the stereo. I had no idea what it was going to sound like. For all I know, it could have evoked an awesomeness that could have rivaled the Replacements. And yet I passed it over each and ever time I opened that one drawer, as if I were the Angel of Death, and that drawer were smeared with lamb’s blood.

The album caused me stress once again this past week, as I could not bring myself to listen to it the six times that I’ve committed to previewing each album I review. I made it through twice, but then that was all I could do. Meanwhile, I put off writing the column, and the album once again became a source of anguish for me.

In the end, all of the stress that the album caused me was for naught. It was never going to be something that would touch me, make my life better in any way. I’ve learned a valuable lesson, though—one that Will Rogers knew long before I was born.

Mike’s Beer #5—Widmer Brothers Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock

I was a little worried when I popped the top on this one. I was going for my third bock in a row. What if it turned out to be just like the others? What if I was stuck in an unrelenting loop of similarly tasting bock beers? Silly me.

Silly because I didn’t consider my source (the bottle was a gift from Adam). Silly because I didn’t trust the brand (which I loved when I lived in Seattle back in ’93). Silly because it came in a cardboard box. And if that’s not a sign of elegance, I don’t know what is.

I’d put this up there with some of the great Ithaca Excelsior! brews: big, complex and tasty, a beer worthy of discussion. It smells like a bock, with a deep, roasted, slightly sour aroma. It tastes like a bock way back in the tongue, but it also has an added bitterness from the oak and cherries. Worthy of its packaging, this brew kept changing from moment to moment, each swallow taking on a handful of different twists and turns.

In the end, I think they overdid it just a touch with the oak. Deep into the swallow, I would be reminded of Ithaca’s experiment with an oaked nut brown. Two beers, two styles, yet with very similar finishes. Yep—got to be the oak. But man—I’d drink this again, for sure.

Adam's Beer #7 - Ipswich Dark Ale

There are so many different categories of beer it can drive you crazy. From Barley Wine to Weizenbier who is to know which beer to pair with a menu?

This Valentine’s Day we sharpened our teeth for a carnivorous feast of grilled steak from Whole Foods, caramelized onions, sautéed green beans and homemade Yukon Gold fries…without a doubt I knew I wanted a brew with a nice earthy tone that would pay tribute to the sweet marinade.

It just so happens that friends of mine surprised me with a growler of Ipswich Dark Ale from Mercury Brewing Company…everyone should be so lucky to have friends like these. Last year Ipswich Dark took 6th place in the American Brown Ale category at the US Open Beer Championship.

As I emptied the growler into my English pint glass the rich, brown beer was eaten up by a huge, tan head that did not want to disappear until I sipped it off the rim. Even then the lacing was left around the glass as if I were drinking a glutinous, root beer float.

The malted, molasses sweetness of the beer brings out the very best of any BBQ, while the dynamic, bitter hop finish was a welcomed revelation. I laugh at a lot of reviews when I read that someone tasted weird items such as dried soil or a rare fruit only found on the shores of the Amazon….but for the first time I found myself craving some butter as the suggestion of burnt toast rolled over my tongue that had my mouth begging for another sip.

Overall I gave Ipswich Dark Ale 8 out of 10. It is not the supreme brown ale, but it is undeniably one I would hunt out again.

Beth's Photo Shoot #5

Adam's Beer #6 - Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

In a post a couple of weeks ago I listed a few personal regulations when it comes to drinking beer, but I also have a few rules that I never break:

1) Try any beer once, even if it was made with Blueberries. That does not mean I will buy it, but if given the opportunity to sample who can say no?
2) If going to a new city I will try to find the local brewery to fill a growler. The most recent was Middle Ages Brewing in Syracuse – Yum!
3) If a beer is on the Beer Advocate Top Beers on Planet Earth or Rate Beer’s Best Beers in the World lists, and locally available, I must purchase it.

While touring Valley Discount Liquor in Ansonia, CT (yes, I said Ansonia) I came across the Limited Edition Ballast Point Brewing Sculpin India Pale Ale. Currently ranked #40 on RateBeer.com and #14 on BeerAdvocate.com (recently pushed from the #13 spot by Cantillon Blåbær Lambik) it fit into my rule book flawlessly.

Jim and I parked ourselves at his dining room table and opened the bottle over a conversation of our usual beer nonsense. Once poured the talking turned to sniffing, it was hard to make out what was going on in our noses. The fruits were so distinct that you seem to be able to pinpoint them all on their own. Grapefruit, apricot and other citrus aromas were tuning their instruments waiting to be discovered by our pallets.

I have to come clean that at first sample I did not really get the hubbub, but fast-forward a couple of days later to bomber #2 and I realize what we had was something very extraordinary. When you knock back a beer with a high I.B.U. (International Bittering Unit) you expect to be all pucker with no flavor (see Moylan’s Hopsickle Imperial,) but not the case here. The fruit and hops work so well together I would say that they are the Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of beer. I have read often of drinkers tasting a pine taste, but I think the hops and citrus are too dominate for other flavors to materialize.

Overall I give the Sculpin a 9/10 – it is right up there with Pliny the Elder as one of the best IPAs I have had the pleasure of drinking. Not a beer I could drink everyday, but it makes for one hell of a night.

Mike’s Album #5—SOMETHING ELSE (The Kinks)

We can’t listen to every record out there. Can we? I consider myself a pretty serious aficionado, but still, I’ve got to draw the line somewhere. That’s the lesson I learned as I collected every single Yes album back in the 80s. The progression went like *this:

1) I hit the major albums and enjoyed them immensely
2) I found the hidden gems and deepened my appreciation for the band
3) I suffered through a handful of lesser albums as I forced my way through their catalogue.

I think I may have “overlearned” the lesson, though. Overlearned. That’s an expression I learned recently as a radio commentator discussed Congress’ failure to pass a health care bill. It was said that Obama overlearned Bill and Hilary Clinton’s lesson in 1993, when they pushed hard for health care reform and were seen as responsible for the debacle that ensued. And so Obama stepped back and allowed Congress to take the initiative (and watched the whole thing unravel).
Thankfully, my mistake hasn’t had such an adverse affect on the average American. I overlearned the lesson that eventually the quality of music from a band will wane. And there’s no better example than the near total lack of full-length Kinks albums in my collection.

I’ve been a Kinks fan since the mid 90s, and though I’ve collected a ton of their songs, the only proper album I own is THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY. What’s crazy is that I’m absolutely bonkers about that album, and yet I never dug any further. But how could I overlook the rest of their catalog when they’ve got at least a double album worth of ‘hits?’ I think it simply was a fear of tarnishing my feelings for the band. Let’s face it—anyone who went out and watched the Jerky Boys movie pretty much stopped listening to their tapes from that point on. I did NOT want that to happen with my favorite bands. It turns out that I was being pretty silly.

I decided to go back and check out SOMETHING ELSE this week—clearly an excellent choice. Just like LONDON CALLING, this one started and ended with songs that I knew but was otherwise filled entirely with newcomers to my consciousness. Just like VILLAGE GREEN, this one is filled with fun and sometimes quirky tunes about life and people in suburban England. The pinnacle is “Afternoon Tea,” a sweet love song that’s nearly as happy as “Sunny Afternoon.” But the one song that’s been grabbing me by the collar all week has been “Tin Soldier Man,” a strange tune (see/hear below) like no other by the Kinks, complete with baritone sax and goofy-as-anything lyrics:

...winky wack wacky goo/
and he’s got a little tin lady too/
just to put a little shine on his shoes/
and keep his uniform tidy...

Overall there was only one song that I’d consider tossing off the iTunes list, while I put most of the rest of them into heavy rotation. And as I discovered with Bowie’s STATION TO STATION last month, hearing a song like “Waterloo Sunset” in its proper context gave me a great appreciation for a tune I’d otherwise discounted.
No doubt, I’m going to be checking out a few more of their albums, most likely Arthur, Muswell Hillbillies and Face to Face. It turns out that the Kinks aren’t done stunning me.

* By the way—the Yes albums, by category, were 1) Fragile, 90125, The Yes Album, Close to the Edge 2) Relayer, Time and a Word, Yes, Tales from the Topographic Oceans and 3) Tormato, Drama, Big Generator, Union.

T's Meal #5: Wilted Spinach Salad

I'm down another five pounds! Whoo hoo!
I made a nice Wilted Spinach Salad with Apples and Walnuts last night. I over-salted it due to my inability to halve a recipe. But the ingredients were awesome. I substituted slivered almonds for walnuts due to my family's preference. And I added bacon and sauteed mushrooms.
I can't believe I lost five in a week. I am going to re-check the scale.
xo