The West Coast is a haven for beer lovers

Last week Kassie and I visited Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and every methy little town in between.  It was the most sprawling vacation we've ever taken together.  The main idea was to see these amazing cities and the beautiful stretches of coast and forest in between, but I had another very important agenda: drinking great local beer.

The West Coast is known for its microbrew production, but I was surprised to find a brewery or brewpub on nearly every corner, even in the small towns that we passed through on Highway 101.

Our journey started in Seattle.  After navigating from the airport and settling into our hotel, we took the ferry to beautiful Bainbridge Island, which is situated just to the northwest of the city.  We stopped into Bainbridge Island Brewing for several beers and a few slices of cheese; it was a great way to kick off the trip.  The courteous staff at Bainbridge immediately made us feel welcome, which was a huge relief to two out-of-place Texans who had been traveling all day.  Not only is the staff nice, but their beer is excellent.  That's what matters, right?

The West Coast is known for producing a big hoppy IPA, so naturally I began with the Eagle Harbor IPA, which surprised me by not being overly hoppy and very well balanced.  Next up was the Bainbridge Pale Ale, which was an ever so slightly scaled back version of their IPA and extremely refreshing.  Both brews paired nicely with our local cheese plate that we enjoyed as we sat outside on the patio.  For my last beer, I tried the 3-T Rye Tripel, which was easily my favorite.  It had faint notes of liquorice on the nose and a strong taste of rye bread.  I'm not sure if that flavor was a West Coast thing, because every rye beer I've had in Texas has more of a whiskey taste (as in rye whiskey).  Whatever the case, I loved it.

I managed to sample Kassie's beer as well.  She tends to enjoy the lighter, more refreshing brews and I tend to go for the bigger, bolder ones.  This means that she rarely wants to taste what I get, but I always get to sample hers.  Her Kommuter Kölsch was sweet and not as dry as a Texas Kölsch.  The Yoda Green Tea was surprisingly great; it had green tea in the nose, taste and appearance.  There were even notes of honey.  Kassie's Sundaze Wheat was a fairly standard wheat beer with faint citrus notes.

On the next day we hopped (get it?) over to the Ballard neighborhood to have a few beers at BalMar, which was a little too "urban lounge" for my taste.  They seemed to have a quality (if limited) selection of beer, but the service and atmosphere left something to be desired.

I started with an Elysian Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale Ale.  I had a blood orange wheat bear earlier this year at the Ginger Man in Dallas and really enjoyed the flavor that it imparted in the beer; it was not so great in a pale ale, however.  The hoppiness of the beer overpowered the subtlety of the sweet blood orange flavor.  I like a lot of Elysian brews, but this one was a disappointment.   Continuing in the trend of drinking hoppy beers in the Pacific Northwest, I decided to go with Hale's APA for my next beer.  It had a creamy head, subtle pine notes imparted by the hops and was overall a very solid APA.

What bugged me was the bartender who corrected me when I ordered the "APA" exactly as it was listed on their menu.  She replied, "We don't have that.  You must mean the pale ale."

Sigh... it's the same thing.

A day later we booked it to Portland with a small detour through the Washington towns of North Bend and Snoqualmie, where parts of Twin Peaks were filmed.  Once in Portland, we met a few friends for dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery.  It's a chain that I had never previously heard of, but it was comparable to BJ's Brewhouse or Gordon Biersch; in short, it wasn't exactly the type of place I was looking for in Portland.  After a few watery IPAs, I was ready to move on.

Our next stop was McMenamins Market Street Pub.  McMenamins is a chain of brewpubs based in Portland, but with locations throughout the Pacific Northwest.  Everything they have on tap is their own creation.  The atmosphere in the Market Street location was a little strange; it reminded me a little of a quirkier Bennigan's, but their beer more than made up for it.  I really enjoyed the Jam Session ISA, which was basically an IPA with an ABV below 5%.  To further fuel my quest for hops, I also tried the Orange Goblin IPA (I hope it's named after the stoner rock band), which was actually the first beer that met my expectations of a West Coast IPA.

Day two in Portland was a little less beer-centric, as I was getting ragged from our tight schedule and the time change.  I did end up having a few beers between our stops at Ground Kontrol and Screen Door; if I recall correctly, another IPA and Kölsch, neither worth remembering.

Once we left Portland, we took a two day road trip along the Oregon and California coasts, as well as through the expansive forests of Redwoods north of San Francisco.  Unfortunately, our time was so limited in San Francisco that I only got to have a few beers, but I did get to check out Toronado.

Toronado was my favorite beer joint of the entire trip.  It's a dive bar in the Haight neighborhood with an impeccable rotating beer selection that focuses on local brews.  I had the pleasure of drinking a Pliny The Elder, a Russian River imperial IPA that has a 100 on RateBeer.  It's difficult to find outside of California and I've always heard about it, and it lived up to its hype.  Beer number two was a great honey saison that I unfortunately cannot remember the brewer of.

My last beer in San Francisco, and the only one that I snapped a picture of, was a Trumer Pils at the airport.  I see it a lot in Austin, but I never knew that Trumer now has a brewery in Berkeley.  Like most pilsners it was crisp, clean and refreshing.  It wasn't exactly a standout, but still a good way to end the trip.

Overall I would say that I successfully sampled only a small portion of what the West Coast has to offer; I can't wait to go back and dig deeper into the selections of each city, specifically Seattle and San Francisco.  I'll always mostly buy local and support Texas brews, but if I ever see any of the great beers I had on my trip at the store or on tap, I'll definitely go for it.

Picture time:

Day one at Bainbridge Island Brewing.  Photo courtesy of Kassie Kitchen.

Eagle Harbor IPA and Kommuter Kolsch at Bainbridge.  Photo courtesy of Kassie Kitchen.

The board at Bainbridge Island Brewing.  Photo courtesy of Kassie Kitchen.

The Oregon coast is like an alien planet.

I'm a Texan and don't know what to do with water that's not brown.

Paul and Babe.  Look at the set on Babe there.

Weren't those houses in Step By Step or something?

A view of San Francisco from Corona Heights.

Getting nerdy at the EMP Museum in Seattle.

Getting nerdier at the log from the Twin Peaks credits in Snoqualmie, WA.

Saturday Shuffle

I apologize for the relative radio silence for the past several days.  I just got back from a trip to the West Coast and I've been enjoying doing absolutely nothing for a few days before I have to go back to work on Sunday.  In the next few days, I'll post a recap of some of the excellent beer I had on my trip as well as some other articles.  Cheers!

Every Saturday I crack open a beer and put my Spotify starred list on shuffle.  I have over 26,000 songs starred, so it can get somewhat interesting.  This is where I drink and write "stream of consciousness" style about what comes up.  Enjoy.

1. Judas Priest - "Heroes End"
Stained Class is my second favorite Judas Priest album behind Painkiller.  I was excited when "Heroes End" came up as the first song in my shuffle.  I've always wanted to own this album on vinyl, but I don't because I pretty much only buy used albums.  Nobody is getting rid of Stained Class, so until someone does, I will have to settle for Spotify.  This is one of Priest's more straight ahead rock songs, not as driving as songs like "Stained Class" or "Exciter."  I just realized that I haven't listened to Stained Class in at least ten years; I plan to rectify that as soon as I'm finished shuffling.

2. Morrissey - "The Youngest Was The Most Loved"
I'm not super familiar with this song.  I was always more into The Smiths than Morrissey's solo work, but this song is pretty good.  All of the Morrissey I've heard isn't too far off from something that The Smiths would do, just much more slick and polished.  As far as I can tell, the lyrics of the song are describing a pampered child who, despite the best efforts of his parents, ended up being an asshole anyways.  Could this song be autobiographical?  Morrissey is known for being a total prick, which could either be a result of being coddled as a child or severe protein deprivation.

3. The Mars Volta - "In Absentia"
I used to love The Mars Volta.  Their first three albums were like nothing mainstream rock radio had ever heard, yet they were still embraced.  This song, from their final album, Noctourniquet, is a purely masturbatory electronic mess that goes nowhere.  Omar Rodriguez Lopez spent a lot more time on his various solo/side projects and the quality of his main gig became diluted.  I regret never seeing The Mars Volta in concert.  I tried to see Omar Rodriguez Lopez at Fun Fun Fun Fest last year and he was a no-show.  Shortly after, The Mars Volta broke up.  Bummer.

4. Graveyard - "The Suits, The Law & The Uniforms"
Holy crap, what an awesome song title.  Graveyard are a Swedish band that is very steeped in the retro rock thing that is very popular right now, and they do it very well.  Their singer has a very Chris Cornell-esque circa Badmotorfinger sound, which is great because I love early Soundgarden.  Graveyard is known for having a very 70's sound, but this song is 100% Seattle.  Maybe I'm thinking that because I'm still buzzing from my trip to Seattle (great city), but surely someone else hears it.  Let me know in the comments if you agree or if you think I'm going crazy.

5. Aesop Rock - "Labor"
Aesop Rock is from New York, but relocated to San Francisco years ago, so I consider him to be a Bay Area artist.  I hoped to run into him while I was in town, but I knew it was unlikely.  Many people consider Labor Days to be his strongest, and I definitely don't disagree.  For some reason I listen to Bazooka Tooth and everything that came after most frequently.  I don't know what it is about those albums that keeps drawing me back.  This track has a very hypnotic backbone that Aesop spits over; it's something you would expect to hear on a skateboarding video from the late 90's.

6. Sieges Even - "Mounting Castles In The Blood Red Sky"
This song is kind of silly.  What would be a great prog metal instrumental is cheapened by Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.  Rather, the speech is cheapened by the prog metal underneath it.  I haven't listened to Sieges Even in years, so I don't remember this track.  I rarely listened to the Paramount album.  I did really enjoy The Art of Navigating By The Stars, however.  Sieges Even are not a widely known band; Alex and Oliver Holzwarth are best recognized for their live performances with another great German band, Blind Guardian.

7. Dinosaur Jr. - "Don't"
Bug is one of Dinosaur Jr.'s finest albums; I think that's something that many people can agree with.  On those first three albums, they had a knack for being both really noisy and really pretty.  This is a balance that they had trouble finding on their later albums, which isn't to say that I don't like those albums.  Like that jerk on Office Space, I celebrate the band's entire catalog.  "Don't" is full on noise with the exception of the fluttery guitar intro.  You can't just write a song like this, it just tends to happen in the studio at the end of a frustrating day of tracking.  It gets pretty scary in the last minute.

8. Busdriver - "Sun Shower"
In the summer of 2008 I was really into Busdriver.  I jammed this album at least once a day during that period, along with Cosmic Cleavage.  Sadly, Busdriver wore off with me by the time that his next album, Jhelli Beam, was released in 2009.  He has a few more albums that have come out since, but I probably won't bother.  He has a lot of great songs, but his vocal delivery can be somewhat grating.  "Sun Shower" is a perfect example.  He's most irritating when he tries to carry a melody but, by failing so horribly, suggests that maybe he's just trying to be ironic.

9. Fucked Up - "Vivian Girls"
Fucked Up are a truly special band.  They take a very immediate punk/hardcore sound and somehow make it artful and intricate.  "Vivian Girls" is over nine minutes of pure attack mode and manages not to be monotonous.  It's named after the work of outsider artist Henry Darger.  There is also a Brooklyn band called Vivian Girls as well as a song by the band Wussy.  Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens and ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead have all paid tribute to Darger as well, so as you can see, he's an outsider who is so in right now!

10. QOTSA - "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret"
I love every Queens of the Stone Age album, especially this one and especially this song.  I have wanted to see them live for years and will finally get the chance in less than a month when they play Austin City Limits Festival in Austin.  Kassie and I will be there front and center for their set, or maybe even side stage since we'll have VIP passes this year (thanks boxed water guy!).  "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" is a song that I'd bet good money on them playing but so much of the rest of their set could be a total toss up with the amount of quality material they've released over the years.

Listen to these songs in sequence on Spotify

Drink pairing for this post: Hops and Grain Zoe Pale Lager

Album review: Gorguts - Colored Sands (2013)

It's hard to believe that in 2013, Gorguts would be releasing what is likely the greatest album of their career.  Until now, Obscura was my favorite Gorguts album.  Colored Sands doesn't trump Obscura, but it comes really close, possibly matching its quality.

The Québécois death metal band formed in 1989.  They released four albums in a ten year span before going into hiatus in 2005.  In 2008, the band returned with a new lineup (two of Gorguts' members from previous incarnations are now deceased) and began work on an album that would, by the time it would finally be released, be Gorguts' first in 12 years.

Gorguts' last album before hiatus, 2001's From Wisdom to Hate showed a balance between the avant-garde style of Obscura and the more straight forward song structures of their earlier albums.  Colored Sands is a calculated, yet minor, step back toward Obscura territory.  Unlike that album, which took some patience to appreciate, Colored Sands allows for a more immediate understanding and enjoyment.  This could be because of the already established expectation of what a Gorguts album should sound like, or it could be that Gorguts may never dream up anything as beautifully dissonant as Obscura again; it was pure lightning in a bottle.

In Gorguts' long absence, there have been several bands heavily influenced by their sound who have risen to prominence (Deathspell Omega, Augury, The Faceless, etc.)  Colored Sands plays both as an acknowledgement of those bands and a response, as if to say "That's all very nice, but it's actually supposed to be done like this."

Colored Sands is an album that begs to be listened to on a good pair of headphones.  This differentiates Gorguts from their peers, who make music to be blasted on powerful car stereos and club P.A. systems.

"Le Toit Du Monde," not to be confused with a similarly titled Megadeth song, immediately sets the expectation for the rest of the album.  It's at once discordant, brutal and nuanced as its unexpected time changes might make you hit the rewind button a few times before you grasp what just happened.

"An Ocean of Wisdom" and "Forgotten Arrows" are perhaps most reminiscent of Obscura.  They boast challenging guitar riffs, time changes and the latter song has a slowed down part at the end that will absolutely tear your face off.

Colored Sands is Gorguts at its most focused and the best two songs are "The Battle of Chamdo," a classical arrangement named after the 1950 Chinese invasion of Tibet and "Absconders," which at over nine minutes, is the longest song on the album.  "Chamdo" was written by frontman Luc Lemay on piano and performed in studio by a string quartet.  The result is a moody piece that stabs at your ears like a Hitchcock score, or perhaps even the opening credits of Reanimator.  "Absconders" takes so many twists and turns throughout its extended run time that it never overstays its welcome.

Hopefully Gorguts are here to stay and will continue to release groundbreaking death metal for years to come.  Judging by their track record, even if they do stick together, it will be at least 3-5 years before we can expect anything new from them.  That's alright by me; Colored Sands and the rest of the band's back catalog will keep me satiated until that time comes.

Drink pairing for this post: Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Saturday Shuffle

Every Saturday I crack open a beer and put my Spotify starred list on shuffle.  I have over 26,000 songs starred, so it can get somewhat interesting.  This is where I drink and write "stream of consciousness" style about what comes up.  Enjoy.

1. DZ Deathrays - "Witchcraft"
I discovered DZ Deathrays a few years ago when I found out that they were opening for Bass Drum of Death, who is pretty much Kassie's favorite band.  DZ Deathrays will appeal to fans of Death From Above 1979; they have the same minimalist garage jam duo thing going on.  "Witchcraft" isn't one of the most catchiest songs on their debut album, Bloodstreams, but it's still kind of fun.  It has a swagger to it that reminds me of something that the White Stripes would have done before they were the darlings of modern rock radio in the early 2000's.

2. Bob Dylan - "Just Like A Woman"
I went through a huge Bob Dylan phase about five years ago.  I mean like, huge.  He was the only thing I listened to for a solid year.  "Just Like A Woman" is my least favorite song on one my favorite Dylan albums.  It's not that it's a bad song by any means; it's pretty great actually.  It's just that everything else on the album is so killer that this one kind of gets lost in my memory.  There is a pretty great harmonica solo on here toward the end.  It's not an extremely technically proficient solo, but it just has so much feeling to it.

3. Brian Jonestown Massacre - "Everyone Says"
I keep meaning to dig into Brian Jonestown Massacre's catalog because every time they come up in the shuffle I have to look and see who it is.  The only song of theirs that I recognize right off the bat is "Straight Up and Down" from the opening credits of Boardwalk Empire, which finally returns for season four this Sunday.  "Everyone Says" is a little more alt-rock than most of the other stuff I've heard from the band and isn't entirely representative of their sound.  Actually, I don't think that any of their songs are representative of their sound because they really don't have one.

4. Amorphis - "From Earth I Rose"
I listened to Tuonela a lot in high school.  I really liked the synthy, kind of jazzy spin on death metal that Amorphis was tapping into.  It really wasn't death metal at all, aside from a misplaced growl here and there on some of the songs.  Now Amorphis is just another band that experimented with their sound in the late 90's and early 00's only to "go back to their roots" in recent years.  They have a different dreadlocked singer now who sounds exactly like their old singer; their sound is pretty standard folksy melodic death metal.  I still can't make it all the way through one of their newer albums.

5. Drudkh - "Summoning The Rain"
Atmospheric black metal is great.  It takes a special combination of calculation and luck to nail the kind of atmosphere that Drudkh does on their records.  "Summoning The Rain" is equally harsh and melodic; it depends wholly on who is listening and how close they are listening.  The melody is hiding under buzzsaw guitars rewarding those who dig deep enough to find it.  Their lyrics contain questionable subject matter (what you'd expect from black metal), but honestly I don't pay much attention to the vocals aside from being just another instrument contributing to the atmosphere.

6. Korn - "Right Now"
Well, now this is embarrassing.  I admit that like many other kids in the late 90's, used to like Korn.  I mostly grew out of them by the end of high school, but still listen now and then for nostalgic purposes.  I actually got to meet them in 2009 as part of a story I did on Jacob Payne, who was probably their biggest fan.  Jacob had a rare disease that confined him to a wheelchair and took his life way too early.  Korn were probably some of the nicest famous musicians I've ever met and it was great to see how well they took care of Jacob at their concerts.

7. Nightingale - "The Wake"
I really like some of Dan Swano's projects; Moontower and Edge of Sanity are some of the best melodic death metal I've ever heard.  This crap just sounds like Nickelback doing a Jethro Tull cover.  The vocal delivery is total cheese, the guitars are of the strum along unimaginatively and the lyrics themselves are just a string of cliches strung together attempting to seem deep.  Not all Nightingale is this bad. White Darkness and I are decent prog-metal albums.  Every song on Invisible sounds like some sort of misguided attempt at cracking into the mainstream.

8. William Tyler - "Hotel Catatonia"
I love it when something completely unknown pops up in the shuffle.  I've literally never heard this before and I don't even remember adding it.  After some investigation, I found out that I starred this less than two months ago.  I must have been drunk and reading Pitchfork, because I still have no recollection.  "Hotel Catatonia" is pleasant enough.  It's a sort of meandering fingerpicked melody that sounds like it could be part of the soundtrack for a Wes Anderson film.  Maybe that's where I heard this.

9. Pearl Jam - "Parachutes"
Pearl Jam is held in such high regard, but so much of their catalog is boring and forgettable.  Wait a minute, let me finish.  Their great stuff is really great and all, but you have to admit that most of their releases since the late 90's have been pretty directionless and insignificant.  I hate to say that because they all seem like really cool guys that I would enjoy having a beer with (great beer in Seattle).  I did really enjoy their documentary, Twenty, but I feel like it's the only captivating thing they've done in a while.  They have a new album out in October, so I hope that will change.

10. Shadows Fall - "Blind Faith"
You probably think that I don't like a lot of the music that's on my starred list.  I probably just need to be more selective in deciding what's worthy of being starred.  I enjoyed Shadows Fall's first few albums and even saw them open for In Flames and Nevermore thirteen years ago at the old Emo's in Austin.  All of the metal magazines were predicting that they would be the next Metallica, which obviously never happened.  Shadows Fall have been continuously retreading the same ground, into the same kind of autopilot that Killswitch Engage have been stuck on for years.

Listen to these songs in sequence on Spotify

Drink pairing for this post: Hops & Grain Alteration

Podcast recommendation: Draught Punk

Draught Punk is a great new podcast from my hometown of Austin.  It's hosted by the same guys who put out the Austin Beer Guide, which is a free publication that you can pick up at the best pubs in Austin.  Basically, if you're out in Austin and you see a stack of Beer Guides, you know you're in a quality establishment.

Draught Punk is different from so many of the other beer related podcasts available because of its marriage of mostly local brews with the hosts' music selections.  Great beer is best paired with great music, and it's an ideology that I clearly endorse on The Grain.  Also, Draught Punk is pretty hilarious and just gets funnier as its hosts continue to drink throughout.  I usually have a beer cracked open when I post on The Grain, but the effects just aren't always the same in written word.

There are four episodes of Draught Punk currently available on their Tumblr and iTunes (but come on, iTunes sucks).  They mostly run around two hours long, so make sure you have a good-sized chunk of time available to listen, or at least a lot of work to do as it plays in the background.  Or maybe just get buzzed along with the hosts and screw off on the internet as you listen; that's what I usually do.

Drink pairing for this post: Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout

The Grain is one month old!

The Grain is officially one month old today!  I suppose it's not really that significant, but it is to me.  Every one of my other blogs were usually already abandoned by this point.  I'm showing no signs of slowing down yet, and there are tons of ideas in the pipeline.

Right now I'm taking a trip along the West Coast.  We flew into Seattle yesterday; over the next week we'll also be hitting Portland and San Francisco.  I plan on hitting a few microbreweries and brewpubs along the way, which should give me plenty of content for the near future.  I'm sure you'll be able to find full details of the trip over at Kassie's blog, but I'll just have the beer related stuff here.  In addition to my travels, you can expect more Saturday Shuffles, film and music reviews as well as Texas craft beer news and brewery visits to come.

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see here in the future, let me know in the comments.  Also, don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin.

Drink pairing for this post: SweetWater IPA

 

Film Review: Beer Wars (2009)

Beer Wars is a documentary by Anat Baron, a former executive for Mike's Hard Lemonade.  It is largely a testament against the three big American breweries (you know the ones) in the style of a much more polite Michael Moore film.

Baron nobly champions the cause of the smaller craft and microbreweries who have to fight every day against giant corporations just to keep their doors open.  The film shows examples of those who have been successful (Sam Caligione of Dogfish Head) and those who have not (Rhonda Kallman of New Century).

It is great to get an inside look into the operations at Dogfish Head, which is arguably one of the most innovative breweries in America.  It has been growing at a pace that founder Sam Caligione admits is a struggle to keep up with and it's because of their commitment to producing quality beer.  It is not because they spent several million dollars on advertising during a football game.  If you're unfamiliar with Caligione or Dogfish Head, you should really read this great article that my Dad sent me about him.  He truly is a craft beer hero.

Beer Wars makes one thing abundantly clear.  Although the big breweries are starting to sweat a little about the growing market share of independent breweries, they still have the upper hand thanks largely in part to a distribution system that is built largely in their favor.  Companies like Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors have the resources to lobby the government to keep it that way.

The good news is that independent breweries are continuing to grow despite the blockades that are set before them.  The film quotes a 5% market share for independent breweries; that has since increased to 6%.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but considering that fewer than thirty years ago it was less than 1%, it's pretty significant growth.  This means that taste is slowly starting to outweigh the clever marketing that has long been shoved down the throats of consumers.

One of the more puzzling pieces of this documentary is the focus on Rhonda Kallman, co-founder of the Boston Beer Company (you know, Sam Adams), who went out on her own to start New Century Brewing.  In the film she is struggling to get her caffeine-infused Moonshot beer off the ground, even though it's apparent that no one really likes it.  The story does shed light on how tough it can be for a small brewery (she doesn't even brew; she contracts that work out) to break through in the market.  The problem is that it's unclear whether her difficulty is due to the blockage from the big breweries or because her product just simply isn't very good.

I've never tried Moonshot, but the craft beer community has made their opinions pretty clear on the product.  She closed New Century Brewing in 2011, citing the recent FDA ban on caffeine in alcoholic beverages.  It's sad to see someone's hard work that they put everything on the line for go up in smoke, even if it was for a bad idea.  Apparently she's opening a distillery next and I wish her the best of luck.

I'm still looking for the great craft beer documentary because, frankly, Beer Wars isn't it.  It has its great moments, but it ultimately falls flat thanks to its grating narration and focus on Moonshot.  I'm beginning to think that the perfect craft beer documentary just doesn't exist because the perfect craft beer itself doesn't exist.  Everyone's taste is different.

One thing I think we can all agree on however is that a documentary about the Trappist monks who brew in Belgium would be fantastic.  Someone needs to get on that.

Drink pairing for this post: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

You can now follow The Grain on Bloglovin

Bloglovin is an aggregator that helps you follow all of your favorite blogs and news sources in one place.  Now that Google Reader is no more, Bloglovin is my aggregator of choice.  It's so much more convenient than checking dozens of pages daily for news and other content.

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New beer release: Jester King Atrial Rubicite

Jester King finally released its newest brew, Atrial Rubicite, with a two weekend roll out at their brewery.

Atrial Rubicite's story began in February when Jester King added raspberries to oak barrels of mature sour beer.   Over the course of several months, the beer re-fermented and the final product is certainly a sight to behold.  It doesn't even look or taste like beer.

Atrial Rubicite pours a beautiful bright red with a pink head and lacing on the glass.  You get a ton of raspberries in the nose and taste up front.  Very quickly after the raspberry flavor subsides, Atrial Rubicite hits you in the back end with a mouth watering sour flavor that is actually very pleasant.  I had my tasting four hours ago and I'm getting a Pavlovian response to my taste buds right now just thinking about it.

Jester King has been hit and miss with their sour beers in the past, and this is definitely their biggest hit yet.  Judging by the large early crowd that gathered when the brewery opened today to get a first (and second and third) taste, it's should to be a huge success.

Unfortunately, Atrial Rubicite is an extremely limited release, so you'll likely only be able to sample it at the brewery this weekend and next.  Although you can finally buy bottles from the brewery to take home, if you didn't reserve a bottle of Atrial Rubicite online last week, you won't get one.

I've been tracking the release of this beer ever since Jester King posted photos of the raspberry filled barrels.  I jumped on the sign-up form as soon as they posted it to their Facebook and was able to reserve a bottle for myself.

Hopefully they will make another batch some day, and it looks like they're working on a strawberry version as well.  I'll keep you posted on any news.

If you're in the Austin area over Labor Day weekend or even the following weekend, get your ass out to Jester King and try Atrial Rubicite.

Drink pairing for this post: Jester King Atrial Rubicite

Saturday Shuffle

Every Saturday I crack open a beer and put my Spotify starred list on shuffle.  I have over 25,000 songs starred, so it can get somewhat interesting.  This is where I drink and write "stream of consciousness" style about what comes up.  Enjoy.

1. Elf Power - "Spidereggs"
This is a disgusting name for a song; I hate spiders.  The song itself is pretty pleasant.  It sounds like something that Death Cab For Cutie could have done (I actually mean that as a compliment).  Elf Power come from that whole Athens, GA indie scene that gave us R.E.M. and Neutral Milk Hotel, so they sound kind of like that stuff.  I really like most of the bands from that scene, even Of Montreal sometimes.  This is from Elf Power's most recent self-titled album from 2010.  I'm not sure if they're working on anything new, but I'd love for them to release something.

2. Judas Priest - "Blood Red Skies"
When I was growing up, I used to troll different heavy metal message boards.  One of the ongoing threads was always Iron Maiden vs. Judas Priest.  In those days I was staunchly pro-Maiden, but the older I get, the more I find myself preferring Priest.  This song is a great power ballad, which they always did better than Maiden anyway.  Also, this song is so 80's that even a coked up 80's dude listening to this in the 80's would say "Hey man, this sounds pretty 80's."  "Blood Red Skies" is not the most 80's song you will ever hear though; this is.

3. Ty Segall - "I Got Stoned"
In my last Saturday Shuffle post, I talked about how so many bands are aping what Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees are doing.  I didn't mean for it to sound as though those guys invented psychedelic garage rock, because they didn't.  They just perfected it is all.  This song is very simplistic in its instrumentation and arrangement.  Every instrument is given plenty of room to breathe and it results in a very cool atmosphere.  It's garage rock that doesn't sound like it comes from a garage.  It sounds more like it came from a basement public access television sound stage.

4. oOoOO - "Across A Sea"
I don't know how to say this band name.  "Ooooooooooh?"  Maybe.  Anyway, this is good moody stuff.  A few years ago, this little genre called witch house was all the craze in the indie scene.  It fell in on itself just as quickly as it blew up.  Even Chino Moreno from Deftones released a couple of witch house albums.  oOoOO are one of the artists from that scene that are still actually releasing music and have real staying power.  Think James Blake in a haunted house full of goth kids.  That's what this sounds like.  If that description doesn't interest you, stay away from it.

5. Filter - "Skinny"
I always liked the idea of Filter more than I actually liked the band.  They always sounded way too polished and radio friendly to me.  They did have a few great songs, but I don't think this is one of them.  I mean, it's technically not bad; it's just very 90's generic and strummy with an above average chorus.  That pretty much sums up Filter: boring verses and kind of cool choruses.  What initially attracted me to this band was that Richard Patrick played guitar for Nine Inch Nails on the Pretty Hate Machine tour.  Unfortunately, I hear very little of Trent Reznor's influence in Filter's music.

6. Fugazi - "Back to Base"
Fugazi were a hugely influential post-hardcore band throughout the 80's and 90's.  You can literally hear their influence in so many bands, most notably Refused, At The Drive In and Sparta.  Of course those bands don't even come close to capturing what Fugazi did (okay, except for maybe Refused).  This song is from their 1995 release, Red Medicine.  This was a time where Fugazi was already being copied, and Red Medicine was their attempt to set themselves apart with an artier sound.  I'd recommend this along with any of their releases.  There are no weak links in the Fugazi discography.

7. Machine Head - "Old"
If Machine Head had only released one album and called it quits, they would have had a much better reputation.  Burn My Eyes was their excellent debut released in 1994, right at the height of the groove metal craze pioneered by Exhorder and Pantera.  Their subsequent albums made it clear that Machine Head just wanted to hang on to whatever was popular at the time.  They latched onto the rap metal trend for a few albums before apologetically going back to a thrashier sound more in line with Rob Flynn's roots.  I used to love Machine Head for this album, but I just don't respect them.

8. Kalas - "Frozen Sun"
Kalas was a great melodic stoner-doom band from Oakland.  The most prominent member was vocalist Matt Pike, who you may know from Sleep and High on Fire.  Sadly, the band only released one album before Matt Pike seemingly decided to focus most of his energy on High on Fire (a band I think is just ok; they're no Sleep).  What makes this great is that it's so sleepy sounding.  It's doomy without being crushing; it's melodic without being saccharine.  Kalas occupies this great middle ground that so few bands of this genre ever find.  Jesus, I miss this band.

9. My Bloody Valentine - "Blown A Wish"
My Bloody Valentine are of course one of the greatest shoegaze bands, ever.  Loveless is an absolute classic and without it, the Smashing Pumpkins would sound completely different, or possibly not even exist at all.  This is an album that you can listen to from start to finish and sort of slip into a trance while losing all perception of time.  After this, the band wouldn't release another album for 22 years.  This year, they finally released m b v, which sounds like it could have been released only a few years after Loveless in the early 90's.

10. White Hills - "Forever In Space (Enlightened)"
I realize that I often don't say much about the actual songs on Saturday Shuffle, but more so the albums they come from.  I can't help it, I'm an album guy.  This is from White Hills' newest album, So You Are... So You'll Be.  I haven't fully listened to the whole album yet.  My first impression of this song is that it's pretty standard stoner psych rock, not far off from something the Black Angels would release.  This song is simultaneously hard-edged and trance inducing.  White Hills have always been one of the heavier psych bands; it seems nothing has changed on the new album.


Listen to these songs in sequence on Spotify


Drink pairing for this post: Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale