MCMXCII

The Drink: St. Peter's India Pale Ale,  Saint Arnold Elissa IPA & Henry Weinhard's Woodland Pass IPA

The Music: Built to Spill's Keep it like a secret

Present: John (host), Ian, Jase, Patrick, 

The Drink

      

India Pale Ale or IPA is a drink with a purpose. Originally crafted with extra hops to serve as a preservative for the long trip to India from Britain, this beer was made for a specific market and a specific demographic. This beer was designed to quench the thirst of British troops serving in the tropical heat of a foreign land and give them a reminder of home.
Though the British gave up control over India and we no longer need extra hops or pale malts to resist the long voyage, IPAs have created their place in brew history. Within the past decade, the brew that used to serve a particular purpose has seen a robust new interest and resurgence for beer drinkers who seek the flavor of full-bodied beer with extra hoppiness.
The three different IPAs we drink tonight are from three different places and three different times. St. Peter's is a traditional British IPA brewed in a medieval hall in Suffolk, England. Henry Weinhard hales from the same locale as Built to Spill, the Pacific Northwest, where he began a brewery in the mid-19th century. Their IPA uses Cascade hops from the 44th parallel, the location of the famed Willamette Valley and the best hop-growing region of the United States. Finally, the new indie hotspot of Austin, TX provides us with Saint Arnold's Elissa IPA. BtS is a three-piece (at the time of KILAS). Weak sauce, I know. 

The Music
Built to Spill were (and still are) one of the indie darlings of the 90s. Doug Martsch formed the band after leaving Treepeople in 1992 and was the only permanent member. After releasing three albums with three different line-ups, Martsch settled on band-mates Brett Nelson and Scott Plouf to work with full-time. The entire album had already been written by Martsch who had to then explain his vision to his new band-mates. 

It is guitar rock-n-roll with some poppiness that makes it a totally listenable album. Martsch has said in interviews that he writes the music first then sings along gibberish or nonsense words with what will be the melody. Whatever words end up fitting in right become the lyrics. Even with his nonchalant approach to lyrics, his words have a tendency to focus on the same issues again and again, especially an existential attempt to find your place in the world, the idea of home, history, mathematical concepts of truth and the difference between perception and reality.
As the band name implies, Martsch seems to be concerned with pre-destined failure. But at the same time, there is a cheeriness in accepting your fate and being aware of your own limitations. Socrates said the most important thing for a person to do is to "know thyself." An old Latin phrase says "Memori Morti," which means, remember you are mortal. Knowing we are going to die, or that we are built to spill, allows us to gladly accept the inevitable and move forward. It is not depressing; it is liberating.

The Blend
The rock guitar and indie ethos made BtS one of the big indie bands of the 90s and their influence is still seen today even as they continue to make records. They no longer make the exact same albums of the 90s, but still have the same roots. They no longer serve exactly the same purpose, but have morphed as time has passed. They recognize their purpose and fulfill it.
IPA began with a specific purpose, but have maintained their popularity even as they have changed over the past centuries.
Tonight's toast, then, is to figuring out what we are here for and how to fulfill our destinies. It is to overcoming our quarter-life crises, understanding our limitations and accepting them, moving forward and being the best versions of ourselves.

"To knowing what we are built for." 

Whisky & Jazz XX

The other men in my music and drinking group have grown lazy with updating this blog.  I continue to update when it is my turn, but that can not quell the disappointment I feel for them neglecting such a simple task.
So let's begin.


Drink: Jameson 12 Year Old Special Reserve
Musician: David Bowie
Song: Space Oddity

Present: Ian (host), John, Patrick, Aaron, Jase


The Music


David Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947.  His mother, Margaret Mary was of Irish descent, which helps tie him to the whiskey choice of tonight.  
At the age of nine, his dancing during the newly introduced music and movement classes was strikingly imaginative: teachers called his interpretations "vividly artistic" and his poise "astonishing" for a child.  The same year, his interest in music was further stimulated when his father brought home a collection of American 45s by artists including Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Platters, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. Upon listening to "Tutti Frutti", Bowie would later say, "I had heard God". Presley's impact on him was likewise emphatic: "I saw a cousin of mine dance to ... 'Hound Dog' and I had never seen her get up and be moved so much by anything. It really impressed me, the power of the music. I started getting records immediately after that."  
He received a serious injury at school in 1962 when his friend George Underwood, wearing a ring on his finger, punched him in the left eye during a fight over a girl. Doctors feared he would lose the sight of the eye, and he was forced to stay out of school for a series of operations during a four-month hospitalisation. The damage could not be fully repaired, leaving him with faulty depth perception and a permanently dilated pupil.


Space Oddity
Space Oddity was release in 1969 to coincide with the first moon landing.  Despite the fact that the literal meaning of the lyrics relates to an astronaut who is lost in space, this song was used by the BBC in their coverage of the moon landing, and this helped it become such a success.  Its title alludes to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was released the previous year.  "Space Oddity" became so well known that Bowie's second album, originally released as David Bowie in the UK, was renamed after the track for it's 1972 reissue by RCA Records, and has since become known by this name.  Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs "Ashes to Ashes" and Hallo Spaceboy".  German singer Peter Schilling's 1983 hit "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is written as a sequel to the song.  
Keeping with the theme of most jazz musicians, some commentators have also seen Space Oddity as a metaphor for heroin use, citing the opening coundown as analogous to the drug's passage down the neddle prior to the euphoric 'hit', and noting Bowie's admission of a "silly flirtation with smack" in 1968.  His 1980 hit "Ashes to Ashes" declared "We know Major Tom's a junkie".




The Drink


Jameson 12 yr is the best known and most popular of the aged Jameson whiskeys.  I chose it because it is a step up from the original Jameson Irish Whiskey that I have grown to love, and it is not rediculously priced for the great taste that it holds.


Let's learn a little about the history of Jameson.  John Jameson was born on October 5, 1740 not in Ireland as you may think, but in Scotland.  The Irish were quick to adopt him as one of their own.  A saying goes that he became more Irish than the Irish themselves.  
John Jameson was a Scottish businessman and acquired the Bow Street Distillery in 1780.  The distillery was producing about 20,000 gallons annually.  By the turn of the 19th century, it was the second largest producer in Ireland and one of the largest in the world, producing 1,000,000 gallons annually.  Today, Jameson is the world's third largest single-distillery whiskey.  
On the tiny crest, you may notice the words "SINE METU".  It is the Jameson family motto meaning "Without Fear", and was awarded for their bravery in battling pirates on the high seas back in the 1500s.  This motto was the inspiration for John's move to Dublin to make his mark (whiskey).  
Ireland is reputed to be where whiskey was invented, and in the 1770s, Dublin whiskey was regarded as the finest in the world.  John Jameson moved in from Ireland and took up the great Irish tradtion Sine Metu.


In the 18th century, most whiskeys were distilled twice, like it is in Scotland.  John Jameson wasn't content with just double distilled, so he insisted on triple distillation and found that it made his whiskey twice as smooth.  More distillations were tested, but it turned out that triple distillation was the best.




Tasting Notes


NOSE - Warm, spicy, assertively complex
TASTE - Sherry richness, nutty flavor, mild woody undertones
FINISH - Rich and lasting


The Mix


Ian likes Jameson, and Ian likes David Bowie. 


Conclusion


I wanted to do Jameson, because I came to appreciate the regular Jameson during a time after many of my close friends had moved away from where I was.  I was left to hang out with the younger crowd that remained in Ruston.  I no longer felt as welcomed in places that I frequented in my college days.  One of my escapes was drinking Jameson Irish Whiskey whilst playing computer games.  


I originally was going to do David Bowie's album Low, because it was a low point in his life, and even though I wasn't blowing brains out of my nose from doing coke, it was kind of a low time in mine.  That's how I was originally going to tie the drink and the music together.  I listened through Low several times, and honestly just couldn't get into it.  I'm a big fan of Space Oddity, so I settled on that album.  


On a side note, my girlfriend got me a recurve bow for Christmas.  I named it David.

Booze & Bands VI (Whisky & Jazz XVI)

Drinks: Rex Goliath Cabernet Sauvignon
            Rex Goliath Shiraz
            Rex Goliath Free Range Red
Musician: Bon Iver
Song: Skinny Love

Present: Ian (host), John, Patrick, Aaron, Jase


The Musician

Bon Iver was founded by Justin Vernon in 2007.  The name is a play on the French words for good winter, "bon hiver" and is a reflection of a time when things were falling apart for Vernon.  He had recently broken up with his old band of 10 years, his girlfriend (whose middle name is Emma), was working at a job he hated, and even came down with mononucleosis around the same time.  His escape was a log deer-hunting cabin that his father built in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin.  Settling down with the meat from two deer, a case of beer, and a heavy heart, Vernon started writing songs.  He ended up spending four months living and working in isolation in the middle of a snowbound winter; chopping wood by day, playing blues at night.

The first album, "For Emma, Forever Ago", was recorded mostly in that log cabin, and is a set of sad songs that are enhanced by the cabin's natural reverb.  This grants the soulful music an eerie, charmed, "alive" air.  The record is study of the years preceding the breakup with his girlfriend, all the different things he was feeling.  Vernon says, "I didn't just go into isolation after getting dumped and make a record.  It's about this ancient love, this long-lost love that had lingered on for years... those feelings manifested in a particular place and time."

The latest album is self-titled and is a set of songs each written about different places in the world.  The record has a more intricate, studio-centric sound that employed an array of effects and an array of woodwinds, including the notable work of guest saxophonist Colin Stetson.


The Drinks

At the turn of the 20th century, HRM (His Royal Majesty) Rex Goliath was the treasured attraction of a Texas circus. People came from far and wide to behold the 47 lb. bird, billed as the “World’s Largest Cock.” Rex-Goliath's label replicates the one-of-a-kind vintage artwork from the circus banner that hung above Rex’s roost.  The wines are a tribute to Rex's larger-than-life personality, with big, fruit-forward flavors.  In essence, Rex is all about letting that robust California fruit express itself in an easy-to-drink, worry-free fastion.



Tasting Notes

Cabernet Sauvignon
Dark and intense in color. Hints of cedar and oak, with layers of raspberry, plum, mocha and currant. Smooth tannins with big fruit flavors lead to a lengthy and persistent finish.

Shiraz
This Shiraz is all about the harmony between bold fruit flavors and oak. Aromas of ripe raspberries, plum and blackberries are harmoniously balanced with notes of smoky, toasty oak. Sweetness from the fire toasting of the oak, combined with the overabundance of fruit, make for a perfectly balanced wine.

Free Range Red
With big and juicy red fruit flavors, this wine is smooth and easy to share with your fellow red wine adventurer.


The Mix

I put these together because wine is the drink I think of when I think of winter.  So I picked some good wines to go with this good winter.


Conclusion

The night was another success. We started the night with some sliced French bread with tomatoes and mozzarella on top. Everyone ate that while I finished cooking the bell peppers and the chicken that had been marinating for six hours. Afterward, I read the previous part of this aloud to everyone. We toasted, listened to Bon Iver, and drank wine. Il a été une bonne nuit.

Booze & Bands IV

The Drink: Connemara

The Music: Van Morrison's Astral Weeks

Present: Patrick (host), Aaron, Ian, Jase, John

The Album

A Belfast-born singer-songwriter released the most important album of his career in November 1968. Of course, I’m referring to Van Morrison—known to music fans as Van the Man—and his career-defining record Astral Weeks. 

Morrison opened himself up to what he calls “the mystic,” and wrote a collection of songs that is routinely listed as one of the greatest albums of all time by publications like Rolling Stone and Mojo. At the time of its inception, Morrison was known (or unknown) for his work with the garage rock band Them and the popular solo single “Brown Eyed Girl,” which appeared on his debut solo album Blowin’ Your Mind! in 1967. That album was—minus the unsettling centerpiece “T.B. Sheets”—the pop creation of producer Bert Berns. Astral Weeks was a step away from Van’s pop and rock origins.

Conceived in turmoil, 1968 was a trying year for Morrison. The year began with contract issues with Bang Records. The sudden death of the label’s founder, Bert Berns, at the end of ’67 certainly had not helped his situation. Berns and Morrison had a strong disagreement about the direction of his music. Morrison wanted to explore new territory, while Berns wanted more singles like “Brown Eyed Girl.” Berns passed away of a heart attack, for which his wife, Ilene, blamed Morrison. As a result, she tried to have him deported to Ireland. 

Luckily, she was not successful and Morrison was able to continue his musical career in Boston. Although Morrison’s contract dispute kept him out of the recording studio, he was able to write and play music in local clubs in Boston, where the foundation of Weeks was built..

Once Warner Brothers got word of Morrison’s situation, they became very interested in buying out his contract. Warner Brothers sent Lewis Merenstein, a producer, to a show in Boston to see what he had to offer. Merenstein heard Morrison play the song “Astral Weeks” and later said in an interview found in Clinton Heylin’s 2003 Van Morrison biography Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, “I started crying. It just vibrated my soul, and I knew that I wanted to work with that sound.” 

After that rave review, Warner Brothers, in cooperation with the Schwaid-Merenstein production team, bought out Morrison’s contract.

Merenstein had a background in jazz production, and as a result, he had good connections with many accomplished jazz musicians who would shape the improvisational tone of the record. He booked Richard Davis, Jay Berliner, Warren Smith Jr. and Connie Kay for the three recording dates. All of the musicians booked were well known in the jazz realm—Kay and Mingus had even played with the Modern Jazz Quartet. Along with Merenstein’s direction, they were left to develop their own sound and feel. In fact, according to a radio interview on Imus in the Morning to promote the 2010 release of Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the only direction that Van gave the musicians when recording began was “Just follow where I’m going … follow my vocal, and follow the best way you can, and don’t get in my way.” 

With only that direction, a rock/pop musician and a group of jazz musicians played what felt right. As a result, Astral Weeks can sound tentative and uneasy at moments. It even has musical moments some might consider mistakes. However, with an open mind, what initially appear to be mistakes begin to sound like perfection. The album is meant to be felt in whatever way it hits you at whatever moment it hits you. It’s an album of jazz, R&B, soul, blues, Celtic, and many other influences.  It’s an album that, to use the words of Van, originates from “another time, in another place,” yet arrives someplace unexplainably human and universal. It can be both an album of great comfort and great distress.

The album never met gold status until 2001, 33 years after its release, yet it has often been held up as a shining example of how transcendent pop music can be. It was praised as the No. 2 album of all time in 1995 by MOJO and No. 19 in 2003 by Rolling Stone. There have been many other “greatest of all time” lists that have placed Astral Weeks in the top 25. This is interesting because there are no singles on either side of this record. It certainly isn’t easily digested, either. Astral Weeks is a challenging album that a listener could drive themselves crazy trying to interpret. Of course, this is how the album latches onto the listener and doesn't let go. Depending on your own life walk, this album will mean something different to you. Lester Bangs once said in Greil Marcus’ 1979 compilation book Stranded that although Van was only “22 or 23 years old when he made this record; there are lifetimes behind it.” 

Van opened himself up to a realm that few have ventured and wrote a gorgeous album about humanity, hurt and love. It’s like an audio version of a Rorschach test where only the listener’s thoughts, feelings and experiences can form the story. Perhaps, we as listeners should open ourselves up to “the mystic,” “venture into the slipstream between the viaducts of [our] dreams,” and “dig it all, not to wonder.” 

I think that would be just fine.

The Distillery

The Cooley Distillery, established in 1987, is located less than an hour away from Belfast on the Cooley Peninsula on Ireland’s east coast. It’s a distillery built on independence and Irish pride. Cooley Distillery only uses Irish barley and local water from the Cooley Mountains. It’s also important to mention that its creation ended the Irish whiskey monopoly and reintroduced competition and quality to Irish whiskey.

The Cooley Distillery, the first new whiskey distillery in Ireland in more than 100 years, was created with the vision to become the distillery to provide innovation and revive traditional Irish distilling techniques. Cooley’s handcrafted whiskeys are distilled using small copper pot stills with very large necks. The use of these distinctive stills causes the whiskey to pass through at half the pace as typical stills, therefore creating a “more refined product.”

In 1966 there were only four Irish distilleries. Soon, there were only two after the Jameson, Powers, and Cork distilleries merged to create Irish Distillers. In the early ’70’s, once Bushmills decided to join Irish Distillers, the Irish whiskey monopoly began.  The monopoly lasted for nearly two decades until the creation of the Cooley Distillery.  Since Cooley’s creation, the Irish Distillers sold Jameson, Powers, and Cork to Pernod Ricard, a French multinational company. Soon afterwards, the Bushmills label was sold to Diageo, a UK multinational company. The Cooley Distillery is now the only Irish-owned Irish whiskey distillery.

Cooley has successfully brought several classic Irish whiskey brands to their former glory (Tyconnell, Kilbeggan, Inishowen, etc.) as well as created new whiskeys (Connemara, Locke’s 8 Year, etc.). Cooley’s whiskeys have won countless awards in each of their respective categories. The Cooley Distillery has successfully worked its way to the top of the quality Irish whiskey list.

The Blend

When I read of the different whiskeys that Cooley has to offer, the one that screamed Astral Weeks was Connemara. It’s a peated single malt Irish whiskey produced using traditional Irish techniques. Peat fires are used to dry the malted barley giving it a smoky, complex flavor while allowing the simpler, sweeter tones of vanilla, honey and fruit to shine through. 

Much like how Astral Weeks, an album like no other, was created using jazz techniques, Connemara, a whiskey like no other, was created using ancient distilling techniques. Also, Connemara, which is not commercially known, has won more awards than any other Irish whiskey, including “World’s Best Irish Single Malt.” That fact certainly reminds me of Astral Weeks highly placed spots on many greatest of all time lists. The taste can even be compared to the sound of the album. Both the album and whiskey is complex, but they have a sweet side that lightens the mood and allows the listener/taster to continue to enjoy over and over.

Now, let’s quit reading and start mixing this evocative and questioning record with this complex and satisfying whiskey.

A Toast

We raise our glasses to "the love that loves to love"; may we never forget it or say goodbye.

(Written by Patrick Mears; Edited by Darren White)

Booze & Bands III

moe. drinks.

The Drink(s): Jack Daniels, Shiner Blonde

The Music: moe.: Happy Hour Hero, Tin Cans and Car Tires

Present: Jase (Host), John, Ian, Pat, Aaron

The Drink(s)

Both Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey and Shiner Blonde Lager (Not Ale) come from humble beginnings. Both libations offer little in the way of history save a parallel vein into myth and tradition. JDTW was in fact created by Jack Daniel, a man whose history can only be traced as far back as the product named after him. Daniel was allegedly sixteen to eighteen years of age when he became a distiller (Circa 1875) and died in 1910 from infection. The JD website boasts they are still manufacturing the

Whiskey the same way it was made 100 years ago, being filtered through ten feet of sugar

maple charcoal. Why? Excellent question.

Shiner Blonde's history is slightly more cut and dry. Kosmos Spoetzl (Founder of Shiner Brewery, Shiner, TX) brought this blonde lager's recipe as the "original recipe" to the little brewery in our neighboring state. Shiner quantifies their brew as "a golden lager that pays

sincere tribute to it's Bohemian roots... it represents the best of a true American lager". Without a doubt (hopefully) this brew will be an excellent retort to the attack of JDTW.

The Band/Album/Song

moe. (There is no typographical error, the period is part of their name) is an American

jam band with a two decade history. Countless albums (25-ish) and numerous underground hits have helped the band gain a huge patchouli following. Their songs on the album featured tonight range from a grungy rock to a second-line drum riff, through "a clunky honky tonker". Clearly they cover all of their bases and do it well. Their album "Tin Cans and Car Tires"

released in 1998 flows without glitch through all the musical stylings listed above, plus takes notes from Little Feat, Hall & Oates, Zappa and Phish... According to Matthew Robinson from "The All Music Guide". The song we are drinking to in particular is a very concrete interpretation of the drink choice tonight. "Happy Hour Hero" is a jam bands answer to country music drinking songs. "A pint of ale and a shot of Jack" is actually a line from the first verse. Rock solid.

The Common Denominator:

JD is classic, Shiner is the Original. moe is the All-American "Middle Of Everywhere" (That interpretation is pure speculation). The Bar and Grill is hands down the best conduit to truely experience American music paired with American food.

Tasting Notes:"our [everything] is still judged the same way. By the way it looks. By the way it smells. And of course, by the way it tastes."- JD Dot Com.

ACTUAL Tasting Notes: Jack Daniels is thick, oily, corn-syrupy and smoky. Rough, and charred JD is perfect when one wants to "rough it".

Shiner Blonde is aptly named because there is very little going on inside. Light on the hops, light in color, Shiner Blonde is a great beer of which to drink a great deal. Grain and corn incorporate a mild flavor and the nose has a faint (pleasant, but faint) aroma of noble hops and grass. Bubbly and light, one doesn't get full of this beer.

Just like the drinks, moe. offers a smooth and satisfying experience without bogging the listener down in the necessities of attention paid or demand for thought. All three pieces resound "relax" quite clearly.

Booze & Bands II

The Drink: Booker's Bourbon

The Music: Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home

Present: John (host), Patrick, Aaron, Ian, Jase

The Drink

      

Booker's Bourbon is named after Booker Noe, grandson of Colonel Jim Beam. Beam was one of the first distillers to rebuild after prohibition ended in 1933, but the Beam line of distillers goes much further back. German immigrants settled in Kentucky in the late 18th century and began distilling whiskey from the grains they produced. Made with the clear limestone spring water of the Appalachians, the whiskey had a distinct characteristic and became known as Bourbon. 

In the 1980s, master distiller Booker Noe hand-selected single-barrel bourbons, bottled them in old wine bottles straight from the charred oak casks, and gave it to his friends as gifts for Christmas. It was so popular among his friends, he decided he should share bourbon the way it was meant to be, straight from the cask, with the world. He continued to hand pick the casks for Booker's until his death, when his son took over the responsibility. 

Booker's comes from a long tradition, but is a bit edgier than the average bourbon. Coming from a single cask, it varies in its potency from 121 to 127 proof and is not smoothed out by blending with other barrels. Booker's has a serious kick and is "the world's first uncut, straight-from-the-barrel bourbon." With the bottling of Booker's, the bourbon market changed. More and more consumers wanted the unique flavors of a master distiller's single cask. In the last decades, there has been a move in the whiskey industry towards unique bottlings and small batch or single barrel whiskeys. It could be argued that Booker's is responsible for the change by bringing bourbon back to its roots, its home, in the single barrel. 

The Music

Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home, released in the spring of 1965, changed everything. Dylan had become synonymous with the folk and protest music of the early 60s, even called by many the "voice of his generation." His songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Only a Pawn in their Game," had made him famous, but transition was coming. Dylan had grown tired of being the voice and being leaned on. He began to feel that he himself had become the pawn in the game of political folk music. In the poetry that he included in his liner notes, he wrote that the district attorney was screaming "You're the one that's been causing all them riots..." followed by his sound engineer picking him up and asking for his latest works of art. Clearly, Dylan is finished being the voice, the pawn. He is moving away from the politics and into the personal. He is accepting the chaos, recognizing that he cannot lead the revolution, and maybe there doesn't need to be one at all. He is changing. 

Recorded over a series of three days in January 1965, BIABH would become the album that transitioned Dylan from acoustic folk singer to electric rock legend. Opening with "Subterranean Homesick Blues," the album kicks off loud and heavy, without direction, without politics, without his solo acoustic guitar. The A-side is entirely electric, one raucous blues tune after the next, still with Dylan's keen eye, quick, wit, and smart words, but with a little more psychedelia and a lot less politics. The B-side returns to his acoustic roots, but lacks the imperative for social change as had been seen in his earlier works. As he says, "its alright, ma- it's life and life only." Even though the album had both electric and acoustic, it was clearly a departure from his folk past and a sign of things to come for Dylan.

Dylan's move to electric shocked his folkie fan base and created mixed reviews. Many other artists, inspired by his fusion of folk and rock, took it as a sign of the future. (The Byrd's released a folk-rock version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" very soon after Dylan) Many of his fans felt he had lost his way, had sold-out, or had forgotten what he was fighting for. Dylan would take the next step later in the same year with the release of Highway 61 Revisited, opening with "Like a Rolling Stone" which he played with a full band in his first electric concert at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1965.
Dylan going electric changed everything. It could be cited as one of the most important events in music history, up there with Elvis on Ed Sullivan and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Dylan refused to be pigeon-holed by his fans, stood up for artistic expression, and, though called a traitor and a "Judas," continued to play his music the way he wanted to. It all started with Bringing It All Back Home.

Tasting/Listening Notes
The album, like the whiskey, starts off brash, but mellows by the time you get to the B-side.

Color: Dark amber, tawny, caramel. Hints of scarlet.

Nose: Leather and dried fruits.

Body: Dry and fire-y. Full.

Palate:  Intense burst of complex flavors, followed by the tannin and burn.

Finish: Long finish with sweet notes of smoke and caramel.

Booze & Bands I

December 2, 2010

Drink: Long Island Iced Tea
Musician: Gogol Bordello
Song: Ultimate

Present: Ian (host), John, Patrick, Aaron, Jase

Drink

There are several versions of the origins of the Long Island Iced Tea. A few tell of it's start during the times of prohibition. Others simply state that it came from Long Island, New York in the 1970's. Still others say it came about in the 50's by proper Long Island House wives mixing a little from each bottle in the liquor cabinet. I tend to believe the story from prohibition. I ran across a website run by a man in Long Island, NY that had an email from someone claiming to know the real story of the origins of long island iced teas. The email states the following:

"Long Island Iced Tea isn't from New York at all. It first surfaced in the 1920's in a community called Long Island in Kingsport Tennessee.

The inventor of it was Old Man Bishop. He passed the recipe on to his son Ransom - who perfected the drink in the 1940's. This is a fact. The Teetotaler info is true - and the Click Bros. took the cocktail mainstream.

There was another drink from Long Island called Tap Water that has a different name these days, due to patrons not wanting to be poured water from the sink when they ordered it."

The lack of a clear-cut time and place of the discovery of this drink could be due to prohibition and the secrecy it required imbibers to have.

Music

Gogol Bordello started after a few of the soon-to-be band members met at a Russian wedding in Vermont in 1998. There was no official first show, but as GB played parties and galleries, more immigrants joined. Gogol Bordello was banned from CB/GB, Mercury Lounge, Fez, and Bowery Ballroom after their first performances for being too over-the-top. GB received an award from Colbert Foundation and NY Downtown Arts Project for Pioneering Efforts and Artistic Excellence. They used all of the money for strictly immoral purposes.

The history claims they "walk the path of a gypsy punk rock revolutionary, living it up and ain't giving a fuck."

The mission of Gogol Bordello is written on a wrinkled piece of paper and scanned onto their website. It reads:

Gogol Bordello.

Artest's Statement:

Gogol Bordello's task is to provoke audience out of post-modern aesthetic swamp onto a neo-optimistic communal movement towards new sources of authentic energy.

With acts of music, theatre, chaos, and sorcery Gogol Bordello confronts the jaded and irony-deseased. Our treatment of traditional material is freewilloos (? hard to read), but is not irony-driven and thus real. Our theatre is chaotic and spontaneous and becauase of that is alarming and responce provoking.

From where we stand it is clear that world's cultures contain material for endless art-possibilities and new mind-stretching combinations, raw joy and survival energy. We chose to work with Gypsy, Cabaret and Punk traditions. Its what we know and feel. And many more are possible that can make the beloved statement of post-modernism "everything is been done" sound as an intellectual error.

The troubadours of neo-authentics are comin as a trans-global Art syndicate family that has never been witnessed before. PARTY!

-Hütz and GB

I feel the song "Ultimate" by Gogol Bordello is a great example of how they live.

Mix

Long Island Iced Tea and Gogol Bordello have a similar style in the variety of culture they include.

The primary ingredients of Long Islands are Vodka, Rum, Gin, and Tequila. Vodka originated in Eastern Europe. The name stems from the Russian word for water "voda". Rum has it's origins in the Caribbean. Gin has Dutch origins, but became popular in England when the government allowed unlicensed gin production and at the same time imposed a heavy duty (tax) on all imported spirits. Tequila originates from Spain and Mexico.

Gogol Bordello is even more culturally diverse. The lead singer, Eugene Hütz, is from Ukraine. Others in the band are from places in Russia, Israel, Ethiopia, Ecuador. The rest are the first generation in their family to be US citizens and are descended directly from Chinese, Thailand, Swedish, and Caribbean.


The night was a great success.  Everyone enjoyed my Long Island, Gogol Bordello, and the Kartoplyanka (Ukrainian potato soup) that I made.

Booze & Bands I

Whisky & Jazz X

Scotch: Jura Superstition

Musician: Hank Mobley

Song: I Should Care

Present: Aaron (host), Ian, Patrick, John

This is our last Whisky & Jazz done from the book.  From here on, we come up with our own mixes.  This was a great one to end on.  Jura Superstition was hard to come by, but it's taste was quite amazing.  As always, the quality of the company was unsurpassable. 

W&J10

Whisky & Jazz IX

Scotch: Balblair 1989

Musician: Milt Jackson

Song: Mean to Me

Present: Patrick (host), Ian, Aaron, John

So Anyway, the night began as any other. Me and John, and Aaron, and Ian, and my apartment,and it was fun, and we DRANK, and we fucked, and we smoked.  (story edited by Aaron from Patrick's point of view)

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Whisky & Jazz VIII

Scotch: Bruichladdich 15 yr old

Musician: Miles Davis
Song: So What?

Present: John (host), Ian, Aaron, Patrick

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Atticus like to toss his toy onto my lap so I'll play

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Whisky & Jazz VII

July 20, 2010

Scotch: Aberfeldy 12 yr old

Musician: Cannonball Adderley
Song: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

Present: Ian (host), John, Aaron, Patrick

For some reason, I felt that sloppy joes would be a good food for this whisky & jazz.  I included vegetable protein "meat" for John the vegetarian along with the turkey meat version.  Since it was my turn, I required everyone to take off their shirts.  It's not gay, I just like to sit around with as close to a balance between naked and comfort as possible, and I feel pretty comfortable around these guys.  

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