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.