Coco de Mer & Proposition 8

   I'm anti-politics but support, the best store ever, Coco de Mer 100%

Latona Lager - Fremont Brewing Company

This accord with Latona Pub is one of my favorite Fremont beers to date.  Pretty cool they choose this style in such ale filled lands.

Hay blond with a 'helles' spark.  Toasted with a some sweet aromas.  Crisp and slightly floral.  Finespun flavors with a whole grain and dry buttered grass finish.

The brewers sum it up themselves with "a postcard from the sun that reads: Welcome to summer. Chill, baby-bird."

The Dax Riggs countdown is now under ten days.

Aquilonian & Sollubii - Split (2010)

Aquilonian consist of members of one of my favorite riff loading bands Bongzilla. 

Conan-ic groove is still there but they strip away the slime, keep the green, and replace retching bourbon with crispy gin.

Just over 30 minutes of trance induced riffing. Hazed vocals float up from the rubble just to pull you through a time warp.

Gears are switched and churned down with the second 35+ minute track from Sollubi with lyrics like "smoke drugs, buy guns."

Torquing out bubbling grease and rumbling sonic misanthropy laced with space debris this tune is first in line for a Puritan style burning.

Two of the best songs of the year from Canada's Choking Hazard Records.

Tracks:
1. Symphonica de Levita
2. The Struggle

Pet cats, scoop litter.

BridgePort Brewing Company - Stumptown Tart

Portland's Bridgeport Brewing used over two thousand pounds of raspberries from Willamette Valley Fruit Company for this beer.

Melon orange with slight rose tint.  Tingling and pulsating the air with spicy grape.

Flinty fresh raspberry and fervid green apple spark the tongue.  Tickled palate arousal. When it warms creamed clove and soft pear quench.  A framboise seduces a tripel. 7.7%.

I was trying my hand at a Coco-de-Mer inspired review.

Karma to Burn - Appalachian Incantation (2010)

From the ashes of hiatus comes the fourth studio release from West Virginia instrumentalists Karma to Burn.

Tumbling, motoring riffs that could accompany the pinnacle of high speed boat pursuits right off a flat earth.  Rhythmic exhaust with enough bass to put a black bear back into hibernation.

Delectable hooking riffs that will reel in the attention plagued before searing their brains in apple butter with a side of squirrel.

I won't use the "r" word again though they have enough of them to justify it.  Bonus disc includes unreleased material and one of the best songs of the year with John Garcia on vocals.

Tracks:
1. Fourty-Four
2. Fourty-Two
3. Fourty-One
4. Fourty-Six
5. Waiting on the Western World
6. Fourty-Three
7. Fourty-Five
8. Twenty-Four

Cat Got Our Tongue
1. Two Times
2. Fourteen
3. Ten
4. Thirteen
5. Six
6. Twenty
7. Thirty

Mark McGwire was # 25 and Dominique Wilkins was #21.

  

 Look at me!

Full Sail Brewing Company - Old Boardhead Barleywine Ale (2009)

Full Sail Brewing Co. has deliciously affordable brews.

Cherry melon candies glossed over with cider, pine, and cinnamon pudding.

Relatively light but still with zesty fresh tartness and a hint of butterscotch.  Chips of raisin and rind of grapefruit to assist in a dry finish. 9%.

VOIVOD!

Los Natas - Nuevo Orden De La Libertad (2009)

10th (or 5th) full length from Argentina's Los Natas.

You'll think you were stuck with an undiscovered hallucinatory cactus quill from below the equator as Los Natas go between venomous grooved riffing and eerily swirling serenity.

When the cohesive trifecta go frantic the bodies temperature rises above 40° C and auditory delirium sets in.

Vocals resonate booze and psychedelia.  I don't speak Spanish but I imagine the lyrics are of astral desert revolution. 

Tracks:
1. Las campanadas
2. El nuevo orden...
3. Resistiendo dolor
4. Hombre de Metal
5. Ganar perder
6. El pastizal
7. David & Goliath
8. Bienvenidos
9. 10.000
10. Dos Horses

Tierra del Fuego sounds cool.

Neighbor Lurker

Happy 4th of July

No better place to engage in revelry prior to the launching of obstreperous colored incendiary devices than Fremont Brewing.

                   Liberty Lager vs. Lenin's Bolshevik Barleywine

The day of what would have been my Veteran Grandfather's 100th B-day and week of Veteran Dad's 70th b-day.

Wino - Punctuated Equilibrium (2009)

First solo album from Scott Weinrich and one of the best albums of '09.

If there was such a thing as Nordic pterodactyls on Harley-Davidson's traveling through time and decimating taverns this would be their soundtrack.



Grooving intrepid riffs with sides of frenetic smoked solos built on walls of fuzz, propellant percussion, and a voice meant to pummel soul into your ears.

Tracks:
1. Release Me
2. Punctuated Equilibrium
3. The Woman In The Orange Pants
4. Smilin' Road
5. Eyes of the Flesh
6. Wild Blue Yonder
7. Secret Realm Devotion
8. Water Crane
9. Gods, Frauds, Neo-Cons and Demagogues
10. Silver Lining

Bonus 10"
1. Chest Fever
2. Der Gift (The Poison)
3. The Comet and the Moon
4. On the (Sacrificial) Lam

Don't like this? Talk to the paw of DOOM.

Manute Bol (10/16/62 - 06/19/10)

Mirror Image?

Dead Guy Ale - Rogue Brewery

A staple from Oregon's Rogue Brewery.   Copper orange with golden honey hazing.  Mild fruit oils and tanged aromas. 

Bready caramel malts with light buttery pine coated pears and dry mineral finish. If the tongue had ears this would epitomize the word mellifluous. 6.5%.

Australasia is a cool album.

Gulf Coast

               Administer ego loss psychotropics to BP executives.

                          What is this cat's favorite luggage?

                                           Samsonite

2010 WORLD CUP

                                          Go Cameroon!

I would walk into an American bar and yell that American football isn't real football before walking into a pub, anywhere else in the world, and yelling soccer sucks.

Point Defiance IPA - Harmon Brewery + Brant Bjork - Gods & Goddesses (2010)

Harmon has been serving Tacoma, WA since 1997.   Concentrated floral aromas morph into lemon as it warms.  Fresh and mellowing creamy grapefruit rind tang.  Juicy apricot with a pepper dry finish. 5.8%.

Brant Bjork, former drummer for the one band I found out about way to late, with his 9th release.  'Don't judge a book by its cover' but here that adage goes out the window since the album is that cool. 

Fuzzy far out 70's tone with both funky and gritty riffs on their own peyote trip.  Retro cactus groove that will have you shaking the sand and smoke from your head.  Put this on repeat at a party and everyone ends up laid.

Tracks:
1. Dirty Bird
2. The Future Rock (We Got It)
3. Radio Mecca
4. Little World
5. Blowin' Up Shop
6. Good Time Bonnie
7. Porto
8. Somewhere Some Woman

Something good will come of all things yet - Kerouac

Dennis Hopper (05/17/36 - 05/29/10)

        The Guy's A Little Bit Wasted But He Knows What He's Doing

Hop In The Dark Cascadian Dark Ale - Deschutes Brewery

Pours ominous and leaving coats of beige lace around the glass.  Aromas of roasted citrus resin finished in light cocoa.

Mad science combines test tubes of pined mint with nutty trail mix.  Toasted hops with a dash of demerara. 6.5%.


I've opened your eyes, you're now color blind - David Brent

Plotting

Imperial Cherry Saison - Southern Tier Brewing Company

I haven't had a conventional tasting beer from New York based Southern Tier.

Pours olive oil gold with hues of mandarin.  Aromas of wheaty berries spiced and spiked pineapple juice.

Positively cloying and funky cherry wine sprinkled with ginger. A dry sipper that gets smoother as it warms. 8.0%.

Balance is the enemy of art.

Handsome-Samson

Summer Beer - Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company

Pours a lucent lemon hue.  Light honey pear with mild earthy aromas.

Saaz hops keep this crispy and spiced without being bitter.  A dash of sweetness with a revitalizing finish.  Sumerians could have used this 6000 years ago.  5.6%.

Ride the tiger.

Ronnie James Dio (07/10/42 - 05/16/10)

 

Rabidnaut

Ufomammut - Eve (2010)

5th full length from Italy's Ufomammut.  1 song / 5 parts / 44 minutes.

Distressed metal for the hazy journey to the earth's core or through celestial oblivion.

Geologists & observatories should monitor this band's riffs.

Synth layered atmosphere resembling a space launch from ignition to explosion.  Rocket boosters spew hemp smoke for a doomed & ascent. Minimal oxygen as the droning deprivation continues.

What's our vector, Victor?

Immort Ale - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Dogfish Head have been brewing this beer for fifteen years.

Pours bloodshot mahogany with burgundy tracings. Aromas of dark berries and spiced vanilla with a splash of syrupy sherbet. 

Tastes equally sweet and smokey. Gin drenched raisins roasted over a maple wood fire.  11%.

Beer Beer!