This video was sent to me by the folks at Holy Taco, which appears to be a humor site for the college crowd. It’s a little goofy and some of the humor, sorry Alan — humour, misses the mark, though I certainly did laugh at parts of it. But what made it worthwhile, for me at least, is that they actually let them film inside one of the tanks, empty except for the beechwood chips. Having toured my fair share of Budweiser plants, they really gave these guys “inside access.” Though the segment where the host and the tour guide help “give birth” to the beer seems a little too over the top for my tastes, that or it may be I’m just getting old.

Holy Taco Goes To Budweiser

A great friend of mine, who lives in Seattle, has a new CD out with his new band, called Dyslextasy. Four out of the six songs on it have something to do with enjoying a tipple now and then. The album is called “Live. Die. Repeat.” and has this great tagline: “Drinking songs for the New World Order.”

The last song on the compact disc is an anti-war song that was even inspired by Rogue’s Imperial Stout and the red star on the old label before they switched to the ceramic bottle. The first line of the song is:

As I was sitting there, at the bar
Drinking Imperial Stout
(that one with the star)

Click on the play button below to hear the Imperial Stout song. You can also hear previews of the other songs on their website. The CD is a mere eight bucks and can be ordered online directly from the band or on several other online stores, such as CD Baby. Sure it’s a shameless plug, but as he and his wife are some of our best friends, and the music is great, too, I want to help it go platinum so he can retire from his nine-to-five job. Enjoy.
 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last forty years you undoubtedly know the iconic image of the album cover to the Beatles’ seminal work, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band. There have been countless homages and parodies of the cover, from Frank Zappa to the Celebrator Beer News, who used it initially for their tenth anniversary. Their version, of course, features well know figures from the brewing industry, both past and present.

The original and the Celebrator’s beer world view.

Well, it seems there’s more of a connection to beer than first thought, as the artist who designed the Sgt. Pepper cover Peter Blake, has designed the label artwork for a new beer, which has been named the official beer of Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008. Better known simply as Liverpool 08, it’s a yearlong cultural event with something like 350 events taking place in Liverpool. There will be “more than 50 international festivals in art, architecture, ballet, comedy, cinema, food, literature, music, opera, science and theatre.” One billion people from more than 60 countries, across five continents, are expected to visit and/or participate.

The beer itself is brewed by Cains, a Liverpudlian brewery that’s been brewing since 1870. Cains is using their award-winning Cain’s Finest Lager, which won awards at the 2005 CAMRA festival in Liverpool and “Best English Beer” at the 2005 CAMRA Scotland Beer Festival. From the website: Cains have created a lager of distinction using the finest barley malt and hops. Because Cains Lager comes from an extensive maturation period, it delivers a distinctive, refreshing taste for the discerning drinker. Smooth and full flavoured with a lovely amber hue, we believe it’s truly worth the wait’. About 250,000 bottles will be produced, and it will also be available at the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern galleries in addition to the usual supermarkets and other outlets. They’ll keep using the label all year, but will discontinue it December 31. The BBC reported on it’s origin today as follows: Sir Peter [Blake] said: “Cains wanted a bottle that would encapsulate the ‘Best of British’ activity and provide a fitting tribute to Liverpool during its Capital of Culture year. “To me, the Union Jack seemed like the perfect choice - it’s an enduring symbol of national pride and one of the few things that is instantly recognisable as being British.”

Cains chief executive Sudarghara Dusanj said: “Sir Peter Blake is one of country’s best loved artists and, through his work with the Beatles, has built a strong affiliation with Liverpool so we couldn’t think of anyone better.

“The final design is truly striking.”

No doubt the bottle will be highly sought after by breweriana collectors.

This is part two in my two-part series of goofy YouTube videos about beer I’ve stumbled upon. This one uses stop-motion, a cheap but time-consuming way to make an animated film. If you haven’t guessed by now, among my many other idiosyncratic passions, is animation. I fell in love with cartoons and all things animated at an early age and never really stopped. My favorites are Rocky & Bullwinkle (I even tried to name my son Bullwinkle, but my wife vetoed that one), the old black and white Max Fleischer Popeyes, anything by Tex Avery and more recently, Wallace & Gromit. Anyway, this one isn’t high quality, animation-wise, but it is a little humorous and the idea has potential. Enjoy.

You’ve probably heard this song before. I know I have. It’s been around for a while now, attributed to everybody from Weird Al Yankovic to They Might Be Giants, though I’m still not entirely sure who actually performs it. It’s only mildly amusing, in a baser sort of way, but the video here really makes it. Whoever edited this together did a great job of matching the song to various snippets from Japanese anime. That’s what makes it funny, at least in my opinion. Enjoy.

By know you probably already know that Tony Magee, the iconoclastic owner/brewer of Lagunitas Brewing, is a big fan of Frank Zappa. So far, with the permission of Zappa’s widow, Gail Zappa (who runs the Zappa Family Trust), he’s released a Lagunitas beer on the 40th anniversary of each of Frank Zappa’s first two albums. First there was Freak Out and then Kill Ugly Radio, the original title of his second album, Absolutely Free. Now comes Lumpy Gravy, again using artwork from the original album. I haven’t tried it yet, but I can only hope it’s a brown ale. That would be most fitting.

Our ninth Session, hosted by Tomme Arthur at the Lost Abbey Brewer’s Log, involves the pairing of beer with music, another subject near and dear to my heart. My original aspiration was a career in music, preferably writing, and once upon a time I played the saxophone and clarinet. What’s interesting about that is how common it is. There are so many brewers and beer people who are musicians that it’s harder to not find a brewing musician than it is to find one.

It’s almost five in the morning on Friday, and I have to get on a plane in a few hours for a trip to Germany. Couple that with the lost days in Pennsylvania to attend my great aunt’s funeral earlier this week and I’ve gotten myself more behind than usual. So instead of something new, I’m instead going to quote myself from a piece I did on beer and music for Beer Advocate magazine’s May issue. Music has a way of getting under the skin and directly into our soul. It touches us in ways that seem almost magical. Hearing an old tune can transport us back in time and allow us to relive memories. A new song can infect us with a desire to dance, commune with friends or shout to the heavens. As German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche quipped, “Without music life would be a mistake.”

Only beer can make this experience more intense. Alcohol is called a social lubricant for good reason. When enhanced by the inhibition-releasing power of beer, music comes alive and worms its way into our very being. As Nietzsche later wrote, “For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.” So it is that brewers provide an invaluable service to humanity’s progress and spiritual evolution. They create the catalyst that allows great music to flourish and they give all of us a simple way to enhance life’s pleasures. For this reason, music and beer go together like no others and create a combination that’s bigger than the sum of its parts. A good beer makes the music sound better and a good song cries out for a brew.

To the outsider, both beer and music seem to flow chaotically, yet both are very ordered and mathematical. The best of brewing is both art and science, and brewers who make a consistent beer are fastidiously organized. There is a precision integral to the process from how long the boil lasts to at what exact moment to add the hops and in what amount. So, too, music can be endlessly ordered into time signatures and tempos. For each, measures are very important. Both musicians and brewers express themselves as artists by putting a lot of themselves into their craft, be it a new stout or a new song. But beyond that, because of the nearly infinite combination of 12 notes and four basic ingredients, both pursuits are a kind of ordered chaos. It’s no surprise then, given these fundamental similarities, that many brewers are also musicians and many breweries have their own band. The same type of person is drawn naturally to both pursuits.

So no specific tasting this session for me, but really every tasting involves music as a backdrop so perhaps it’s not necessary. As no doubt will be shown time and time again in the posts that will appear for this session, beer and music are inextricably linked. My iPod is loaded with beer drinking songs and my brain is loaded with beer memories that are triggered by music. All I need is a beer to complete the cycle. But of course that will only make me thirsty for more music.

Magnolia Pub & Brewery on Haight Street in San Francisco will be celebrating their 10th anniversary next Monday in grand fashion at the Great American Music Hall. On November 5th they will host a concert for a mere 20 bucks with all manner of cool stuff going on with many surprises planned. It looks like it should be a great time.
 

Last year I wrote that Tony Magee, the iconoclastic owner/brewer of Lagunitas Brewing has been a big Frank Zappa fan most of his life. That’s still true and he’s kept his promise to keep releasing Frank Zappa beers as the anniversaries of each album comes to pass. First it was Freak Out and now Lagunitas has released Kill Ugly Radio, which was apparently the name Zappa wanted to call his second album. The record company said no, and instead it was known as Absolutely Free. The new beer was also made with the permission of Zappa’s widow, Gail Zappa (who runs the Zappa Family Trust). Like the last one, the label uses artwork from the album.

When the Celebrator panel tried it for the New Releases section of the latest issue, here’s what we thought of the beer:

Like a cacophony of Zappa’s music, there’s a lot going on in this beer. In some ways it’s a bit like a saison on steroids with the peppery, zesty spices you’d expect, but with a very big hop presence. Perhaps a little unbalanced, but then so was Zappa. Again, like Zappa, it’s big and eccentric with a lot of tangents of flavors, in the end a fitting tribute. Highly Recommended for fans, merely Recommended for people who don’t get Zappa.

Click on the label for a larger view.