September 6, 2013

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. - KELLERWEIS HEFEWEIZEN  I have not tried many hefeweizens in the last 6 months, and the ones i have were fairly dissapointing. Well, not this one.  This reminds me of some that i had while in Germany. Smell is a little weaker than i expected, lots of banana, some light cloves, and wheat, but the taste makes up foe it. Sweet banana, a little citrus and nice wheat flavor, much better than the aroma, a really nice flavor. One of the better US hefeweizens i have had, not quite up to what i remember in Germany (it was so long ago, i need to go back!), but darn close. If you like the style this is a great beer.

THE TIME - WHAT TIME IS IT?  Second and best album in my ipinion from the Minnesota funkers. This was the actual first album recorded with the real band (as Prince did everything but the vocals on the debut) and sadly the last. Too much talent and ego led to this classic line up breaking up soon after, but boy were they fun at the time. Amazing that they could get by with just 6 songs on an album back then, but at least all of them are good. This is still a great party album today, great guitar, great vocals, and the standard Time humor, love it. "You always keep lingerie in your glove compartment? Well, none of my girls wear gloves!" Fun record. Crank it up an enjoy.

1 mile on treadmill

September 5, 2013

BOULEVARD BREWING CO. - AMBER ALE  Its pretty hard to distinguish anything in the aroma, theres just not much there, some malt, a little caramel and some grassy notes. Taste is the same, pretty bland overall, but taste is malt forward. I was expecting a little more, not one of my favorites from Boulevard, maybe just a bad batch as i usually enjoy their beers.

SUBLIME - 40 OZ. TO FREEDOM  This is not only Sublimes best album but one of my favorites of all time. If you dont get Sublime, sorry. While often written off as just a punk band, they were much more than that. Just listen to this album, while nothing super complex, great musicianship, great songs, and great vocals. This is just one of those albums where everything just came together perfectly and this was he result and we are lucky to have this. They only released 3 studio albums before the overdose death of their lead singer and guitarist, Bradley Nowell, and i think they would have gone on the be huge. Favorites: Waiting For My Ruca, 40 Oz. To Freedom, Smoke Two Joints,  We're Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance, Badfish, Scarlet Begonias, Date Rape, and KRS-One.

1 mile on treadmill

September 4, 2013

NEW BELGIUM BREWING - ABBEY BELGIAN STYLE ALE  The smell seems very complex, alot going on. Lots of malt with some fruit, caramel, banana and even some coffee. Taste is pretty sweet upfront, lots of fruits; apples, bananas, cherry and breadiness. Tastes great, not much hop prescence at all. Not a huge fan of the Belgian style beers, but this one was pretty good, a nice beer for the dubbel style, i will give it a shot again some day.

JUDAS PRIEST - SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE 30TH ANNIVERSARY ADDITION  This is the remaster of this classic album from 1982 and contains the original album, 6 bonus tracks, and a DVD of a live show. I actually prefer the original recording better, but i only have that on cassette, and i am not even sure where i have those stored right now. The remastering job is pretty poor but this was still worth pickung up for the bonus tracks and especially the DVD which is great. Favorites: Electric Eye, Screaming For Vengeance, and You've Got Another Thing Comin', however the whole album is pretty solid.

1 mile on treadmill

September 3, 2013

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. - IPA, BEER CAMP #93  The Beer Camp series are a series of limited edition, brewed one time only beers. Try them while they are available as you will never see them again. Not much to the aroma on this one, some sweet malts with some floral and citrusy hops; ok, but i was expecting a little something stronger. Tastes pretty darn good though. A little malt up front, but the hops quickly take over - grassy, piney, citrusy, a nice balance. This is a nice American IPA, worth giving a shot. I rate it slightly above average, but its worth trying all the Beer Camp series as they are usually a little unique and dont last long.

O.A.R. - LIVE ON RED ROCKS  First off, i am not a huge fan of these guys, in fact i dont own any of their studio albums, but have heard them all. Seem a little inconsistant to me on the studio albums. However, live, i really enjoy them.  Mostly you get the hits live and maybe some more extra sings from whatever current studio album they are promoting. Listening to just their best songs i like them quite a bit and since these guys built their following by relentless touring, the live stuff sounds really good. I think this is one of their better live albums. If you like them, you know what to expect, if you are not aware of them, this is a good place to start as it is a really fun listen. I dont think you will be dissapointed.

2 miles on treadmill

August success

A few days late on this post as i was traveling over Labor Day weekend and trying to catch up at work since i have been back, so i am a little behind, but i did complete another month! Without actually counting, thats roughly 180 different beers and CDs, countless miles running and biking and $400 donated to various charitiesby me and i know there have been others donating as well.

This months charity is Hardings Hope and i have donated $50 to their cause. This is a local Multiple Sclerosis  organization started by Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding. If you would like to donate, please visit www.hardingshope.org.

My goal was originally to try this for 6 months and that is now complete. Keep checking in as i will have an update in the next few days as to its continuation. In the meantime i will be updating daily until i make my final decision. Again, thanks for the interest, its been fun..........

September 2, 2013

DOGFISH HEAD BREWERY - INDIAN BROWN ALE  Smuggled a few Dogfish Head beers back from my trip since they dont distribute in MN. Very good, hope the others I have are as good as this one, and someday they distribute here.

RATT - INVASION OF YOUR PRIVACY  Second album from the 80s rockers. Sounds good still, might like it better than their debut, pretty close.

1 mile on treadmill

September 1, 2013

SANTAN BREWING COMPANY - EPICENTER AMBER

GRACE POTTER AND THE NOCTURNALS - LIVE IN SKOWHEGAN

1 mile run