Full Sail: Elevation

Imperial IPA
Full Sail Brewing
Hood River, Oregon
ALC/VOL 7.5%

I've been holding onto this beer for a while, waiting for the right time to pop it. Full Sail is one of those breweries that doesn't cater to a larger audience. They seem quietly content with producing very high end craft brews in small batches for small audiences (not surprising from an Oregon based company, where craft breweries are basically on every block). However, it might surprise you to know that Full Sail is the 9th largest craft brewery in the US. We just on't get it out east all that often.

This brewery produces many different types of beer, but seems to focus the most on IPAs. And while, I've had quite a few of their IPAs and been blown away, this is one of the first released under their "Brewmaster Reserve" label. In the same way that my first good IPA changed my beer pallate, so did trying my first imperial IPA. A little darker look with all that good hoppy taste up front, but finishing with a more caramel and hickory finish, it's one of my favorite all time styles.

As soon as I poured this beer, I was ready to drink it. A beautiful color and event a better scent. Some heavily hopped beers have such a pungent scent, like Dorchester, my first college dorm. But this beer smells more clean and put together, like a well arranged display.

Then to tasting. Shit, this beer is really damn good. It's one of the hoppiest beers I've had while still remaining to keep a smooth and well developed finish. I discover a little more with each sip. It's not that it's very complicated, it's just that there is a lot going on "under the surface". It's very hard to distinguish. If I wasn't enjoying the beer so much, it would be difficult to review. It's almost as if my first few tastes have set a foundation for other flavors to come. About 12 ounces in, the beer starts to take a little more bitterness. But just a few sips later, as I near the end of the bottle, the bitterness rolls back in to a more "earthy sweetness", like a velvety moss or undergrowth. It's very pleasant.

It might be time to find some more of this stuff....

I have to note: maybe this beer tastes so good because I'm listening to some incredible music at the same time. I was able to get my hands on Bon Iver's new album "Bon Iver" about 10 days before it's release. It's pretty unbelievable. I'll save that review for the next post. 

Radiohead: Hail to the Thief

It’s been a little too long since my last review. Then again, a lot has happened since then as well. I left my job with Geek Squad and less than one week later I was starting up my role as Customer Experience Manager for the East Coast for Sonos. For those that know me, this is job that I have been hoping and waiting for a while now. It’s a new fresh upstart style company with huge plans ahead of them. I’m glad to be on board.

Now, with his job comes some considerable travel. Because I’m covering the whole East Coast, I have to fly all over the place at first to get my bearings. Last week, Boston. Today, as I type, I’m in the air headed for Orlando.

Now, after I finished up my packing last night, I grabbed a couple Sierra Nevada Torpedo’s from the fridge and threw on some music on my Sonos zone out on my deck. It was a lovely night at just the right temperature. Not too hot to sweat, but hot enough to want to savor the cold beer. As I relaxed, an idea crossed my mind. I’d have all this free time on flights now, why not put it to use by doing some of my album reviews in the air?

So, before I went to bed, I downloaded a few albums from “this site I know” that offers lossless rips of albums that are encoded at a unbelievable high quality. For instance, today I’ll be listening to a album that was ripped to 24bit – 96kHz Flac files from a 180gm vinyl. Not bad.

The album today; Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief. It would have been easy to have reviewed another Radiohead album first. The three discs that preceded Hail to the Thief, OK Computer, Kid A and Amnesiac are commonly talked about in not only Radiohead circles but the three albums are common put on “greatest of all time” lists. Also, just a note, I’ll be listening to my selection today from seat 11A at 36,000 feet on a set of Shure E4c’s. Alright, enough prologue, time to listen…..

I LOVE the way this album starts!!!!! 2+2=5 is one of my favorite “track ones”. This is maybe only rivaled by Everything in its Right Place, track one of Amnesiac. It’s so simple the way it takes off, and yet, there is so much going on underneath. It took almost 4-5 listens of this track to digest all that is happening. There’s some very faint muted over compressed guitar overtones that arpeggio behind the main melody that add such a great character.

Each track, as it heads towards you, unfolds the direction of the disc more and more. The second track surprises you, starting a little mellower and then ramping up into full “Pro Tools” glory! The third track, Sail to the Moon, is one of my favorite ballads by the group. It has this really heavy “swaying” melody, reminiscent of a Pink Floyd melody. And while each track on this album deserves to be dissected in its own right, one of my favorites the first time I heard it was We Suck Young Blood. The creepy disconnected clap on beat three really sets a uneasy tone for the piece. You feel like you are crawling along a dirty floor, like death. It’s a very grimy piece with haunting melodies that seem to just linger over you in the musical either. That’s not to say that they the group doesn’t surprise you in this piece. About three minutes in, they take an almost double time pace and switch into a more recognizable pop form (for Radiohead). This only lasts 15 seconds though, immediately sinking back down. A really beautiful track!!!

All in all, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. It’s one where every track speaks to me in some way. I think it’s success in my eye’s stems from an album that manages to be very accessible, and completely unattainable at the same time.