The Day the Music Lived

Day #470 Commercial Suicide / Jester King Craft Brewery, Austin, TX
Previously from this brewery: More Commercial Suicide, Le Petite Prince (plus Revenge of the Nerds!) and more Le Petite Prince (sans Revenge of the Nerds)

Happy Sunday, my friends!  Big day today; spent an early morning getting my new iPod set up.  I may have mentioned earlier that after eight good years, the iPod died a quiet, peaceful death.  Music is important to me, and despite the fact there are no less than four other devices in the house that can access the cloud and play music, a new iPod is necessary.  Particularly so I can have music in my car and provide music to the masses at our legendary tailgates.  Thankfully I'm back in business, and happy as a result.

Beyond getting back into a groove, Sunday was good in other ways.  Spent time doing some important work, ran some errands, and now I'm watching basketball and enjoying a beer.  Could be better, I suppose, but I'll take it with a smile.

While I'm relaxing, I'll give you my review of today's beer, a bottle of Commercial Suicide from Jester King.  While pouring this one, it reminded me of pouring a cola; same color, plenty of carbonation, and a wispy bit of off-white head.  There is an aroma of oak and malt, and when you take a sip it's almost creamy, with barely toasted malt, vanilla, toffee and a earthy, nutty flavor.  There are very little hops and a clean finish.  This one was labeled as a oaked farmhouse mild, but comes across more as an English bitter that spent some time in a wine barrel (that makes sense; it did).  Incredibly interesting mix of flavors, particularly for such a low ABV (3.5%) beer.

Such creepy labels.  Soooo creepy.

Now that I've piqued your interest in this beer, I need to inform you that you're not likely to find too many more bottles of this, as it has been retired by the brewery and no longer produced.  Sorry, Charlie.

Thing to Think About Today:
As many of you know, and some of you have experienced, I like to create a new playlist for every tailgate I attend/host.  It can be a pain to try and mix things up every week, particularly considering some tailgates might be over ten hours long.  However, it's a labor of love, and in the spirit of love, I give you a tailgate song I love to add in to keep the party going.  What, you were expecting something other than I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Q3mHyzn78

"And so we're running just as fast as we can / Holding on to one another's hands"

Day 468: Jester King Commercial Suicide

In one of the worst examples of trip planning, I traveled all the way to Austin to explore the craft beer scene and managed to be there every day except those when Jester King Craft Brewery was open. Lesson learned. Know the beer laws. Use the Internet. Won't make that mistake twice.

Today's beer is Jester King's Commercial Suicide--an oaked farmhouse mild. The label tells me that it's suitable for vegetarians and vegans...one of the odder things I've read on a beer label.

It poured a bright chocolate brown around the edges with medium tan head. The scent was roast coffee and chocolate with a hint of anise. After taking a good sip, I said, "That does a lot of stuff in your mouth." After Mr. Blog Named Brew picked himself up off the floor after nearly dying from a fit of laughter, he said, "Wow. That's unusual." The flavor is smoked. It has a surprisingly thin mouthfeel. Very low level of hop bite but it's in there. It reminded me of those days long ago when putting a torn off piece of loose-leaf paper on your tongue seemed like a good idea...if that piece of paper also spent some time around a fireplace. That is praise, surprisingly enough, when one enjoys a good rauchbier. While not billed at all as a rauchbier, this one was a winner in my book.

Beer stats
Style: English dark mild ale
ABV: 3.5%
IBUs: Unknown
Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Jester King
His and hers reviews of Petite Prince

The Calm Before the Tailgate Storm

Beer #265 Le Petite Prince / Jester King Craft Brewery, Austin, TX

Brief update, as it's one of my favorite days of the year - the night before the first home PSU game.  Campus is alive again, the weather is stupendous, and the tailgate should be in full force.  Let's do this, people!

Today's beer is Le Petite Prince, a farmhouse ale from Jester King Craft Brewery.  This beer has a pale yellow color, and the aroma is light and funky.  You get light flavors of lemon, with mild hops and some peppery spice.  Easy drinking, and quite tasty.

Pay no attention to the man on the bottle

This is another example of a great tasting beer with a very reasonable ABV - a meager 2.8%.  Much less than your typical macro lite beer, in fact.  Is the artwork on the bottle a tad bit creepy?  Sure, it's hugely creepy, but don't let that stop you from buying and drinking this beer.  We're visiting Texas later this year, and we intend to stop by and pay this brewery a visit.

Thing to Think About Today:
So, we're down to the final two movies of "college week", and I've obviously saved the best for last.  Today's movie is Revenge of the Nerds - a movie that made me very seriously consider the fact that I probably wanted to join a fraternity in college.

This classic movie is an "us vs. them" tale, as nerds get kicked out of their house when the jock fraternity house burns down after a party.  The nerds realize that they won't be on a level playing field until they join a fraternity and get a seat on something called Greek Council.  When no other fraternity will allow them to start a new chapter... well... because they're nerds, they look to bring a new organization to campus, Lambda Lambda Lambda.  Once they move in, it's war between the jocks and the geeks, culminating in the Greek Carnival, where the Tri Lams eventually find themselves victorious courtesy of their superior intellect.

This movie boasts an incredibly star studded cast, a killer soundtrack highlighted by the Talking Heads, some gratuitous nudity, elaborate pranks, improbably awesome characters, and huge amount of quotable lines.  It's an absolutely amazing movie, and stands the test of time - it's as funny today as it was back when you first watched this film.  Get back into the spirit of college, and check this classic out again soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw6zrInbtQE

And, just because it's a mind blowing scene and I have this song on my iPod, I present this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mRG2oAQhso

"NEERRRDDDDS! NERDS, NERDS, NERDS, NERDS....."

Beer 237: Jester King and the (creepy) Le Petit Prince

The human body was not designed to work in an office that is 76 degrees.  That kind of heat melts contact lenses and deflates one's will to live. It is basically impossible to discuss budgets, math skills are negated and excessive giggling occurs.  That is all.

Last night I discovered a new brewery -- Jester King Craft Brewery.  It's located in Texas Hill Country and somehow managed to find its way to the suburbs of Philadelphia.  Yea for me!  The only other thing I know about Texas Hill Country is that it's the home of The Bloggess -- hands down one of the funniest writers I've found on the Internet.  Irreverent doesn't begin to describe her humor.  I love her.

But back to the beer. The label for Le Petit Prince may take the prize for creepiest label ever (followed closely by this one) but don't let that deter you. This is quite the tasty beer.

It first caught my eye at TJ's Everyday because of its listed ABV...a whopping 2.9%!  It is an organic farmhouse table beer and table beers seem to be one of my favorite beers lately. 

It poured a hazy straw color with a fluffy white head.  It left lots of lacing as I drank it.  The smell was very light - just a bit of farmhouse ale spiciness.  The taste had the expected pepper and an unexpected salinity...very light but definitely provided a uniqueness to the beer.  Le Petit Prince is light and refreshing and very, very easy to drink.  Cheers!