The whole story can be found here, but in a nutshell, the house where Serge Bielanko lived with his wife, two children and two dogs, recently burned to the ground. Everyone escaped without injury, but it appears that they lost almost all of their possessions, other than the clothes on their back.

Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I am a huge fan of Marah, and those of you who know me personally probably wish I would just shut the hell up about how awesome I think Marah is. In my more intoxicated moments I have claimed that Marah is better than the Rolling Stones, and further that I would kick the shit out of Keith Richards if he objected to that assertion. In my sober moments, I know that Keith Richards could kick my ass. I drag friends to shows whenever I can, and I even have my young nieces sporting Marah T-Shirts to their elementary school in Texas.  They have no idea who or what a Marah is, but they like the T-Shirts.

I do not know Serge personally. I have spoken to him very briefly after some shows and did contact him via Facebook a few years back to tell him how The Dishwasher’s Dream was helping me through a difficult time in my life. He was kind enough to reply back and give me some encouragement, for which I was grateful. That is the extent of any personal contact we have had, but Serge strikes me as a good guy, and this is certainly a shitty situation.  If you can spare a few bucks to help Serge and his family, you can find donation information at the link above.* In lieu of donating to the Bielanko family fund, Monica Bielanko suggests a donation to the Red Cross in the names of her kids (Info here).

The Twelve Days of Christmas may be over, but surely there is some leftover generosity among my readers. Yeah, I am looking at both of you skulking in the corner over there.   * More beer reviews soon, I promise.

*Naturally, I am too late with this post as they already have closed direct donations to Serge and his family, but you two skulking bastards can still donate to the Red Cross as Monica Bielanko suggested.

Drinking only good beer meant less time spent like this

My 2011 Best Beer list is Texas-centric. There are two reasons for that: First, I live here now, and these beers are readily available to me. Second, Texas is home to some damn fine brewers, although most are relatively unknown outside the state. Texas is the best kept secret of the craft brewing world, but the better brewers are starting to get some attention elsewhere.

Here are the best beers I had in 2011:

8.5 Scores:

1. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

2. Deschuttes Black Butte XXIII

3. Super Des Fagnes Brune

4. Dogfish Head Burton Baton

9.0 Scores:

1. Real Ale 15th Anniversary Russian Imperial Stout

2. Ithaca Excelsior Thirteen Anniversary Ale

3. Saint Arnold Divine Reserve No. 11

4. Mikeller Chipotle Porter

9.5 Scores:

1. Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA

2. Real Ale Barrel Aged Empire IPA

3. Real Ale Sisyphus 2009

If forced to choose one beer as the best of 2011, I’d go with Jester King’s Wytchmaker Rye IPA. That is one tasty beer. Jester King has a busy and creative 2012 planned, so much so that it would not shock me if one of their new beers knocked out the Wytchmaker to take the title in 2012. On the other hand, at the beginning of 2011, I had not even heard of Jester King, so there may be some as yet unknown brewer who will take the crown. We will have to see how 2012 plays out.

*Photo courtesy of Aaron Goldfarb, Author of How To Fail

TWO full bottles of unaged whiskey went into the barrel. After a year, about a half an inch came out.

When I decanted the whiskey from the barrel in the first week of December 2011, I had about two fingers of whiskey, and an empty barrel. The barrel smelled amazing, oak and vanilla and caramel. I needed to put something in the barrel, otherwise it would dry out. As I brainstormed ideas, my brother-in-law said, “Hey, I have a bottle of Jester King Black Metal Stout in the fridge. How do you think that would work?”

“Um, I don’t know, but it’s worth a try…”

And thus the Great 2011 Whiskey Barrel Beer Aging Experiment was on.  I am a huge Jester King fan so there was some trepidation about wasting excellent beer if this was a flop, but fortune favors the bold, so we carefully poured the Black Metal Stout into the barrel, put the stopper back in, and put it in the refrigerator. We decided that we would open the barrel on Christmas Day, after my annual Polar Bear Swim (really more of a plunge and less a swim; basically I jump in the frigid pool and scramble to get my fat ass out before the ice-cold water causes a full cardiac arrest). Jester King’s Black Metal Stout is a big and bold imperial stout which I have reviewed before.  It certainly has the backbone to stand up to some aging in a whiskey barrel. Every couple of days I would go to the fridge and pull out the stopper to get a whiff of the aroma. The whiskey mingling with the stout smelled outrageously good.

Christmas morning finally arrived. I watched my nieces open their presents, silently seething because yet another Christmas morning has come and gone and that fat bastard Claus still has not brought a fucking pony for me, but at least this year my crushing disappointment was tempered by the anticipation of trying the Jester King Black Metal Imperial Stout aged in my very own whiskey barrel. After the presents were opened, breakfast was made and eaten (home cured salmon with a cure of tequila, fennel, and orange confit), and coffee was drunk, the time had arrived for my arctic plunge. My brother-in-law fired up the hot tub, and I stepped out to the edge of the pool and dove in. It was in the mid-thirties that morning, not as cold as years past, but cold enough that had I been timed, I would have set a world record in my frantic swim to the steps of the pool. I had set up the whiskey barrel and some glasses by the hot tub, along with a cigar, cutter, and lighter, for my post polar bear swim restorative. After the warm water worked its magic to allow the use of my fingers again, I lit up the cigar and poured a few glasses of the stout.

The Black Metal Stout and the whiskey merged well together. The intense flavors of the stout were able to stand up to the addition of the caramel, vanilla, and oak of the whiskey.  There was no carbonation at all, as expected, but the intensified flavors made up for any loss of texture brought by the carbonation. The beer is around 10% ABV so the additional alcohol from the whiskey was not all that noticeable in the taste, although I was a bit loopy after drinking it, much more than I would shave been from the beer alone. I am not going to give this a grade. I will just let this picture do the talking:

Nothing says Christmas Morning like a hot tub, a cigar, and a booze infused imperial stout before 10:00 a.m.

*I am going to drink the whiskey on New Year’s Eve, and will have a review posted shortly thereafter.

Of the many film versions of a Christmas Carol, the version starring Alastair Sim is easily the best. (Watch the whole film here)* His mixture of humor and pathos, along with classical acting chops, makes his the best Scrooge of all the film versions. When I read A Christmas Carol, I see Alastair Sim. When I see Alastair Sim in other movies, I think “what is Ebeneezer Scrooge doing in this film?” His is the definitive version, the standard against which all others are measured, and all others are found lacking.

I just saw the 1938 version with Reginald Owen. It was good, but he was not as natural playing Scrooge as Sim was.  There was too much ‘acting’ going on for me to get lost in the movie. I have the same complaint with the version that starred Patrick Stewart a few years ago.  I like Patrick Stewart, but his portrayal of Scrooge is just a showcase for his acting skills, almost as if he figures there is no way he will ever be allowed to play King Lear on American television, so he might as well stretch out with the role of Scrooge.

How long before Kenneth Branagh does a version? Ewan MacGregor is too young and too Scottish, and Hugh Grant is too much of whoopsie to pull it off, but Branagh could do it, and do it well.  Gary Oldman would just scare the kiddies shitless, so he is out as Scrooge, although he could play Marley’s Ghost in the Branagh version. Add Alan Rickman as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Brian Blessed  as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Hugo Weaving as the Ghost of Christmas Future (He did just fine hiding his face in V for Vendetta, so he could do this Ghost) Alan Cummings as Bob Cratchit, with as special appearance by  Stephen Hawking as Tiny Tim, and we have ourselves one hell of a film. This needs to happen.

For the Eleventh Day of Christmas, I cracked open a bottle of Stone Brewing’s 11.11.11 Vertical Epic.* This ale is brewed with Belgian Yeast, which gives it a funky aroma and some banana flavors.  Cinnamon and New Mexico Green Chilies were added to the boil, with the heat from the cinnamon noticeable on the front end, and the mildest heat from chiles in the aftertaste.  The cinnamon and the chilies complement each other, and neither overpowers this beer, as is often the case with chili  pepper or cinnamon infused beers.  There are plenty of hops here as well, adding layers of flavor.  This is another wonderful beer from Stone, 8/10.

*Do you see what I did there? Eleventh Day of Christmas paired with 11.11.11? I am on a roll!

1. The Only Thing I Want For Christmas – Eddie Cantor – We start with a Christmas song sung by a Jewish singer because this is America and we are cool like that. There is a deeper reading to this song (a Jewish singer performing a song that essentially says “I want to be left alone on Christmas”) but I will lighten up in keeping with the season.

2. Feliz Navidad – El Vez – The Mexican Elvis schtick gets old rather quickly, but this cover (with an arrangement based on Public Image by P.I.L.) is just fine.

3. Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley – We follow the Mexican Elvis with Elvis Presley himself. That order does not reflect the esteem in which I hold these artists.

4. Christmas Island – The Andrews Sisters – My grandmother had a stack of Andrews Sisters’ albums, so their music was a prominent part of my youth.  They were the World War II era equivalent of Wilson-Phillips, minus the morbid obesity, lap band surgery, and drug abuse.

5. Santa & The Doodle-Li-Boop – Art Carney – I am assuming that plenty of highballs were consumed during the recording of this sing. I do not have any background information on the recording session, but my guess is that Jackie Gleason was the bandleader.

6. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – BeauSoleil – Nice cajun shuffle arrangement on this traditional Christmas song.

7. I saw Three Ships A Sailing – Marianne Faithfull & The Chieftains – For the longest time, I dismissed Marianne Faithfull as being nothing more than Mick Jagger’s ex-girlfriend, who, although quite attractive, had no real talent to speak of. Having recently listened to the better part of her recordings from the Sixties, I admit that I was wrong about her lacking talent.  This song was recorded with the Chieftains several years back, and her world weary voice accentuates the song’s hopefulness.

Because nothing says Christmas like Marianne Faithfull in lingerie

8. Christmas in New Orleans – Louis Armstrong – Louis Armstrong singing about New Orleans. Yeah, the song is slight, but it doesn’t matter, does it?

9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Marah – Did anyone think I would make a Christmas playlist and not have Marah on it? Let’s move on.

10. Christmas Must Be Tonight – My Morning Jacket – This uses the same arrangement as the Band did, and Jim James is not the singer that Rick Danko is, but I still like this version.

11. Here It Is Christmastime – Old 97s – I am not a huge fan of these guys, but I do like this song

12. Winterlude – Joe Ely – While it is technically not a Christmas song, it is Joe Ely singing a Dylan song, and it has a winter solstice feel to it, so it makes the cut.

13. Frosty The Snowman – Flaco Jimenez – Anybody having tamales tomorrow night? I am. It is apparently a Texas tradition, but what do I know, I am from New Jersey.

14. O Come O Come Emmanuel – Belle & Sebastian – This band’s quiet sound is nicely suited for traditional Christmas songs, as you can hear.

15. What Child Is This? – Sarah McLachlan – Including Sarah McLachlan on a playlist usually results in instantaneous revocation of your Man Card, but in my defense, this is a Christmas Playlist, and she does a nice version of this song.

16. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Tift Merritt – I loved Tift Merritt’s first few albums, but have not heard her more recent work. I admit that I was initially drawn to her because she was easy on the eyes, but she has a good blue-eyed soul voice and is an accomplished songwriter. This song’s melancholy feel is perfect for her.

17. Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) – The Ramones – We end with the best rock and roll band to come from New York. Merry Christmas Everyone, No Fighting!

Download the Tilting Suds Christmas Playlist, Vol. II here.

On a more cheerful note, check out Marah covering A Fairytale of New York.  It is only a fragment, but I like it:

This is the Pogues performing the song on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1988 in London. I was at this show, and can pick myself out of the crowd in the shot at the end of this clip. I would point out which one was me, but then you’d all ask, “How’d you get so fucking fat since then?”:

I am a huge fan of Sierra Nevada. Their beers are consistently good to great, with one notable exception, giving them a Hall of Fame batting average. The Celebration Ale is one of their better beers.  There is nothing especially Christmassy about this beer as there are no spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamon; it is not particularly heavy; nor is the 6.5 % ABV is all that high. In fact, the only signifiers that this is a Christmas beer is the end of the year release date, and the poinsettias, pine trees and snowbound cabin on the label.  I am not complaining as this malty and hoppy IPA is one of my favorite harbingers of the Holiday Season, along with Advent Calendars, the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol, and Christmas cookies, loads and loads of Christmas cookies.  My only gripe with this beer is the limited availability as I would drink this all year long. It is that good, 8.5/10.

The First Day of Christmas

The Second Day of Christmas

The First Day of Christmas

The Second Day of Christmas

I have never had a brown ale that I loved. I have never had a brown ale that I hated. Brown ales are the mediocre middle children of the craft beer world. Damn near every brewer makes one, and whenever I have one, I am always slightly disappointed. Not because whatever brown ale I am drinking is bad, but because I could have had something better.

Winterbraun by Lost Coast Brewing is a chocolatey smooth brown ale, with some notes of coffee and dark fruit.  It pours a rich, velvety blackish brown with ruby highlights, and a cappuccino colored head. It has a nutty aftertaste and and there is the mildest of nutmeg flavors here. Do I love this brown ale? No I do not, but I do like it more than most brown ales, and would gladly drink this again, 7/10.

The First Day of Christmas

The Second Day of Christmas