Blog — Page 119 of 281

Thus Let Us Drink Beer - Mountain Culture Beer Co

If you ever descend on terra australis and happen to find yourself on the East coast, a visit to the Blue Mountains is mandatory. Apart from scenic lookouts and fantastic trails around the National Park, the region has established itself on the radar of connoisseurs for all kinds of crafty emissions and Mountain Culture Beer Co is no exception.

Inspired by their beautiful surroundings, the colour palette of which also manifests itself in the décor of their liquid emissions, Mountain Culture made quite an entry on the ever expanding Australian craft beer scene as their portfolio ranging from session ales made to lagers and especially their much sought after one-off limited releases have been of a consistently high standard.

Having originally come to Australia to head the launch of another great Australian brewery, i.e. Modus Operandi, DJ and Harriet McCready fell in love with the Blue Mountains and eventually opened a brewpub.

Now, we have covered Modus Operandi before and if you are vaguely familiar with their exquisite brews, it should not come as a surprise that with how Mountain Culture channels its alchemy, you are in for a treat.

A personal favourite and discovery of 2020 has been their Double Red IPA, which takes hoppy awesomeness to the next level: Double dry hopped with the cream of the crop  of American hops, the beer is immensely  flavourful without falling prey to venturing out into novelty territory like to many of its contemporaries. At the core, a dominating fruitiness based on passionfruit and mangos accentuates the foundation of dry hops, pervaded by citrusy highlights and a savory malt foundation that elevates the perfectly calibrated finish. The fact that the fairly high alcohol content of 8% ABV hardly registers, should give you an indication of its flavourfulness.

Having paired it with an Ardbeg Corrywreckan, it has redefined the joy that a well paired boilermaker brings.

While I find the Double Red IPA hard to be topped, Mountain Culture’s line-up has a range of interesting brews, of which the Moon Dust Stout stands out with its subtle melange of cocoa and coffee notes, the nuances of which soar high before descending with a creamy bitterness that ticks all the boxes of what a Stout should be, yet it less heavy and much more sessionable than other variants.

Summa summarum: Mountain Culture Brewing is one to watch for anyone remotely into liquid hoppy treats and I hope to be able to shed light on their future releases.

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image from company website

Water of Life - Iniquity Single Malt Whisky Batch 18, 19 and SS Ferret Rum

When it comes to Australian whiskey, Ian Schmidt and Vic Orlow are royalty. Evolved from a collaboration with Southern Coast Distilling their Tin Shed Distilling Co spawned Iniquity Single Malt Whisky with the logo of the brand paying homage to its credo: A double-headed phoenix like dualistic creature with one head honouring the traditions of the past and the other channelling their alchemy into the future.

Iniquity’s approach to whiskey making is informed by a curated approach, which results in small batches matured in carefully selected barrels with emissions being bottled when it feels right to them.

Having gained massive exposure over the last couple of years and decorated with accolades, production was ramped up, yet demand has grown proportionally with individual batches selling out quickly after being released to the public.

We were lucky to sample two of the recent batches, i.e. #18 and #19.

Iniquity Batch No. 018 was matured in port and sherry casks and its spicy oak aroma rest on a foundation of caramelly, piney notes that are reminiscent of a damp forest. Interesting.

What materializes on the palate is a creamy natural extension with toffee and spicy chocolate taking over, accentuated by highlights rooted in eucalyptus.

As you might be able to tell, there is quite a spectrum covered as far as the flavour profile is concerned and the finish culminates in a lingering spicy, chocolatey cinnamon crescendo with hints of nutmeg.

Not bad at all.

Iniquity Batch No. 19 takes things up a notch as I find it a tad less bold and more on the subtle side of things:

Upon approach, the trademark spicy herbal notes are present, yet they are punctuated by citrus and orange notes, which seamlessly transition to what hits the top of the roof: A wonderfully complex melange of orange, baked apples, cinnamon and spices, with the orangey bits taking over throughout the elongated finish. Delightful and dangerously more-ish.

A new favourite of mine amongst the Iniquity batches.

Given the consistent quality of Iniquity’s drops, I was intrigued by the announcement of their first rum being launched. Thematically the rum series is centred around each expression being tributes to ships lost at sea or wrecked, hence the name Requiem.

SS Ferret is fabled to have been a steam ship that disappeared in Scotland and eventually resurfaced in Australia under a new name, where it remained before it was wrecked in 1920.

Having matured for six years in American Oak Port Casks, the nose of the Requiem Rum SS FERRET is reminiscent of Batch #19 with the molasses taking on a dominant role that accentuates the sweet flavours of orange marmalade and cherry chocolate.

While flavours follow what tickled the nostrils, I find it refreshing to taste a bit of bitterness coming through on the palate resting on foundation of orange sweetness, which extends into the finish that is enhanced by oaky cask flavours.

Not usually being too much into rum, I very much like the fact that it is much less sweet than the widely available mainstream rums and instead offers a flavour profile that is more complex by spices and bitter notes shining through.

Iniquity’s step into the world of rum is yet another testament to their craftmanship, which manages to hit nuances other distilleries can only dream of.

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image from company website

High Adventures in the Great Outdoors - Outlaw Soaps

Fragrances can be many things - enhancing mood and being a seduction tool being two of them. Now, my dear crust punks, what are the qualities that makes a soap good?

Sure, there’s the ability to lather, to trap the dirt on the skin and wash it away, the amount of moisture that is left on the skin and the firm vs. creamy ratio, i.e. the stability and creaminess of the soap lather

Now, with mainstream soap offering emphasis seems to be on the usage of the staples, i.e. olive, coconut and palm oils and it makes sense as they are responsible for the provision of conditioning qualities, the hardness after saponification and giving the lather its creaminess.

Making soap with the oils would result in a product that will get the job done, however, it would be pretty bland.

Enter Outlaw Soaps, an entity that channels its inner Tyler Durden by creating Wild West themed personal hygiene products that tend to scale on the more adventurous side of things.

Whiskey, campfire and gunpowder anyone? Needless to say, that I was intrigued and delved into what Danielle and Russ Vincent from Sierra Nevada has to offer.

Having built Outlaw Soaps around what they feel passionate about, their range result in an interesting portfolio that make you smell a tad bit different than the average joe and, in essence, cater to an audience that has a weak spot for anything related to the great outdoors and fire. Stating that it is an acquired taste would be an understatement par excellence, as subtlety is not meant to be a quality that ranks high on Outlaw Soaps agenda.

Take one of my favourites, i.e. the Fire in the Hole soap, which – spoiler alert – is graced with a very telling name. Based on a vegan combination of oils, paraben and DEA free, once water hits the dangerously explosive looking bar, you find yourself engulfed in a potpourri of outdoors aromas of smoky campfires, whiskey, leather and sage.

For what at first smell might sound counterintuitive (or plain weird) for what a soap is traditionally meant to achieve, Outlaw Soaps are far from being novelty products as they leave an intriguing a well-calibrated scent that is much more enjoyable and less penetrant than what the description would suggest.

For anyone into outdoorsy activities, heartier fragrances and into trying fun new things, Outlaw Soaps’ portfolio will not disappoint, as the portfolio covers the range from lotions, creams, cologne, deodorant, body and hand washes along with scent variations that will appeal to a feminine audience.

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How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy

Allen & Unwin

In this turbulent day and age, the question how the world thinks is an interesting one and Julian Baggini’s endeavour to determine a common denominator behind what fuels beliefs and forges answers to moral questions intrigued me.

Now, no matter how troublesome things get, the debate around who can lay claim on how to do philosophy properly dates back to ancient times, i.e. orthodox Greeks critiquing that the discipline could have potentially emanated from Egypt or had sources elsewhere. The debate has only intensified over the last five decades with, with one school of thought claiming that philosophy is an exclusively Western phenomenon, which constitutes a borderline imperialistic viewpoint.

What Julian Baggini accomplished with his tome is that he sheds light on intellectual traditions in a chronological manner, which allows for both the luminaries as well as the uninitiated to access essential information as Baggini manages to simmer the essence of conflicting voices down to core arguments.

Not surprisingly, once scales of extreme positioning is stripped away, it becomes transparent that the underlying moral questions are fundamentally congruent between cultures – a conclusion that makes sense if, as Baggini does, philosophy is not approached as a merely academic discipline, but one every individual delves in, with local, societal, cultural and timely contexts being influential factors.

I specifically like how polarities between Eastern and Western approaches are not the end but the starting point for Baggini to eventually arrive at a deeper understanding that distinctions help to determine commonalities and the nuances that come with them.

The book is a written plea for dialogue and a rebalance by sketching the outline of a greater self-consciousness that has a tangible impact on our ethical and moral choices, without denying the existence and necessity of paradoxes.

In simplified punk rock terms, the take away from How the World Thinks is that it is not about where you are from , but where you are at and the need to learn how to become self-aware and willing to enter productive dialogue in a bid to not get caught in myopia.

The Formative Years - Weird System Records

This new series will be focussed on bands, labels and people that proved to be immensely influential during my formative years as a juvenile delinquent, and Weird System shall be the first entity to be shed light on as its focus had always been firmly set on careful curation of its catalogue and releases, which helped to broaden my horizons and exposed me to facets and nuances of punk rock.

It must have been around 1990 that I dialled the numbed that was listed on the Keine Experimente compilation. I found myself quickly engulfed in vivid conversation with a gentleman by the name of Mansur Niknam and subsequently fall even deeper in love with a German punk record label that has maintained a near flawless catalogue to this day. I was in my early teens and as I was still labouring with puberty vocal change, my go-to was to rough up my voice by puffing several unfiltered Gauloises to rough it up and transform it into what I perceived to a more bassy, world-weary older scenester voice.

It was long before the advent of the internet and in order to find out more about something you felt passionate about, you either had to travel there, send a letter and pick up the phone to get info from the horse’s mouth.

Mansur could have not cared less about my age and after some introductory exchange of pleasantries took the time to answer the myriad of questions I had burning under my nails not only about his label and the bands on it, but how he got into punk rock and the scene at large.

Needless to say that it only intensified my appreciation for Weird System and the man behind it but set me on a mission to collect all of its releases.

Weird System’s first release was the legendary compilation Waterkant Hits from 1983. As the name suggests, the focus was firmly set on bands from Hamburg and in many aspects, it is the Northern German equivalent to the fantastic KZ 36 compilations, which covered the early punk scene of West-Berlin. While the compilation is comprised of a potpourri of bands indulging in different styles, one could tell that there was an idiosyncratic common denominator to those bands that appealed to me instantaneously.

A favourite release of Weird System and one of my all-time-favourite punk records is SS Ultrabrutal’s ‘Monstren Mumien Mutationen’. While the name initially had me think that the sonic emissions must be akin to Finnish ultra-hardcore vacuum core releases of Rock-O-Rama of the time, musically the record is rooted in classic ’77 style and pervaded with a well-calibrated sense of humour that was not often found in the early days of German punk, as there was hardly anything to be found between the poles of  political hardcore and non-sensical, insignificant fun punk.

The two volumes under the  ‘Keine Experimente!’ compilation, an homage to Konrad Adenauer’s bonmot, should be recommended to anyone remotely interested in early German punk rock as the featured bands are the crème-de-la-crème of what the country and specifically Hamburg during the Cold War.

Razzia was a band whose influence on the sound of the scene has to be ranked amongst trailblazers like Slime and Toxoplasma. Their debut ‘Tag ohne Schatten’ is still on rotation to this day, along with literally all albums by the unique Blut+Eisen, who musically and lyrically took things to the next level.

Blut+Eisen formed in Hannover and it was not only Maximum Rock’n Roll who acknowledged that what they channelled with their debut in 1984 was one of the most intense and hardest-driving riffs-heavy albums to ever emerge from the old world. A band with a flawless catalogue of hits.

Torpedo Moskau could be claimed to have been on all-star group and albeit short-lived, their classic ‘Malenkaja Rabota’ album brought an interesting melodic tinge to the mix, which at times was reminiscent of The Wipers – a band that Weird System exposed me to later on as they re-released the first two albums of the iconic band from the Pacific Northwest.

Even more melodic was Neurotic Arseholes’ ‘Angst’, whose song-writing skills and lyrical prowess added another dimension to a scene that was on the verge of becoming stale by carbon copying the same old formula.

As the Nineties approached, Weird System Records branched out a bit and amongst locally focussed releases and compilations, such as the fantastic retrospective ‘Paranoia in der Strassenbahn - Punk in Hamburg 1977-83’, stylistically and geographically more diverse bands found their way onto the roster, by which time my interests had meandered elsewhere, i.e.  American and Japanese hardcore.

Over the following years, great compilations like e.g. ‘Slam-Brigade Haifischbar - Punk in Hamburg 1984-90’ continued to document the history of Teutonic punk rock and many moons later with its 44th release, the stellar  ‘Wenn kaputt dann wir Spass - Berlin Punk Rock 1977-1989’ compilation documented an era in a dedicated and thorough manner that only Weird System could.

Reworked and enhanced re-releases of classic German punk rock albums followed, e.g. Slime’s early back catalogue and retrospective discographies of bands like Abwaerts, Zerstörte Jugend, Vorkriegsjugend, The Buttocks, Toxoplasma, Inferno and the fantastic and criminally underrated Middle-Class Fantasies.

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image from label website