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The Formative Years - Die Ärzte

If you read the previous instalment of this series, you might recall that reference was made to two Teutonic bands that at some stage have played an integral part and contributed to the descent of youth into the maelstrom of punk in the 1980/90s.

Die Toten Hosen was one of those and their fierce rivals back in the day were based in Berlin: Founded in the same year as Die Toten Hosen, Die Ärzte started as a trio and not unlike DTH rose out of the ashes of a previous punk band, in this case Soilent Grün.

Funnily enough, both bands appeared on the compilation 20 schäumende Stimmungshits, which features a ditty called “Vollmilch”, which pretty early on signified their musical style and self-deprecating sense of humor. 

In 1983 they recorded their first 7”, before they were signed to the major label CBS, which – again a parallel to DTH - helped to get them exposure outside the confines of underground music and resonated immensely well with teenagers.

A range of albums followed, which saw the band evolve from a minimalist style to more traditional means of distorted rock with their trademark tongue-in-cheek humor remaining the reliable constant USP.

Lyrically, they moved to taboo subjects like incest and bestiality, which got them indexed by the German government equivalent to the PMRC and resulted in the band being unable to play the respective songs live or promote their albums. 
Needless to say, this kind of censorship only added to their appeal as it infused it with a sense of danger, and it became en vogue to trade tapes and sing their songs publicly wherever inappropriate.
Eventually, record sales dropped because of their albums being forcefully removed from record shops and the ever-resourceful band circumvented the ban by releasing all censored songs on an album that was not to be sold to minors, which was also put on the index.

Momentum built and when they released their next album, “Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit”, it charted immediately. The band decided to end things on a high, did one last sold out tour and ended their first chapter in 1987 with a fantastic triple live album, which was celebrated frenetically and sealed their legacy.

When they reformed in 1993, they reformed with a powerful statement against the emerging right-wing development in reunified Germany, the album on which it appeared instantaneously resonated with its varied compositions comprised of rock, punk but also ballads, which were still performed in their trademark ways yet lacked the childish humour and urge to forcefully ridicule everything in their path.

The following albums and decades saw them continue to carve their own niche while scoring number one hits along the way.

All three protagonists ventured out to launch successful solo careers, with Die Ärzte only convening when they deemed that the stars aligned to record a new album or play selected shows and tour, sometimes incognito in little clubs under pseudonyms.

Not unlike Die Toten Hosen, Die Ärzte are pioneers of German punk, which due to their idiosyncratic style is largely unknown outside the confines of countries where their language and humour is not understood and they remain one of the very few bands in Germany with a punk rock pedigree that maintains relevance and successful while not succumbing to any formula.

Water of Live

Glenlivet Caribbean Cask and Bellarine Distillery

Glenlivet is an interesting brand as its portfolio ranges from very affordable mass compatible offerings to expressions that cater to the discerning aficionado. 

Given what Balvenie accomplished with their fourteen-year-old Caribbean cask expression, I was intrigued when I learned about Glenlivet looking at introducing their own rum cask variant to their entry level range and if it would add another facet to its DNA of staple affordable whiskies.

As far as first expressions go, it is essentially a drop that lives up to how Glenlivet announced it, i.e., “a well balanced and exceptionally smooth whisky” with it being bottled at 40% ABV.

Looking for further details as to the maturation, the type of rum barrels and the length of the rum cask barrel finish do unfortunately not yield a result, but given that Pernod Ricard is associated with Havana Club and Montilla, so an educated guess would have me think that casks that previously housed these rums could have been used.

Honey-esque in colour, what tickles the nostrils upon approach is a welcoming melange of syrupy, brown sugar, ripe apples, sultanas, butterscotch, sugarcane and citrussy highlights.

On the top of the mouth, what the aromas hinted at materializes in terms of apples, oranges and vanilla flavours, which are accentuated by white pepper notes and oaky tannins. 

The most interesting part is the mid-length finish as it constitutes the part where caramelly, soft fruity flavours blend in with notes of coffee and rich wood flavours, culminating in a crescendo of dried spices.

Summa summarum, Glenlivet’s Caribbean Cask is a good quality affordable entry point for the uninitiated into the realm of rum cask finished whiskies with a bit of a tropical tinge.

Located south-west of Melbourne and separating Bass Strait from Port Phillip Bay lies the Bellarine Peninsula. 

Being an ever evolving tourist region with a variety of resorts, beaches and wineries, it was only a matter of time until the first distillery was to be established – a feat that was accomplished with the inception of Bellarine Distillery in 2015.

With inspiration drawn from a trip to the Scottish highlands a couple of years prior, the seed was planted for Lorelle and Russell Watson to commence channelling their alchemy in the distillation of gins, for which they found an ex-chicken farm to not only build their empire on but also grow botanicals to refine their unique range of gins.

Fast forward six years and Bellarine Distillery has become an institution in the realm of gin with their idiosyncratic “Teddy and the Fox” gin, named after the real-life fable that occurred with their pooch Teddy having an incident with the local equivalent of Reynard the Fox. 

With the precedent of drawing on occurrences relating to the interaction of their pets with surrounding wildlife having been set, a theme was found for the nomenclature of their range.

Utilizing their custom-made still, Bellarine Distillery honours traditional distilling methods with the focus firmly set on using organic, local ingredients to infuse their had crafted emissions with botanicals giving a sense of provenance.

Bellarine’s Teddy and the Fox’ core expression rests on a juniper forward foundation, which is enriched in equal measure by star anise, orris root, lemon myrtle, orange and coriander, with the result carrying refreshing citrus notes, backed by the melange of the aforementioned botanicals unfolding their magic. 

Being into whiskies, I specifically enjoy that it lends itself perfectly well for sipping.
  
As far as Bellarine Distillery’s gins are concerned, Rosey & the Rabbits, Aged Gin is my favourite expression: Made in small batches and refined with a maturation period in retired Pinot Noir barrels from Scotchman’s Hill Winery, this one offers much more than the standard juniper heavy variant. 

As one would expect, the cask infuses the spirit with delicate oaky nuances and sugary highlights, which are set against a backdrop of 
sweet and tart flavours, limes and hints of salt, culminating in a peppery crescendo, which adds immensely to the complexity.

Again, perfectly sippable and another expression I would refrain from diluting it with tonic.

The Old Dodger is Bellarine’s heavyweight in terms of alcohol content, being a Navy Strength Gin. Marrying botanicals from terra australis with ones from the old worlds, The Old Dodger is being created through a deliberately long distillation process to ensure that the heavier oils are fully extracted, resulting in a flavourful experience. Team it up with a Mediterranean tonic and you got a winner.

Trooper & the Roo rounds out Bellarine Distillery’s portfolio with a desserty lil’ number: With the emphasis resting on the nutty end of the flavour spectrum, the cacao and roasted wattle seed imbue this expression with delicate dark chocolate, dark cherries, almond flavours and just the faintest hint of citrus.

Given the quality and uniqueness of Bellarine’s gin range, I cannot wait to try their whisky expression. 

The Formative Years - Die Toten Hosen

When it comes to the true nature of what could be defined as a “formative” influence when it comes to punk rock during the onset of my adolescence, there are only two gateway Teutonic bands that can also be found on pretty much any pre-millennials’ list who was socialized with punk rock in Germany during the early 1990s. One of those two is Die Toten Hosen.

It was in my pre-teenage years that I made the acquaintance of a Yugoslavian gentleman almost twice my age, who moved to my neighborhood. He looked intimidating in every way, had tattoos, had his own gang, a car and despite his rough antics in public arenas, proved to be a chill and gentle giant during his downtime, which saw him tuning his car and me hanging out. It was through him that I was first introduced to punk rock and more extreme music. One of the bands he played for me in his garage were Die Toten Hosen and their “Opel Gang” album in honour of his vehicle.

Formed in the context of Düsseldorf’s alternative hangout Ratinger Hof and spawned in 1982 out of the ashes of local fun punk band ZK, my first introduction to the band was through their now classic  “Unter falscher Flagge” album, the Schunkelpunk of which resonated instantaneously, which is not further wondrous because of the straight forward approach both in terms of Schlager-like palatable compositions and nonsensical lyrical matter revolving around drinking and the relatable shenanigans of juvenile delinquents.
The 120 minutes long tape my friend recorded for me contained their first four albums, including their first live album “Bis zum bitteren Ende”, the unbridled furious nature of which spawned the desire to see them in the third dimension.

1988 saw them release what should catapult Die Toten Hosen into mainstream terrain, i.e., their “Ein kleines bisschen Horrorshow” album, the tracks of which were all referencing Anthony Burgess’ “A clockwork orange”, which I bought immediately in book form after learning about it, to then venture on to get Stanley Kubrick’s movie version.

1989 offered the opportunity to see DTH perform in my hometown, which proved to be a pivotal experience as their antics on- and offstage resulted in them specifically and punk bands in general being band from playing at that venue for two decades. It was fantastic and exactly as wild and debaucherous as I had hoped for.

Having entered mainstream territory, the band continued to release albums with their ethos still firmly based on punk rock, yet I had moved on to more extreme forms of music and a scene that considered them as sellouts as they started to appear more and more on TV shows and became part of the established cultural canon.

It was not until many years later after I had moved to another continent that I felt the urge to reconnect with German music and revisited their catalogue. I found quite some gems with their albums released after 1990, some of which have become favourites with DTH fusing their original style with power chords and infusing it with influences from fringe areas of the punk, rock, and metal spectrum.

The focus of the band's music has gradually shifted from funny and nonsensical to the more serious and politically ambitious. The songs from the band's first LP were mostly about having fun, but by the end of the 1980s they were focusing more on social issues. 
As one grows older, it proves to be more difficult to find lasting constants that one has a relation to and that can be revisited with reliability. DTH remains one of them.

Thus Let Us Drink Beer – Prancing Pony and Hawkers Brewing

If you have followed this series attentively, no matter where you roam on this earthround, you would be aware by now that the Adelaide Hills in Australia are a hotbed for fantastic libations. Prancing Pony is a brewery from that region, that I have been meaning to cover for the longest time as I have only heard the best things from beer aficionados about their hoppy emissions.

Starting out with home brews and an initial experimental period during which the name  “Prancing Pony” became a thing, the brewery formally incarnated in 2012 and has since evolved to become one of the heavyweights on the firmament of Australian craft breweries with its focus firmly sent on the avoidance of gimmicks, filtration or usage of preservatives and instead focussing traditional recipes and exclusively using water, yeast, hops and malt.

While this could mean that the brews are lacklustre, it is where Prancing Pony shows its capabilities by incorporating non-traditional hops, malts not usually used and innovative approaches when it comes to how they channel their alchemy in terms of refining their brewing and fermentation techniques with their custom-built brewhouse. 

Given that the common denominator of Prancing Pony’s range is the creation of lingering, immensely big flavours and the brewery being in control of all aspects of the process down to the bottling and kegging being done in-house, it does not come as a surprise that its brews are award decorated within as well as outside the confines of terra australis.

My first exposure to Prancing Pony was via their India Red Ale which is a thoroughbred in the most literal sense with its full-bodied malty backbone on which a melange of herbal and tropical hops dance to the beat of an amplified level of bitterness, i.e. 60 IBU. Clocking in at 7.9% ABV, it packs a veritable punch.

Now, when you think that after such an opening things must tame down a bit with their other releases, you are mistaken. 
While Prancing Pony has a core range that caters that should be palatable to casual beer drinkers as well as the uninitiated, their limited special releases push the envelope in every regard and direction possible.

Case in point, the appropriately named Freakshow Experimental IPA. 

What started out as a special concoction for the GABS beer festival, finally found its way into their portfolio. 

Now, when we mention “experimental” in this context, we are not merely talking about the addition and highlighting of interesting flavours, but experimentation in the sense that it stretches the concept of what an IPA is usually defined as and deliberately traverses boundaries into other styles, e.g. upon first approach I thought it was a barley wine with the toffee and spicy hop aromas that tickled my nostrils. 

A first sip had the top of my mouth think it was catapulted into the depths of a Belgian trappist monastery and halfway through the can, it was reminiscent of a rauchiges Teutonic Dunkelbier. Definitely an ale for the more advanced aficionado and a very rewarding one at that, even though it is definitely not sessionable with its monstrous double digit ABV.

I would have a hard time imagining that anyone with a weak spot for beer not being impressed with Prancing Pony and its brews and I cannot wait for their future emissions.

Hawkers is one those breweries that despite having been met with enthusiasm from the craft beer community pretty much ever since they commenced channelling their alchemy in brewing, it had somehow passed me by for the longest time. 

With the name being an allusion to the humble beginnings in the realm of beer slinging with the founders roaming the streets of Sydney promoting 961 Beer from Beirut, Hawkers has grown to not only  an accolade decorated heavyweight on the firmament of Australian craft brewers but also, ever expanding, to be one of the largest independent ones with its emissions also conquering markets in the old world, i.e. the UK.    

2019 saw Hawkers engage in a rebranding exercise and in the same year they released their IPA with a new look, which I was sold on from the first sip as it proved to be an extremely sessionable tour de force when it comes to hops, yet was not as heavy and overwhelming in the malt department, where a lot of other breweries turn things up to eleven for novelty’s sake.

Based on a melange of a powerful quintet of North American hops, i.e. Nelson Sauvin, Citra, Simco, Mosaic and Centennial, the dank aromas emanating upon opening the can are something to behold, with piney hops and tropical highlights dominating the scene, artfully curbed by a resinous bite.

As a companion to a dram of Ardbeg Corrywreckan there is hardly something better I could wish for.

Hawkers’ Hazy IPA is one of the more recent additions to their range and while it is not necessarily my favourite IPA style, it would not be Hawkers if they did not infuse it with their idiosyncratic twist, which makes it a delight.

Hop-wise, the Hazy IPA sees a marriage of Antipodean ones, i.e. Galaxy hops from terra australis and Motueka from New Zealand, and Citra and Mosaic from the new world.

Well-calibrated, nuances of the hops shine through the dense tropical juice, which in equal measure is comprised of orange, lime, kiwi and mango with just the faintest hint of bitterness making an appearance.

West Coast IPAs are my favourites and in this department, Hawkers strikes twice: Their Alter Ego sees New Zealand hops entering the mix, adding an additional dimension that ticks all the boxes in terms of tropical fruitiness, yet also adds a welcome layer of bitterness. The borderline perfect drink to go with spicy Thai food.

Hawkers’ ( https://hawkers.beer ) core West Coast IPA expression does not take any prisoners as it takes all of the aforementioned qualities to the next level. Clocking in at 7.2% ABV, emphasis is on the tried and tested combination of New Zealand and North American hops, resulting in an avalanche of citrus fruits which is counterpointed by a delicious wall of piney, resinous  and hop heavy notes. The result is a lean and dangerously more-ish beast of a WCIPA, culminating in a dry and bitter crescendo.

I cannot wait to get to try Hawkers’ DIPA as well as their Imperial Stout Whiskey…
 

Classical Antiquity in Heavy Metal Music 

Bloomsbury Academic

Examining the connection between modern phenomena and antique times, Bloomsbury Academic’s book series offers in-depth insights on the origin of what we while our time away with during these Coptic times. 

In this case, a whole instalment is dedicated to marrying the study of heavy metal music with the classics, a focus which for aficionados of the genre, i.e. true metalheads, should be more obvious than for the scholars that would form the target audience for the elaborations.

Now, I have read a fair share of academic treatises on “extreme” music and while there is sometimes an interesting thought to be found, more often than not justifications are weaved in as if excuses are mandatory given the seriousness that is dedicated to a seemingly mundane and unacademic subject matter. 

Refreshingly, this is not the case here and instead time is invested in creating common ground through the introductory chapter to then venture on to succinctly elaborate on the authors’ understanding of both the classics of antiquity and the protagonists of heavy metal.

Things get particularly interesting when geo-historical aspects are zeroed in on as well as gender norms and concepts of identity, which is when one feels like revisiting some albums to discover new aspects by tackling the music and lyrical emissions from a new angle, e.g. the oeuvre of Nile and a range of Scandinavian bands.

Needless to say, both antiquity and heavy metal are wide fields and only aspects can be examined thoroughly. While this could mean that selections are overly subjective, it is testament to the academics at the helm of the operation that the examples they pick allow for their deductions to be universally applicable to other contexts.

It goes without saying that the examinations do pay less attention to what the respective bands are trying to convey at face value level, as going beneath is where things get interesting. 

A well-researched, academic yet engaging and thoughtful volume, which comes with a recommended playlist for students lucky enough to have a professor to teach this subject as part of Roman and Greek History university level courses.