Bud Tasting Lunch

Budweiser sent me their new 'Project 12' beers to try, and I decided that I wanted to do something a little more fun than just sitting on my couch drinking beer in front of the TV. So I gathered a few friends from my office, and hosted a small "tasting lunch" on a slow day. We just brought whatever we had for lunch into a conference room, shared small samples of each brew and discussed what we thought.

'Project 12' is Budweiser's new innovation arm that dabbles into the craft brew arena and gave us Black Crown. As VP Brian Perkins told PRNewser, "Budweiser brewmasters are the professional athletes of brewing. We threw them the ball and let them show off a bit." This year in their second endeavor, the result is three new beers, identified by the ZIP code where they were brewed. All of the beers were immediately identifiable as Budweiser, made with their proprietary yeast cultures descended right from the culture originally used by Adolphus Busch in 1876 (yeah, I also recently went on a Budweiser brewery tour...), but packed in new flavor.

Batch 94534 from Fairfield, CA is a North Pacific Style Lager that Budweiser describes as a "bold, hoppy lager brewed with a unique blend of North Pacific hop varieties, including Cascade and Palisade, that offers a distinct taste of the American Northwest." We all pretty much agreed that we aren't wild about beers described as hoppy, hoptacular or hoppilicous. The 94534 profile was fairly mild in comparison to craft beers that scream hops, but we were more excited about trying their maltier counterparts.

We saved Batch 23185 from Williamsburg, VA, the Vanilla Bourbon Cask, for last since we expected the "light amber lager aged on a bed of bourbon barrel staves and vanilla beans" to be the tastiest. 23185 did appeal to our sweeter, girly side, but Batch 43229 out of Columbus, OH proved to be our favorite. The Beechwood Bock is "brewed with chocolate and caramel malts for a rich auburn appearance and finished on Beechwood chips for a crisp, clean taste." There it is again, that signature crisp, clean Budweiser finish that is much lighter than most caramely craft beers. This is one we could drink all evening without having to "switch to something not-so-heavy" (how many times have we said/heard that).

As you might see in the pictures, our resident Nicaraguan co-worker also brought some rum for us to try as well. It ended up being a really fun lunch, something a little different to break up the day.

The three new 'Project 12' beers are available as part of a sampler pack in stores now.

A chance to see Le Sacre du Printemps cause a riot.

I almost didn't go to opening night of the Joffrey Ballet's "Russian Masters" program, but I'm so glad that I did. It's a special addition to the regular season, so it's only running this weekend. The thing that really made me want to go though, is the inclusion of Stravinsky and Nijinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, or Rite of Spring. This is the show that literally caused a riot in the audience on its opening night in Paris 100 years ago. You probably know Stravinsky's score which is generally attributed to causing the riot because of its percussion heavy avant garde nature, but it sounds like there were a lot of factors that led to the riot, not the least of which is Nijinsky's choreography (contorted movements and turned-in feet) and the piece's subject matter (oh ya know, virgin sacrifice).

I wrote a preview of the program for Chicagoist based on the press release and of course my previous experience seeing the company, but I get a much better perspective actually watching the pieces. Sometimes I'm invited to preview portions before the opening, which is amazing, but most of the time I write a review the day after the opening. This run however, is so short, and I was leaving town the day after it opened, so I didn't have time for a review, but again, I'm glad that I opted to go.

I should also mention that that there's another great piece on the program from modern day choreographer Possokhov called simply, Adagio. It's a pas de deux that he created for husband and wife team Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili and I swear, he just pushes to see what they are capable of. It's stunning, both in beauty and in breathtaking talent. Not just any dancer could take on this piece.

There are still two more chances to see "Russian Masters" today and tomorrow.

Riot Fest Is Upon Us

Riot Fest begins tomorrow, and like Labor Day is the official end of summer, lets call this one the official end of music festival season. It's been real, it's been fun, see you next summer and all that.

This is where we kick back with our friends, take in the crisp fall weather, reminisce of another great summer gone by, and of course headbang along with some punk bands. Maybe we'll even ride some rides or play some games at the carnival. And obviously we'll take our pictures with the John Stamos butter sculpture for posterity's sake.

We at Chicagoist put together a listing of our choice picks to see at the fest that aren't headliners, because you don't need a reminder to see the biggest bills. My picks were Kitten, New Beat Fund, Pet Symmetry and Peelander-Z, most of which I discovered from having my Riot Fest Spotify playlist on shuffle for the last several weeks. Obviously there are a lot of other acts I'm excited to see, but these are my lesser known recommendations. And there are still more intriguing songs coming through on my playlist!

Endorsement for The National Endowment for the Brents

My friend Brent Puls had some serious f'ing medical problems. Luckily he came through and is doing much better, but now he's got some serious f'ing medical bills to take care of. He's also pretty lucky that he has some pretty spectacular (and talented) friends that decided to put together a digital album to help offset some of those bills.

Who are these spectacular, talented friends, you ask? Well, Rachael Yamagata, Joe Pug, Pat Sansone, Tom Schraeder and JC Brooks are just a few. And Brent's a pretty talented guy himself. A couple of groups that he's been a part of appear on the album, too. There's even some previously unreleased stuff in there, and it's a steal for just $10!

BUY NOW!

New Music Wednesday!

Janelle Monae's new album, Electric Lady, comes out next week, but you can stream it here. I'm only a few songs in, but so far it's pretty jammin, a lot more focused than her debut. It's almost like this girl is being groomed for prime time after moving on from of Montreal to Bruno Mars and becoming a Covergirl. I mean, she's got Erykah Badu, Solange, Big Boi, Cee-Lo and freakin Prince (among others) guesting on this thing.

Nine Inch Nails' new album, Hesitation Marks, is now available after some of the songs being previewed. I was kind of worried because one of the songs I heard ("Everything") sounded more like it belonged in an iPod commercial than on a NIN album. After finally hearing the whole album, I kind of wonder why they would choose to represent it with that track, since for the most part, it's roots-based industrial for the 20 year old group. Once again we're angry and we don't know why, but now we're sitting at desk job instead of behind a locked bedroom door.

Can you buy the song of summer?

I don't care how much you push a single, you can only try to influence the song of summer, Mr Thicke. While "Blurred Lines" is a jam, and the video is certainly, um, intriguing, I don't think it has the same allure as Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" or Icona Pop's "I Love It". But who am I to say that only one song should rock your summer? We took a cab across town last weekend and rocked out to all three of these songs, plus a little of Miley's new tune, "We Can't Stop", and you know what? If the windows are down and the wind's in your hair, and you're singing along and dancing in your seat, you're doing summer right.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Some songs of summers past.

"Taco Taco Tacos"

Hey everybody, guess what day it is!



Peelander-Z is playing Riot Fest next month.