I didn't know that the Czechs could make a good beer. I have been drinking mostly Bavarian beers since I frequent the Bavarian Grill in Plano but like the many tasty beers of the states I have learned good beer knows no bounds.
Pilsen (Plzeň), Bohemia, in the Czech Republic was where the first Pilsner was made. It was developed in 1842, and was the first bottom-fermented beer.
Pilsner Urquell has a smooth texture and has a slight crisp taste. While reading "The New York Times Practical Guide to Practically Everything" I learned that Pilsners are one of the best summer beers and I definitely agree. They don't have a strong taste and they don't fill you up. Pilsners are very refreshing during the Texas summers. I just wished I discovered this beer earlier.
An Irish Car Bomb is the American name for Guinness, Jameson, and Bailey's Irish Cream. Please DO NOT order this drink by name in Ireland. It is like ordering a 9/11 shot or a Pearl Harbor drink.
FYI don't order a 'Black and Tan' in Ireland either. Those were the colors that the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force wore. Aren't you glad you read Taste of Zach? Else you might be spitting out your own teeth in Ireland. So let us call this drink a Taste of Ireland. Seriously spread it around. Forget calling a drink after the IRA.
Now for this review I must admit that I am cheating. I used Makers Mark besides Jameson and I used too much Baileys on the shot. I know this is blasphemy and St. Patrick couldn't save me now but I had all the materials besides Jameson so I took the leap in the name of science and Irish-American relations!
The amount of Bailey's in this drink is important. If you have too little Bailey's it will taste like straight liqueur, yet if you have too much the drink is too sweet. I played it safe and did the ladder. When you find the perfect medium you can hear the angels cheering you on while you finish your pint of deliciousness .
The Taste of Ireland goes straight to your head due to the fact that you just chugged a beer and a shot in quick succession, which is a good thing. If you have the money and the ingredients I highly recommend to start at least one party night a month this way(depending on how many party nights you actually can have in a month).
I know this is the correct way to celebrate the Irish on St. Patrick's day. Turning a Bud Light green is just a smack in the face to the Saint himself.
I will have to review this mixed drink again but I must say that I enjoyed it.
How it was tasted: Maker's Mark Whiskey, Bailey's, and Guinness poured in a British glass and a plain shot glass.
This unfiltered wheat beer is the first beer I really liked in the USA. Sol was the first beer I loved but our summer fling was propagated in Cancun. My good friend Andy's fiancé introduced it to me in the states while chilling at her place.
During this time I didn't like dark beers like I crave now. This was a simpler time before I realized how good Guinness was. Hoegaarden is a light tasting beer(not in the bad low calories way) and has a hint of orange peel and coriander. I think this beer would be a good way to ease in any novice beer drinker into the world of great tasting beers. This white wheat beer has a crisp taste as well as a natural cloudy presentation.
I recommend that you try this unique white beer with a friend who doesn't like beer to see if this will sway them. If it doesn't get some better friends.
Skrillex blew my mind at 5pm at the Google+! There are no words that can describe there music but it got people jumping and grooving. It was definitely a change from the previous bands.
Sadly ACL's YouTube page doesn't have any of these guys songs. It is probably because Skrillex's music rocked so hard. The above gives you some of the songs they played there.
After that lesson of "Noises you didn't know you liked", we grabbed some food and caught some of Cee Lo. We didn't get to hear all of his songs but we did get to see him sing "Fuck You". That is something you can tell your kids. Again YouTube is no help here but I assume you know the "Fuck You" song.
I am so happy I didn't miss TV on the Radio, another face melting band, at the Google + stage.
Love this song
KXT plays this song but I didn't know it was this super band.
Yeah the music was kicked up a notched. The only way to do ACL.
We grabbed some beef sandwiches from Salt Lick *drooling*. It was actual beef and not some "sloppy Joe" concoction. T'was delicious with there secret sauce.
Like I said the park is huge and the stages are at opposite ends of each other. Google+ and Bud light are pretty close and AMD and Honda are pretty close but the rest of the stages you have to trek to get to. We high tailed it to AMD to see My Morning Jacket. I didn't know My Morning Jacket had such a southern rock sort of sound but it was very groovy.
There are no words to describe the epicness for this Saturday. My Morning Jacket was the rich dessert to this tasty day of music. In my opinion it couldn't have ended any better.
Rating: 10/10 a full day of great bands on a day that could have been super hot but turned out to have just enough rain to cool the crowd with out causing the whole place to be a muddy disaster.
Me and Andy got to ACL early so we could see The Antlers. They put on a pretty good show for a band I didn't know that well. We are even on a Youtube video but you can only find us if you are a pro at Where's Waldo.
We are at minute 2:43.
Andy is a fan of the Antlers and a fan of Young the Giant so we stuck around to get a good spot for Young the Giant at the AMD stage. In between the Antler's show to the time Young the Giant started the stage area got packed. You can see from the videos below.
Cough syrup is probably my favorite.
It was in the 90s F but luckily it started to sprinkle during the Young the Giant concert. We were grateful that the sky continue to drip on us for an hour or so. I am a fan of rain especially when it is hotter than 95 degrees Fahrenheit and you are surrounded by sweaty, energetic fans(people, not the cooling kind). The rain was sublime.
Antlers and Young the Giant make a really cool show by themselves. I think they have a similar chill groove and know how to please an audience. But I payed for 3 days of non-stop face melting, mind blowing, epic music. And so as the day stretched on these things continued to happened.
The Honda stage was close to the Young the Giant show so we voyaged over there to see City and Colour who had a tres bein Canadian show.
Can you imagine having the rain slowly drip on you and cool you while you are surround by a sea of music fanatics and while listening to the above song? I don't have too because I was there. But I still think about it.
We back tracked back to the AMD stage to catch Iron and Wine. Sadly we couldn't hear them that well but they are a good band. If you know there music it doesn't sound as cool on a big outdoor stage. It was still nice to see them though.
I do have beard envy of the singer, Samuel Beam. Keep rocking it Beam!
Saturday Part 2 will be up by the end of this weekend with the review of the whole show. Thanks for reading and I hope you found some cool new music.
These next few posts will be all about Austin City Limits and the odyssey I had. I encourage you to take the time and listen to all the music videos. Enjoy!
Friday: With my sunscreen and my flask of Jameson, me, Andy, and Lindsay headed for ACL. Luckily we got to the concert early enough to get some good spots. In fact we arrived in time to see some of Big Boi at the Bud Light stage.
It is hard to describe the size and the amount of people at ACL. Zilker Park is 365 acres of music, food, and people. Over 70,000 fans attend the festival each day and it was quite the sight to see that many people in one place. People brought their own flags which reminded me of South Padre. Some of the "flags" we saw there included a skeleton Stewie Griffin, A blow up doll, and an "OU Sucks" flag. There must have been at least 50 or more flags per stage.
After this we headed to the Google + stage to see Foster the People. Needless to say they put on a great show. When I started hearing "Pumped Up Kicks" on the radio 24/7 I thought maybe Foster the People was some one hit wonders that made it big fast. They easily proved me wrong.
Right after that we headed to the AMD stage for Bright Eyes, another great band to see live.
After Bright Eyes said their farewells we grabbed a bratwurst and headed back to Google+ to catch the last half of Pretty Lights.
Now if you can't tell from the above videos, Pretty Lights is a killer band. Sadly there is only some many hours in a day so we didn't get to hear a bunch of their songs.
Lindsay wanted to see Kanye West so we headed to the Bud Light stage to prepare. I didn't know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised and entertained. He had most of his songs choreographed by professional dancers dressed up in "artsy" attire (it was hard to describe).Also the fact that he split up his show into 3 acts which was pretty pimp as well.
After that we went back to Andy's place and crashed.
Bands that I wish I could have seen as well: Santigold
Cold War Kids
ColdPlay
Rating for Friday: 8/10 I wasn't there the whole day so it could have been better but I would do it again in a heart beat.
A while back I went to the Hyena's Comedy Night Club with some good friends. I have been there 2 times and both times I had fun and laughed. The only problem with the place is they require that you buy 2 items during their shows. Most of the drinks are priced about how you expect any downtown Dallas "club" to price their drinks. So I ordered a Foster's since I needed a review for it and Foster's had the cheapest beer per volume ratio.
I have not had a Fosters for years. When I hear the word "Australia" I don't think of delicious brewery's, I think of koalas and bearded dragons(which are super cool). After drinking this beer from the oil can I realize Foster's isn't Australian for beer, it is Australian for domestic average lager. I would say this beer isn't much better than your Bud Lights or Miller's of the world. It is a smooth pale lager and probably good for tailgating since it is 5% ABV and the oil can is 25.4 oz but your average beer snob can go on living without trying this beer.
Also if my calculations are correct this post should automatically pop-up while I am at Austin City Limits. There will be reviews for some of the bands at ACL later on this month.
