December 30th, 2012 - Who Cares For Brother David?

The Meista here with another pairing today for you friends!  This one finds me pairing Brother David's Double Abbey Style Ale from Anderson Valley Brewing Company and double album "Who Cares" from Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi, a collection of "classics, rarities, unreleased recordings, collaborations, new mixes, and forgotten songs" from the long careers of these two gentlemen.

Brother David's Double Abbey Style Ale is a rich and malty ale with spicy and phenolic elements in the style of Belgian Trappist Monk "abbey dubbels."  It pours a deep mahogany with a thin, tan, and dissipating head.  The nose is sweet and slightly spicy with subtle ester notes as well.  Aromas of brown sugar, malt, and yeast mingle with dark fruits and cloves and ever so slight banana.  The flavors of this dark Belgian ale and sweet, complex, and very engaging.  There are notes of dark fruits like plum, fig, and black cherry on the front end.  There's a sherry-like booziness in the middle and a dry, malty finish with spiciness as well... clove, nutmeg, and pepper.

A rich and complex ale deserves and equally rich and complex album.  Like the Brother David's Double Abbey Style Ale, "Who Cares" is rich, complex, and very engaging.  It is a double album that evolved from a couple of new singles put together by hard rock royalty, Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi to raise money for charity.  The album is a Black Sabbath and Deep Purple fan's dream album, filling in gaps and exposing missing rarities only having been rumored in the past!  Two new tracks, "Out Of My Mind" and "Holy Water" are performed by the Who Cares band featuring Ian, Tony, Jason Newsted (Flotsam and Jetsam/Metallica), the late Jon Lord (Deep Purple/Whitesnake), and Niko McBain (Iron Maiden).  Along with these two amazing tracks, the listener is "razzle dazzled" with an hour and a half of richly wonderful and complex previously unreleased gems!  There are Gillan era Black Sabbath tracks, solo works, amazing studio and live collaborations (Deep Purple featuring Ronnie James Dio on vocals with Ian!), and re-recorded tracks.  Some of the highlights include "Trashed" re-recorded by Ian and Tony with Ian Paice and Roger Glover of Deep Purple, "Get Away" by Ian and M. Rakintizis, two rare Iommi and Glenn Hughes tracks, and "Dick Pimple," a previously unreleased jam from Deep Purple.   This album simply kicks ass!!

If you dig Belgian dark ales, you need to grab a bottle of Brother David's Double Abbey Style Ale.  And if you love Black Sabbath and/or Deep Purple, "Who Cares" is an album you must add to your collection!

Cheers!!