April 29th, 2016 - Everybody Knows This Is The Direction To Nowhere

Hey there!  Your drinkin' buddy the Meista here today with another pairing for ya... a Directional Smoked Porter from the Vernal Brewing Company and Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"!

Album Info:

• Artist: Neil Young with Crazy Horse
• Title: "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"
• Recorded: January and March 1969 at Wally Heider Recording in Hollywood, California
  Release date: May 14th, 1969 (2nd studio album by Neil Young and 1st with Crazy Horse)009-02-03)
• Record company: Reprise Records
• Production: Neil Young and David Briggs
• Album cover art: Frank Bez
• Personnel: Neil Young  (guitar and lead vocals) with Robin Lane (harmony vocals on "Round And Round"), Ralph Molina (drums and backing vocals), Bobby Notkoff (violin on "Running Dry"), Billy Talbot (bass guitar), and Danny Whitten (guitar and backing vocals)
• Musical style: Rock, folk rock, blues rock
• Sound: Darker, more raw (sometimes beautifully sloppy), methodical, and starker than his first album, with "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" created a masterpiece of pervasive depth and honesty... both in the lyrics and the music.  Of the album, Young had the following to day in 2012: "That whole album is so pure.  I love that music.  I love that old feeling of just the music. Nothing else mattered to us then… There was no success, nothing to live up to, just love and music and life and youth.  That was a happy time.  That is Crazy Horse"
• Major themes: Isolation, death, desire, rebellion, deception, life, etc.
• Notes: 3 songs on "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" are longtime standards in Young's performance repertoire: "Cinnamon Girl", "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand", all of which were written in a single day while Young had a 103 °F fever!
• Tracks:   

1. "Cinnamon Girl"
2. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"
3. "Round & Round (It Won't Be Long)"  
4. "Down By The River"
5. "The Losing End (When You're On)"
6. "Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)"
7. "Cowgirl In The Sand"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Vernal Brewing Company (Vernal, UT)
• Website: http://www.vernalbrewingcompany.com/      
• Brew: Directional Smoked Porter
• Style: American Porter (Smoked)
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 4.0%
• Pour: It pours a deep, rich, and opaque chocolate brown with a creamy half finger light mocha head with great retention and layered lacing.
• Nose: The nose of the Directional Smoked Porter is roasty, toasty, slightly sweet, and smoky.  There are aromas of roasted coffee beans, roasted malts, hints of bittersweet dark chocolate, and campfire smoke. 
• Taste: Following the nose, the taste is a perfect blend of roasted malt, nuttiness, bitter dark chocolate, and smokiness.  There are notes of liquid smoke, black coffee, hazelnut, hearty bread, baker's chocolate, soft caramel/toffee, and hints of fresh herbs.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with moderate carbonation, the Directional Smoked Porter's mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, but with enough bitterness and smokiness to provide some nice bite.  The finish is dry with lingering smoky, chocolate, and nutty notes.

Overall pairing: There's a rustic and deeply rich quality to Vernal Brewing Company's Directional Smoked Porter that lends itself incredibly well to the raw, but very honest and powerful elements of Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"!  The smokiness in the Directional seems to have been brewed with Young's vocals and guitar work in mind!

Cheers!!