May 11th, 2016 - Playing The Game On 30th Street

Good evening!  Your rockin', rollin', and beer drinkin' buddy the Meista here tonight pairing Queen's "The Game" with a 30th Street Pale Ale from Green Flash Brewing Company!  Hell yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Queen
• Title: "The Game"
• Recorded: June through July 1979 and February through May 1980 at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany
  Release date: June 30th, 1980 (8th studio album by Queen)
• Record company: Elektra Records
• Production: Queen and Reinhold Mack
• Album cover art: Christopher Hopper and Peter Hince
• Personnel: John Deacon (bass guitar, electric guitar and piano on "Another One Bites the Dust", and acoustic guitar on "Need Your Loving Tonight"), Brian May (electric, acoustic and twelve-string guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Sail Away Sweet Sister", piano on "Save Me", and keyboards on "Sail Away Sweet Sister" and "Save Me"), Freddie Mercury (lead and backing vocals, piano, rhythm guitar on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and keyboards), and Roger Taylor (drums, electronic drums, backing vocals, electric guitar on "Coming Soon", lead vocals on "Rock It (Prime Jive)", and keyboards on "Rock It (Prime Jive)" and "Coming Soon")
• Additional musicians: Reinhold Mack (keyboards on "Rock It (Prime Jive)")
• Musical style: Hard rock, rock and roll, rockabilly, glam rock, new wave
• Sound: Bold, fun, rockin', and timeless!  Of the album, May stated: "Yeah, that was when we started trying to get outside what was normal for us. Plus we had a new engineer in Mack and a new environment in Munich. Everything was different. We turned our whole studio technique around in a sense, because Mack had come from a different background from us. We thought there was only one way of doing things, like doing a backing tracks: We would just do it until we got it right. If there were some bits where it speeded up or slowed down, then we would do it again until it was right. We had done some of our old backing tracks so many times, they were too stiff. Mack's first contribution was to say, "Well you don't have to do that. I can drop the whole thing in. If it breaks down after half a minute, then we can edit in and carry on if you just play along with the tempo". We laughed and said "Don't be silly. You can't do that". But in fact, you can. What you gain is the freshness, because often a lot of the backing tracks is first time though. It really helped a lot. There was less guitar on that album, but that's really not going to be the same forever; that was just an experiment."
• Major themes: Life, death, isolation, love, lust, danger, rock and roll, etc.
• Tracks:   

1. "Play The Game"
2. "Dragon Attack"
3. "Another One Bites The Dust"
4. "Need Your Loving Tonight"
5. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
6. "Rock It (Prime Jive)
7. "Don't Try Suicide"
8. "Sail Away Sweet Sister"
9. "Coming Soon"
10. "Save Me"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Green Flash Brewing Company (San Diego, California)
• Website: www.greenflashbrew.com        
• Brew: 30th Street Pale Ale
• Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
• Serving: 12 ounce bottle
• ABV: 6.0%
• IBUs: 45
• Ingredients: Warrior, Cascade, and El Dorado hops
• Pour: Hazy, light copper hue with a bright white, bubbly, 1-finger head that has good sustain and lacing.
• Nose: The nose of the 30th Street is a hop-forward blend of tropical and citrus fruit with floral and grassy notes and light malts.  There are notes of white grapes, melon, mango, grapefruit, wild herbs, lemongrass, and summer grass.
• Taste: Like the nose, the taste of the 30th Street is a hop-forward, but very drinkable blend of citrus, tropical fruit, grassiness, and light and bready malt.  There are notes of fresh melon, pink grapefruit, tangerine, herbs, sourdough bread, light biscuit, and subtle hints of caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Light to medium in body with strong carbonation, the mouthfeel is very crisp, very refreshing, and slightly punchy with a clean, somewhat dry finish.

Overall pairing: The more straight-forward rock and roll style of the tracks on Queen's "The Game" require a brew that is both easy-drinking and punchy!  That is exactly what you find in a 12 ounce bottle of Green Flash's 30th Street Pale Ale.  Those citrusy and tropical fruit notes are great for the ethereal guitar work of May and Mercury's amazing vocal range, while the grassiness and maltiness is great for the richly textured rhythm section of Deacon and Taylor!

Cheers... rock on!!