February 12th, 2022 - Invaded By A Space Cowgirl

 

Alright my friends... the Meista here pairing another great craft brew today with another great album!  This evening I'm going with the mighty Ace Frehley and his rockin' "Space Invader" (Deluxe Edition) album along with Space Cowgirl Coffee Blonde Ale from the fine folks at Fisher Brewing Company!  Hell yeah!

Album Info:

• Artist: Ace Frehley
• Title: "Space Invader"
• Recorded: 2014 at The Creation Lab in Turlock, California, The Hideout in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ace in the Hole Studios West in San Diego, California, The Green Room in Los Angeles, California, and Spitfire Studio in Los Angeles, California
• Release date: August 19th, 2014 (technically Ace Frehley's 6th solo studio album, if you include the 1978 Ace Frehley KISS album studio album)
• Record company: E1 Music
• Production: Ace Frehley
• Album cover art: Ken Kelly
• Personnel: Ace Frehley (guitars, bass, effects, and lead and backing vocals) with Matt Starr (drums, percussion, and backing vocals), and Chris Wyse (bass)
• Additional musicians: Phil Allen (backing vocals), Chris Cassone (backing vocals), Rachael Gordon (backing vocals), Ken Gullic (backing vocals), Warren Huart (backing vocals), Ronnie Mancuso (backing vocals), Larry Russell (backing vocals), and Alex Salzman (keyboards)
• Musical style: Heavy metal, hard rock
• Sound: With a very 1970s feel, "Space Invader" is a rambunctiously spacey and rockin' good time!  From the opening notes of the title track to the humorous fade out of "Starship" ("Did anybody see George Jetson?"), Ace's guitar work and vocals sound youthful, vibrant, and along the lines of the Space Ace of yesteryear!  The guitar work on "Past The Milky Way" alone is worth every damned dime of this gem!  I was really happy to see that monster drummer Matt Starr (Ace's touring drummer) contributed to the album as well. 
• Major themes: Space and space travel, aliens, journeys, love, relationships, desire, rebellion, rock and roll, etc.
• Tracks:

1. "Space Invader"
2. "Gimme A Feelin'"
3. "I Wanna Hold You"
4. "Change"
5. "Toys"
6. "Immortal Pleasure"
7. "Inside The Vortex"
8. "What Every Girl Wants"
9. "Past The Milky Way"
10. "Reckless"
11. "The Joker" (Steve Miller Band cover)
12. "Starship"
13. "Space Invader" (radio edition)
14. "Gimme A Feelin'" (radio edition)"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Fisher Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://www.fisherbeer.com//
• Brew: Space Cowgirl Coffee Blonde Ale
• Style: Coffee Blonde Ale 
• Serving: 25-ounce crowler can
• ABV: 5.0% 
• Ingredients: "Several pounds of ground coffee is used to achieve this--all from The Salt Lake Roasting Company.  This custom blend includes exotic beans from Honduras, Guatemala and Ethiopia."
• Pour: The Space Cowgirl pours a clear, golden-amber hue with an off-white head, half-finger head that dissipates to a thin ring with trace lacing.
• Nose: The nose is roasty, earthy, malty, toasty, and slightly hoppy.  There are aromas of rich, strong coffee beans, barley, hints of pine resin, and light caramel. 
• Taste: The taste of the Space Cowgirl follows the nose with lots of roasty, malty, hoppy, and earthy flavors.  There are notes of dark roasted coffee, crackery biscuit, toasted bread, black tea, light pine, and soft caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and moderately carbonated, the mouthfeel is crisp, with a slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: The crushable, very drinkable tastiness of the Space Cowgirl Coffee Blonde Ale is perfect for a evening of rocking the hell out to the rockin' goodness that is the mighty Ace Frehley!  Those bold, roasty flavors are great for the soaring guitars while the malty backbone goes great with the heavy bass and drums as well as the tight musicianship and the hard rock sensibility and inventiveness.  Man, this album is just plain bad-ass rock and roll from start to finish... a real joy to listen to with a frosty brew!  I picked up this bad boy from my buddy Kevin at the Heavy Metal Shop (www.heavymetalshop.com) and you should too!!

Cheers!!  Rock on!!

I interviewed Ace's drummer, Mr. Matt Starr waaaay back in February of 2013... read it here: http://brewsandtunes.blogspot.com/2013/02/february-4th-2013-interview-with.html