June 12th, 2022 - Bad Stratatude!

 

Hello and happy Sunday hop heads and headbangers!  The Meista here tonight getting wild with a pairing of "Bad Boy Live!", the live album by legendary guitarist John Sykes and a tasty and hoppy Stratatude Pale Ale from the fine folks at Fisher Brewing Company!  Hell yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: John Sykes
• Title: "Bad Boy Live!"
• Recorded: April 2004 in various venues in Japan 
• Release date: December 16th, 2004 (1st live album by John Sykes)
• Record company: Victor 
• Production: John Sykes 
• Album cover art: ?
• Personnel: John Sykes (guitars and lead vocals) with Tommy Aldridge (drums), Marco Mendoza (bass and backing vocals) and Derek Sherinian (keyboards and backing vocals) 
• Additional musicians: Rich Mazzetta (acoustic guitar on "Jelly Roll") 
• Musical style: Hard rock, heavy metal
• Sound: Each song is delivered with musical mastery, hard rock sensibility, and passion.  The guitar work on "Crying In The Rain" alone is worth the price of the album, but the delivery of each song is fantastic.  A favorite of mine, "Look In His Eyes" from the 1997 Sykes album "20th Century" slays on this live album!  The version of Blue Murder's "Jelly Roll" is rich, warm, and honest.  "Still Of The Night" is delivered with ballsy power and dead-on musical precision.  And the two tracks from Thin Lizzy's last album, "Thunder And Lightning" are powerhouse rockers!
• Major themes: Life, love, relationships, loss, rebellion, etc. 
• Tracks: 

1. "Bad Boys"
2. "We All Fall Down"
3. "Cold Sweat"
4. "Crying In The Rain"
5. "Jelly Roll"
6. "Is This Love"
7. "Look In His Eyes"
8. "I Don't Wanna Live My Life Like You"
9. "Please Don't Leave Me"
10. "Still Of The Night"
11. "Thunder And Lightning"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Fisher Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://fisherbeer.com/
• Brew: Stratatude Pale Ale 
• Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
• Serving: 32 ounce "crowler" can
• ABV: 5.0% 
• Ingredients: Strata and Chinook hops 
• Pour: The Stratatude Pale Ale pours a slightly cloudy, golden-caramel amber hue with a hefty 1+ finger, off-white, frothy, and firm head with great retention and loads of intricate lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a wonderfully aromatic blend of citrus and berries, with more subtle tropical fruit, floral, and grassy characteristics.  There are big aromas of grapefruit rind and juice, orange zest, strawberry, tangerine, mango, peach and apricot, along with crackery grain, barley, wildflowers, black tea, and light caramel.
• Taste: The taste of the Stratatude Pale Ale follows the nose with lots of tasty citrusy and berry, and slightly tropical fruit hop flavor along with floral and earthy and herbal notes.  There are notes of orange juice, grapefruit juice, tangerine, strawberry, mango, peach, apricot, barley, herbal tea, and light caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and well carbonated, the mouthfeel of the Stratatude Pale Ale is very crisp, juicy, and refreshing, yet smooth with a dry, clean finish.

Overall pairing: The delicious, bright, and invitingly punchy aromas and flavors of the Fisher Stratatude Pale Ale are perfect for the !  Those bright, hoppy flavors go great with the soaring guitars and vocals while the maltier backbone goes great with the heavy duty rhythm section!  'Nuff said!

Cheers and hails!!