April 30th, 2023 - Wild & Heavy Horses

 

Hello and happy Sunday rockers, rollers, and craft beer fanatics!  The Meista here today relaxing with a pairing of the wonderful "Heavy Horses" by Jethro Tull and a tasty and easy-drinking Wild Horse Amber Ale from Great Basin Brewing Company! 

Album Info:

• Artist: Jethro Tull
• Title: "Heavy Horses"
• Recorded: January 1978 at Maison Rouge Studio in Fulham, London
• Release date: April 10th, 1978 (11th studio album by Jethro Tull)
• Record company: Chrysalis
• Production: Ian Anderson
• Album cover art: James Cotier
• Personnel:  Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, acoustic and occasional electric guitars, and mandolin), Barriemore Barlow (drums and percussion), Martin Barre (electric guitar), John Evan (piano and organ), John Glascock (bass guitar and backing vocals), and David Palmer (portative pipe organ, other keyboards, and orchestral arrangements)
• Additional musician: Darryl Way (violin on "Acres Wild" and "Heavy Horses")
• Musical style: Progressive rock with elements of English folk music, folk rock, hard rock, and jazz
• Sound: "Heavy Horses" is a richly textured yet rocking musical adventure displaying the band in top form in writing, execution, and production.  It blends English pastural sensibility and melodic wizardry with the band's legendary flamboyance and progressive ideology of experimentation and composition.
• Major themes: With songs about agriculture, hard work, love, sex, pain, life, etc., "Heavy Horses" is more of a realist's perspective of a changing world along with prosaic themes.
• Notes: Sadly, this was the last album John Glascock recorded.  He died in November 1979, at the young age of 28, as a result of a congenital heart valve defect.
• Tracks: 

1. "And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps"
2. "Acres Wild"
3. "No Lullaby"
4. "Moths"
5. "Journeyman"
6. "Rover"
7. "One Brown Mouse"
8. "Heavy Horses"
9. "Weathercock"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Great Basin Brewing Company (Sparks, Nevada)
• Website: https://greatbasinbrewingco.com/
• Brew:  Wild Horse Amber Ale
• Style: Amber Ale / Red Ale
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 5.0%
• IBUs: 23
• Ingredients: Saaz hops
• Pour: The Wild Horse pours a deep, copper-amber hue with a firm and frothy, light beige 1-finger head with good sustain and lacing.
• Nose: The nose is characterized by malty, nutty, herbal, and notes.  There are aromas of bready dough, light herbs, , and soft caramel/toffee.
• Taste: The taste of the Wild Horse follows the nose with flavors malty, nutty, and low bitterness.  There are notes of and soft caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Light to medium-bodied with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp and very smooth with a dry, clean finish.

Overall pairing: The bready, malty, and slightly sweet flavors and aromas of Great Basin's Wild Horse are perfect for the complex and very melodic/harmonic musical adventures of the brilliant and criminally underrated "Heavy Horses" as concocted by those wacky Jethro Tull boys!  'Nuff said!

Cheers!!