How about another epic progressive rock and craft ale pairing for you my friends? Tonight I'm pairing prog super group Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (ELP) and their 1973 progressive rock masterpiece, "Brain Salad Surgery" with a Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster) Pure Brewed Organic Lager Beer!
With probably one of the coolest and most recognizable album covers (artist H.R. Giger) in rock history, "Brain Salad Surgery" is ELP's 4th studio album and is musically a fusion of rock and classical themes coupled by often haunting lyrical movements. Heavily influenced by classical, symphonic music by Keith Emerson (keyboards) along with jazz and psychedelic hard rock by Carl Palmer (drums and percussion), Greg Lake (lead and bass guitars and vocals) pushed the band to always include more accessible, radio-friendly, acoustic ballads. Lake also produced this album... along with their others. As with their other work, ELP's sound is dominated by the driving and bombastic power of Emerson's Hammond organ and Moog synthesizer experimentation. "Brain Salad Surgery" is made up of 5 songs: "Jerusalem" (an adaptation of Hubert Parry's hymn and a William Blake poem), "Toccata" (based on the Fourth Movement of Alberto Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto), "Still...You Turn Me On" (a short little rocker and one of my favorites), "Benny the Bouncer" (a darkly humors account of a bar fight), and the nearly 30 minute epic "Karn Evil 9" (a three-movement masterpiece of musical genius). Of Karn Evil 9, Rolling Stone writer, Gordon Fletcher crowned it the "real meat of this platter." He called it "another tour-de-force where ELP pull out all the sonic stops, this time around the theme's of a tri-part epic battle between man and his surroundings" foiled against a Bradbury-esque carnival of insanity and perversion.
As with "Brain Salad Surgery," the Samuel Smith's Pure Brewed Organic Lager Beer is steeped in English tradition. I had originally thought of going with a big, complex stout or porter to match the intensity of ELP, but I think that would have been sensory overload. Crips and refreshing, this lager makes for a nice contrast to the bombastic style of the album. It pours a light straw color with a frothy head. The nose is marriage of soft malt notes, some lemon zest, and modest hops. As with the nose, the flavor is well-balanced. There are notes of caramel-like sweetness, bready malts, a hint of apple or pear, lemony citrus, and some grassy hops. The mouthfeel (texture) is crisp with moderate carbonation that makes for a very nice drinking experience. The finish is very clean with some subtle hoppy bitterness on the back of the tongue. All-in-all, Samuel Smith's Pure Brewed Organic Lager Beer makes for a very good beer for the very great "Brain Salad Surgery" !
Cheers!
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