September 6th , 2025 - "Hello There Ladies and Gentlemen! Are You Ready to Rock [with Japanese Rice Lager]?"

 

Can you think of anything better on a sunny Saturday afternoon than a delicious, cold craft brew and a kick-ass, classic rock album?  Hallo!  Your buddy the Meista here today pairing Cheap Trick's groundbreaking live album "Cheap Trick At Budokan" with a crisp and delicious Japanese Rice Lager from the good people at Helper Beer!  This pairing is lovingly dedicated to my good friend Amy O'Connor and our late mutual friend Brad Barker!  May he rest in peace!

Album Info:

• Artist: Cheap Trick
• Title: "Cheap Trick At Budokan"
• Recorded: April 28 and 30, 1978 at the Budokan in Nippon Budokan, Tokyo
  Release date: February 1979 (1st live album released by Cheap Trick)
• Record company: Epic Records
• Production: Cheap Trick
• Album cover art: Koh Hasebe
• Personnel: Bun E. Carlos (drums), Rick Nielsen (lead guitar and backing vocals), Tom Petersson (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Robin Zander (lead vocals and rhythm guitar)
• Musical style: Rock, hard rock, power pop
• Sound: In a word, definitive!  This is the album that launched Cheap Trick into superstardom.  It is pure and honest rock and roll perfection!!  'Nuff said!! 
• Major themes: Love, lust, sex, rock and roll, heartbreak, life, etc.
• Tracks: 

Original LP:

1. "Hello There"
2. "Come On, Come On"
3. "Lookout"
4. "Big Eyes"
5. "Need Your Love"
6. "Ain't That A Shame"
7. "I Want You To Want Me"
8. "Surrender"
9. "Goodnight"
10. "Clock Strikes Ten"

The Complete Concert CD

1. "Hello There"
2. "Come On, Come On"
3. "ELO Kiddies"
4. "Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace"
5. "Big Eyes"
6. "Lookout"
7. "Downed"
8. "Can't Hold On"
9. "Oh Caroline"
10. "Surrender"
11. "Auf Wiedersehen"
12. "Need Your Love"
13. "High Roller"
14. "Southern Girls"
15. "I Want You to Want Me"
16. "California Man"
17. "Goodnight"
18. "Clock Strikes Ten"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Helper Beer (Helper, Utah)
• Website: https://www.helperbeer.com/
• Brew: Japanese Rice Lager 
• Style: Rice Lager
• Serving: 16 ounce can
• ABV: 5.0% 
• Pour: The Japanese Rice Lager pours a clear, pale golden yellow with a billowy, 1+ finger, bright white head with great retention and lots of soapy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is grainy, slightly musty, and grassy.  There are aromas of pale grains, steamed rice, light cereal grains, crackery biscuit, a hint of summer grass, and a touch of honey. 
• Taste: Following the nose, the taste of the Japanese Rice Lager is grainy, slightly grassy, and crackery.  There are notes of rice cakes, and a hint of lemongrass.
• Mouthfeel: Light to medium in body with lots of bubbly carbonation, the mouthfeel is very crisp and smooth with a very clean finish.

Overall pairing: The wonderfully honest and masterful rock and roll stylings of Cheap Trick's "Cheap Trick At Budokan" deserves nothing short of a perfectly balanced and very drinkable brew... which is exactly what you get in a tall glass of the delicious Japanese Rice Lager from the great folks at Helper Beer!  Those crisp malt flavors and crackery grain notes along with the smoothness are perfect for the straight-ahead rock and roll brilliance that is late seventies Cheap Trick!!

Cheers and rock on!!!