Completely Conspicuous 226: Bottoms Up!

Part 2 of my conversation with special guest Ben Amirault as we discuss the growth of craft beer. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Check out Ben's beer blog The Church Key
- Dogfish Head has branched out with TV show, limited edition beers
- Northeast has many great brewers: Magic Hat, Smuttynose, Baxter, Long Trail
- "Ice beer" was, and still is, a thing
- Regional pockets of great craft beer throughout the U.S.
- Some of beers can overdo it with the accents (fruit, pumpkin, caramel, chocolate, coffee, etc.)
- Jay: Not big into pairing certain beers with certain types of food
- Canadians will drink Bud or Coors because it's so light
- Ben: Hard to keep up with all the new brewers
- Recent trend is putting craft beer in cans
- Some brewers won't do it, but many are: Sierra Nevada, Harpoon, Oskar Blues, Baxter
- Great packaging can get you to try a beer
- The bomber is a great way to check out a new beer
- Some stores let you "make" your own six-pack from singles
- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Mission of Burma - Dust Devil
Father John Misty - Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings
Hallelujah the Hills - Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire

The Men - Open Your Heart

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Mission of Burma song is on the forthcoming album Unsound on Fire Records. Download the song for free at Team Clermont.

The Father John Misty song is on the album Fear Fun on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.
The Hallelujah the Hills song is on the album No One Knows What Happens Next on Discrete Pageantry. Download the song for free from Prefix Mag. 
The song by The Men is on the album Open Hearts on Sacred Bones. Download the song for free from Epitonic.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous 225: Let Them Drink

Part 1 of my conversation with special guest Ben Amirault as we discuss the growth of craft beer. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Check out Ben's beer blog The Church Key
- Many parallels between craft beer world and punk rock
- Ben reviews beers on his blog
- When will someone invent digitized beer?
- Craft beer first boomed in the '90s
- Plenty of great small breweries popping up now
- Session beer is catching on thanks to Notch
- There's a lot of high-alcohol beers now
- Ben's gearing up for American Craft Beer Fest in Boston
- Social media is raising awareness of craft beer
- Local specialty stores hold regular beer tastings
- Summer beer is out in April
- Beer is economy-proof
- Sam Adams has become almost synonymous with craft beer
- Dogfish Head has made a big splash in last few years
- Comparing Sam Adams to Green Day
- Old-school brewers are trying new things: Guinness, Bud, Newcastle
- Going on a Guinness kick
- To be continued next week
- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Ty Segall Band - Wave Goodbye
Ceremony - Send Me Your Dreams
Grinderman (feat. Matt Berninger) - Evil (Silver Alert Remix)
Brainiac - Nothing Ever Changes
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Ty Segall Band song is from the album Slaughterhouse on In the Red Records. Download the song for free from Soundcloud.

The Ceremony song is on LAMC #1 on Famous Class Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) from Bandcamp.
The Grinderman song is on the album Grinderman 2 RMX on Anti/Epitaph. Download the song for free from Epitonic.
The Brainiac song is on the album Hissing Prigs in Static Couture on Touch and Go Records. Download the song for free from Epitonic.
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous 206: Hits of the Year

Part 1 of my conversation with special guest Jay Breitling as we look back at the best rock music of 2011. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Of new additions and beer

- Revisiting our beer discussion of episodes 133 and 134

- Trends in 2011: The return of the '90s

- Bands reunited, new bands echo '90s influences

- Imminent death of the CD?

- Tons of reissues for classic albums

- Expanded versions of relatively recent albums

- Breitling's #10 album: Los Campesinos

- Proggy elements added to band's sound

- Kumar's #10: Drive-By Truckers

- Uber-prolific band combines Southern rock and soul

- Breitling's #9: Soccer Mom

- Boston band echoes sound of bands like Sonic Youth

- Kumar's #9: J. Mascis

- Solo album turns down the jet engine roar

- Breitling's #8: Ringo Deathstarr

- Album was four years in the making

- Kumar's #8: Beastie Boys

- Sounds like classic Beasties

- Overblown non-controversy of the week: Questlove vs. Michele Bachmann

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Los Campesinos - Hello Sadness

Ringo Deathstarr - Imagine Hearts

Drive-By Truckers - Used to Be a Cop

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Los Campesinos song is on the album Hello Sadness on Arts and Crafts. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Ringo Deathstarr song is on the album Colour Trip on Sonic Unyon Records. Download the song for free at RCRDLBL.

The Drive-By Truckers song is from the album Go-Go Boots on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at DriveByTruckers.com.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 182: Long Gone and Hard to Find

Part 2 of my podcast conversation with special guest Jay Breitling as we discuss and play music from underappreciated albums. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes:

- Now accepting beer donations

- Breitling's pick: The Hip Young Things

- Pavement-esque German band

- Kumar: The Nation of Ulysses

- On Dischord in early '90s

- Breitling: Eggs

- Another DC act

- Kumar: Frank Black and the Catholics

- Stripped down garage rock

- Breitling: Projekt A-ko

- Name is Japanese, band is Scottish

- Kumar: Big Chief

- Detroit act combining sludge rock with funk

- The return of "120 Minutes"

- On gravelly voiced DJs

- Breitling: The Coctails

- Featured Archer Prewitt

- Bonehead of the Week

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 169: Strange Brew

Part 2 of my podcast conversation with special guest Chris Lohring, brewer/founder of Notch Session beer as we discuss the rise of craft brewing in the U.S. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes...

- Recorded at In a Pig's Eye in Salem, Mass.

- Chris was a bartender at legendary punk club The Rat in Boston in mid-'80s

- Samples came in from new brewer called Samuel Adams

- Met a local brewer and got interested in craft beer in '89

- Chris took a liking to porter at Cambridge Brewing Co.

- Visited Anchor Steam brewery in California

- Boston Brewers Festival in early '90s started to draw big crowds

- People in attendance had never tried most of the beers there

- Pete's Wicked Ale had a good run in the '90s

- Commonwealth Brewery was ahead of its time, first brew pub in Boston

- Craft beer peaked in '90s and then fizzled

- Many local brew pubs ended up closing

- In early '90s, there was an explosion of new craft breweries

- By end of the decade, many of those breweries went away

- Things dipped with the economy after 9/11/01

- Bounced back a few years later

- Now craft beer has always been around for young drinkers

- Craft beer is still a very small percentage of overall beer market

- More of a market now for products that aren't mass-produced: beer, bread, coffee

- Chris: Budweiser is a high-quality beer, it's just not flavorful

- Major brewers have tried making so-called craft beers over the years

- Chris: I actually like Bud American Ale

- Craft brewing scene is kinda like indie rock

- Fat Tire in Colorado and Sam Adams are seen by some beer snobs as sellouts because they've grown

- Chris: Every brewer and consumer owes respect to Jim Koch for introducing craft beer to the masses

- Chris: I don't get involved in beer snobbery

- For Notch, Chris hopes to meet demand and slowly grow from there

- Hope to expand Notch regionally, but find a balance

- Locally, Chris sees return to focus on local beers

- Nationally, he's hoping for "return to sanity"

- Innovation means product fits consumer need and it sells

- Need to find ways to expand craft beer category

- Session beer could be a good transition for folks trying craft beer

- Sam Adams Light was an interesting experiment

- Bonehead of the Week


Music:

Thurston Moore - Benediction

Tres Mts. - My Baby

The Biters - Born to Cry


Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Thurston Moore song is on the forthcoming album Demolished Thoughts on Matador Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Tres Mts. song is on the album Three Mountains on Monkeywrench Records. Find out more and download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.

The Biters song is from the EP All Chewed Up on Underrated Records. Find out more and download the song for free at the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his new site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 168: Kick It Up a Notch

Part 1 of my podcast conversation with special guest Chris Lohring, brewer/founder of Notch Session beer as we discuss his journey through the world of craft brewing. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Recorded at In a Pig's Eye in Salem, Mass.

- Chris got interested in craft brewing when in college

- In '92, worked with a partner to start Tremont Brewery

- Raised funding from "friends, family and fools"

- Launched brewery in '94

- Started with draft only in Boston-area bars

- Began bottling Tremont in '97

- Became second-largest brewer in Mass. behind Harpoon

- Back in early '90s, you were selling the concept of craft beer to bars

- Installed first cask engine in greater Boston at Redbones

- Introduced cask beer to Boston

- Tremont did its own distribution until '99, sold it to expand reach to CT and RI

- Brewery reached capacity in late '99

- You can still find Tremont in various states

- Sold to Shipyard in 2002 because investors wanted out

- Chris was burned out, got out of the brewing business

- Worked at engineering firm for several years

- "The world doesn't need another double IPA"

- Interest rekindled by session beer, lower-alcohol beer with great taste

- Influenced by European beers

- Session category has been ignored in U.S. as brewers go with higher-alcohol beers

- Craft beer started at 5% or less alcohol by volume

- Session beer is lower than 5% ABV

- Difficult brewing task to make session beer

- Not a lot of lower-ABV craft beer options

- Session beer's been around forever in Europe

- Designed by farmers for workers in the fields to drink

- First came up with idea two years ago, got serious about 18 months ago

- Brewed some test batches and got bars to serve it

- At first tried to emulate British beer; ended up doing an American-style ale and Czech-style pilsner

- Struck a deal to brew Notch at Ipswich Ale Brewery

- Chris wanted to remain actively involved in the brewing process

- Released two new beers in early March, bottles in Boston-area stores

- Draft handles in growing number of Boston-area bars

- Using social media to spread the word about Notch

- Thanks to Twitter, Jay got first six-pack of Notch Session ale on North Shore

- Tremont was marketed via a newsletter

- Now Twitter and Facebook gets message out directly to fans

- Chris' goals for Notch: Have fun and bring session beer into craft beer conversation

- Older consumers (30+) understand concept; younger drinkers in their 20s may not right away
- Also looking to build Notch into a viable business

- Small session beer resurgence on West Coast

- It's an East Coast-West Coast thing

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Codeine

The Dirtbombs - Cosmic Cars

The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Karmageddon

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Jason Isbell song is on the forthcoming album Here We Rest on Lightning Rod Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at his website.

The Dirtbombs song is on the album Party Store on In the Red Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives song is from the album Golden Greats Vol. 1 on Little W Productions. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his new site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 134: Six Pack

Special guest Jay Breitling joins me on the podcast for the conclusion of our discussion about beer, recorded during and after a Red Sox game. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Drinking Guinness at Fenway Park

- Kumar: Go-to beer in the mid-'90s was Pete's Wicked Ale

- Breitling started getting into Yuengling

- Adrian Beltre hits HR for Red Sox

- Variety packs are good ways to try different kinds of beer

- Breitling prefers seasonal beers, especially fall seasonals

- Kumar: Big fan of porter

- Breitling: Helped out at Cisco Brewers in Nantucket

- Breitling isn't huge fan of winter beers

- Bitter beer face

- IPAs are bitter, but we like 'em

- Kumar: Don't drink much homebrew

- Breitling's pal Rob Mathews makes good homebrew

- Ice beer was big in the early '90s

- Kumar: Tried ice beer for a while, but it was too strong

- Still see drunks buying 40s of Natty Light Ice

- Beer consumption is limited to two or three at a time now

- Pros and cons of beer fridges

- Walking back from the game

- What to tell our kids about drinking

- Just hope they make sensible decisions

- It's tough being a responsible adult

- Breitling's max bench: 265

- Drunk episodes are few and far between these days

- Never understood why people got wasted before concerts

- Breitling's bar altercation

- Kids don't respect hangovers

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Drive-By Truckers - Girls Who Smoke

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Roll Up Your Sleeves

Silversun Pickups - It's Nice to Know You Work Alone

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Drive-By Truckers song is a B-side off the album The Big To-Do on ATO Records, where you can download the song for free.

The We Were Promised Jetpacks song was recorded for the Daytrotter Sessions, where you can download the song for free.

The Silversun Pickups song is on the album Swoon on Dangerbird Records. Download the song for free as part of the Dangerbird Amazon Sampler.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 133: Have a Drink on Me

Special guest Jay Breitling joins me on the podcast as we talk about one of our favorite subjects, beer, while we walk to a Red Sox game. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Walking the mean streets of Cambridge, Mass.

- Breitling remembers swiping beers to blow 'em up

- Schmidt's was a prominent beer in Philly

- The hipsters love the Pabst Blue Ribbon, ironically

- Breitling brothers collected beer cans

- Breitling started drinking at high school parties

- Kumar: Never drank much until college

- Kumar: House in Canada had a great bar in basement

- Kumar: In college, drank plenty of Busch, Milwaukee's Best and other affordable beverages

- Breitling: Family trip to Germany led to consumption of much beer

- Kumar: Had planned to throw party at parents' house while in high school but thought better of it

- Breitling: In college, drank anything and everything

- Kumar: Can't drink tequila, Southern Comfort anymore

- Breitling: Never touch the hard stuff anymore in the house, but beer is gone quick

- Breitling didn't get picky about beer until after college

- Kumar: After college, starting drinking Rolling Rock at rock clubs

- In Washington state, Olympia beer benefited from good marketing like Rolling Rock

- Kumar: Tried a Sam Adams in '89 and didn't like it

- At the ballpark: To be continued

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

The Kills - Pale Blue Eyes

Of Montreal - Coquet, Coquette

The Black Keys - Ohio

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com, a leading supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment. Find gear from top brands such as Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. Use promo code AFCOMP15 for 15% off any order at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 for 20% off any order of $75 or more at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL for 15% off any order at Footlocker.com.

The Kills song was recorded as part of the Levi's Pioneer Sessions, where you can download the song for free.

The Of Montreal song is on the band's forthcoming album False Priest on Polyvinyl Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Black Keys song is a B-side on the album Brothers on Nonesuch Records. Download the song for free at the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.