Upslope Brewery

On Tuesday night, my friend Marty and I had the opportunity to attend a tasting of Upslope's complete line of beers (minus one which we had tried before) at The Blending Cellar on Pearl Street. Besides getting to taste some incredible beers, it was a unique chance learning about these beers from a couple of the head guys at the brewery. If you have not heard of Upslope, it is the newest microbrewery in Boulder and has been open for almost a year now. They currently sell only two of their beers in stores around Boulder, their pale ale and their IPA. Being such a small brewery still, they are taking their time to figure out which beer they will can next (another great thing to mention about their beer is they only come in cans!). The tasting offered their two existing beers and three new ones, all of which were entered into the Great American Beer Festival. The three new beers were a brown ale, a belgian dubbel, and a belgian pale ale. All three of these were excellent but the brown ale took the gold for me. Upslope is going to be big one day with their selection of superb brews, and if you are ever in the Denver/Boulder area take some time to visit their taproom in north Boulder or just pick up a six pack of their cans.

Mochi Balls!

"Perhaps one of the greatest treats in the world" to quote a few of my good friends (including myself), I have finally gotten around to writing about these delectable goodies. First off, mochi can come in many different forms and flavors as the word "mochi" just refers to the sweet rice cake outside. The one which I recommend for everyone to try is a mochi ice cream bon bon. You can find these at many Japanese restaurants or if you are lucky enough to have an Asian market in your town, you can find them in a packaged form made by a company called Maeda-En. These come in a box of six and in such flavors as green tea, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, mango, and red bean. I highly recommend strawberry, green tea or red bean. I would describe these treats as a sweet, soft bite of rice and ice cream which instantly melts in your mouth. Whenever I get someone to try these for the first time, they are completely thrown off by the texture but always come back for more. Last but not least, these little balls which are made almost entirely of ice cream are not actually that bad for you. I have always known Japanese desserts to be a little bit on the bland side, but they make up for it by having the best after-dinner snack in the world.

Big thanks to my friend Benton for introducing me to these little balls of heaven.

I'm goin' to Jackson....

Hello to anyone checking this thing out recently... Last week I decided I was going to pack up all my belongings and move to Jackson Hole. I kept searching for a good deal in Aspen, but living there this winter would be almost impossible for me, and I have too many good friends in Jackson to skip out on what is going to be an amazing winter. This being said, I have been quite busy and consumed in my plans to be keeping up with the blog. I will be in Jackson by the end of the week and posting will resume at a more normal rate. Thanks for your patience and stay tuned for more!

Dr Dog @ Belly Up

Wow.. this band really surprised me on an off-season Saturday night in Aspen. Dr. Dog is one band I have been meaning to listen to for quite awhile now after reading so many great reviews and articles this past year on their most recent album, Fate. Also seeing that they once opened for My Morning Jacket, it was about time I got to check them out...
They began the set with incredible energy which lasted throughout the show and most of the songs held up the same energy with only a few slow ones thrown in here and there. Their music is something out of another decade but it definitely has a twist making it a new kind of modern rock. Their voices are timeless, often sounding like the Beatles or the Beach Boys, but the uplifting bass lines and awesome guitar riffs make the sound very unique. They also had a great stage set-up with plants surrounding the back of the stage. I look forward to listening to more of their music and highly recommend going to see them live for anyone who has the chance.

Basalt to Steamboat

This past weekend, I had the awesome opportunity of joining a couple of my good friends in Steamboat. With the leaves changing and the wonderful weather this time of year, it is great getting to see different parts of Colorado and enjoy what each has to offer. Driving to Steamboat took me on a new route which I had never travelled in this state, CO-131. The landscape along this highway is beautiful, and different than most of its surrounding areas, with lots of small pastures amidst wide, rolling hills and not to mention aspens scattered about everywhere. For a small part of this highway there are some random, jutting rocks similar to "Finger Rock", pictured above. On Saturday, we travelled north of Steamboat, almost to Wyoming, to check out some of the Routt National Forest. This is another beautiful area of Colorado, and below is a picture of something resembling a natural concert hall located in these forests.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and my information on this part of the state. For anyone ever travelling to Steamboat, try taking CO-131 (especially if it's in the fall) for some wonderful landscape.

I and Love and You

"I and Love and You", the latest studio release from The Avett Brothers came out today. If you have not listened to these guys before, go out and buy this album (either way get this album to support these amazing musicians)!! Every one of their previous albums has been a wonderful mixture of both slow, heart-warming ballads and fast paced songs filled with energy. Although I have not bought the album yet, I have listened to it on their website and it seems to be a bit heavier on the upbeat tunes with a little bit more pop sound to some of the songs. Do not get me wrong though, the songs sound great and seem to blend very well into a smooth, flowing album. Also to mention, these guys put on one of the best concerts I have seen, and if you have the chance to catch a show anytime in the future, do not miss out!

Cooper's Brewery - Best Extra Stout

Here's a delicious beer from down under for those of you who love a good stout. With the cold weather coming on up here, I find myself looking for a beer to warm me up and nothing quite does it like a stout. This brew ranks up there with some of my favorite dark beers. The initial taste is a little bit lighter than you would expect with a nice carbonation, but the finish is dark and milky.
It makes for a nice after- dinner beer (like most stouts) and is not quite as filling as most of them. I hope the picture helps you find this treat in the store.

Blakroc!

If you like some good old rock and roll and then some hip hop added on top of it, then you will love Blackroc. Though it's a bit far off, this collaboration between eleven incredible hip hop artists and the Black Keys will be hitting the shelves in late November. Check out http://www.blakroc.com/ for some pictures, videos and more information on this musical fantasy. Also you can listen to one of the complete tracks at http://pitchfork.com/news/36478-listen-the-black-keys-hip-hop-project/. I am counting down the days until this one comes out....

Signatures...

Last night gave me my first glimpse of winter as I was able to catch one of the new ski films for this season at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen. The film, Signatures, is a great joint effort from Sweetgrass Productions and Patagonia featuring noboarding, snowboarding, alpine skiing, and telemark skiing all filmed in the mountains of Hokkaido, Japan. Although the film is mostly noboarding (which is snowboarding without bindings), do not be deterred from seeing this excellent celebration of winter sports. Anyways the first twenty minutes features deep snow and excellent riding from both skiiers and boarders making it well worth the watch in itself. All of the footage is amazing and really captures the pure joy of being outside in the winter. There is also great offseason footage of these mountains and a few minutes of surfing and skating. Last but not least, great music is heard throughout the film with Bon Iver's Skinny Love making it on there as the third track. Overall, this is a must see film for any outdoor enthusiast as it truly displays the wonder of the mountains.

MONSTERS OF FOLK

For those of you who don't know, one of the greatest musical collaborations in the past decade will be putting out their debut album on Tuesday, September 22. Monsters of Folk is a timeless quartet made up of Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, M. Ward, and Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket. The four first played together five years ago, and this album has been a work/thought in progress ever since as the musicians each continued to make music with their other bands. The album is available for stream on their MySpace right now (I know I have already listened to the whole album about ten times) but anyone who enjoys some great new music should go out and support these guys on Tuesday. I will be providing a nice review of it next week after I make the purchase.

About Me and this Blog

Hello everyone,
My name is Campbell.... originally from Virginia, I have come to call Colorado my home after coming out here for college. I recently moved from the great town of Boulder to a small place outside of Aspen called Basalt where I hope to find the deep snow and the mountains a bit more accessible during the winter season. I have always considered myself quite opinionated and after some recent recommendations from a few close friends I have decided to create this blog. At age 22, I have too many thoughts and opinions floating around in my head that I just can't keep to myself anymore! These thoughts and opinions will regard what I consider the more enjoyable things in life, which lift my spirits during even the toughest times....which brings me to what you will find in this blog:


1. Music - My passion since very early on in life... my taste for music is always changing as I search for the greatest bands to listen to or see live, or both. I will discuss anything from great new releases to recent shows to newly discovered bands which I believe everyone should know about.
2. Food - My second passion... I will post reviews on places I eat throughout Colorado (great for those vacationers!) and anywhere else I happen to stop through. I will also discuss great new food products and goodies I come across.
3. Drink...mostly microbrews and delicious Belgian beers though I may find a cool wine from time to time.
4. Colorado and other great places in the west..As I travel around the west for the next few years, I want to share new places I find so others may think to stop and check them out (or even plan a trip to see that place).
5. Lastly...reviews on great outdoor gear and products to get you through life.

I know this covers a lot of ground but I hope that anyone can find something of interest in my posts (I mean who does not like food..) ...
Anyways, that about covers it and I hope you all enjoy...