The Decemberists - ‘The Crane Wife’ + The Pledge
Ingredients: 1 ounce Lustau East India sherry, 1/2 ounce Benedictine, 1 bottle oatmeal stout (such as Sixpoint), grated nutmeg
Mixing Instructions: Stir sherry and Benedictine and pour into pilsner glass. Top with the stout and garnish with grated nutmeg.
Notes: When listening to the songs of The Decemberists you often wonder if Colin Meloy missed his real calling as an English lit professor. Few songwriters are able to pack as many historical and literary allusions into their lyrics in such a natural and unpretentious manner as the Portland-based band leader. When The Crane Wife came out in 2006 (their first release under a major label), they stayed true to their craft by creating an album based around a Japanese folktale broken up into three parts and creating “The Island”— a 12-minute Shakespeare hat-tip that could inspire Led Zeppelin fans to transition to the indie world. Pile onto those a track about a butcher gang, a war song about the Siege of Leningrad, and several other story-telling tracks and you have yourself a masterpiece on vinyl.