Ölbeat 016: De Molen Hemel & Aarde (Heaven & Earth)

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen
Country: Netherlands
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 10 %
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The dark of Heaven, the light of Earth

Hemel & Aarde is not - according to the brewery's beerography - for the fainthearted. It's brewed using "the most heavily peated malt they could find". The label says Bruichladdich, so probably the malts are from the Octomore batch. "Let's see", said the doctor.

What about the beer?
Colour is pitch black with only a thin bubble crown. Aroma gives heavily roasted malts and soft smoke. Taste has roasted caramel malts in front, some salty liquorice on the side. Palate adds slow bitter hops and peaty smoke. Finally, there's a pleasant gentle aftertaste, or rather afterburn: taste of smoke and malts stays in breath quite long.

Having had the intense campfire smoke of Rook & Vuur, this brew showed the not-so-rough-peaty (Laphroaigish) side of whisky malt brews of the brewery. But there was still some smoky dragon behind the pet lizard.

Ölbeat

Instead of putting some obvious crap like "Heaven is a Place on Earth" here - I remember even the artist although trying to forget - I chose this song with earthy power:

Disturbed: The Sound of Silence (YouTube)

From the 2015 album Immortalized, the song is a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's original from 1964 Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m. It's written by Paul Simon. Despite the later success, the song wasn't enough to help the album catch public attention and drove the duo to the edge of break-up. The song's lyrics are about people's failure to communicate with each other: "People talking without speaking /
People hearing without listening". The acoustic original has been turned into a power ballad which leans strongly to singer David Draiman's fragile but rough vocals and the mix of piano-guitar-driven background and orchestral arrangements. The band decided not to "Disturbed-stamp" the song with heavy riffs and fast tempo but chose instead to send their singer to the unknown. The result is at the same time both-feet-on-the-ground but head-up-in-the-skies.

Brewer's Choice

Alanis Morissette: Perfect (YouTube)

From the 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, the song is composed by Morissette and Glen Ballard and the lyrics are written by Morissette. The basic ballad arrangement - gentle vocals and soft almost-jazzy background - gives a strong contrast to the lyrics, which are spoken by a parent who tries to push the kids to better results and reminds them about doing it for their own damn good. Morissette has told that the song is generally about the pressures of society, which loves you as long as you are "perfect" for it. This song was the first that Morissette and her producer Ballard made ready for the album, which turned out to be one of the most successful in the 90's.