Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Ölbeat 200: De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen 
Country: Netherlands
Style: Imperial Stout 
Abv: 10 %
@RateBeer
What about the beer?
Bottled 13.5.2015. Colour is black with no visible head. Aroma has charcoal roasted malts, strong black coffee and dark chocolate. Taste begins with strong charred roast with sweet alcohol bite. Silky bitter charcoal roasted malts and semisweet smooth leathered alcohol take over with coffee and chocolate notes in the background. Towards the end dark-roasted sweet coffee and bitter dark chocolate come through, mixed in spicy and delicious liquor. Aftertaste has roasted coffee dryness, cocoa bitterness and alcohol warmth and lasts unbelievably long.

Incredible and magical Imperial Stout. Had this as my first De Molen brew over a year ago as a half-year old bottling. Wanted another one, waited to open the bottle for over a year. "Worth the wait" is the worst diminutive now. Strong and heavy but still smooth and silky. Flavours - roast and bitterness, coffee and chocolate - are powerful and unflattened. Just want to keep the liquid evolving in your mouth forever. Perfect beer for me, if there is one. Truly deserves to bee the 200th Ölbeat.

Ölbeat

Classic heavy beer has to be accompanied by a classic heavy metal song. Besides being on the list of my all-time favourites - with couple of other Sabbath tracks - the theme of paranoia fits the brew's theme nicely. Thoughts of afterlife, especially the condemning kind, are generally a result of someone's impaired mental health.

Black Sabbath: Paranoid (YouTube)

From 1970 the album Paranoid, the song was written by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne.

2nd Ölbeat

Of course, the 200th Ölbeat deserves two songs. We stick with the same band - who asked for a change? - and move the their next album. This song's connection to the brew: thinking about one's personal destiny while living isn't worth a shit when there are people facing Hell and Damnation in their daily lives.

Black Sabbath: Children of the Grave (YouTube, w/ Embryo as an intro)

From the 1971 album Master of Reality, the song was written by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne.