Ölbeat 257: Finch Fascist Pig

Brewery: Finch Beer Co.
Country: United States
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 8 % 
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is copper brown with a large natural white head. Aroma has stingy bitter citrus, hay and caramel malts. Taste begins with biting bitter citrus. Sweetish caramel malts and bitter grapefruit take over with spicy dark fruit side tones. Towards the end caramel malts get in front with gently piny bitterness. Aftertaste has bitter grapefruit, dry malts and alcohol warmth.

Fruity and malty American Strong Ale. Bitter citrus and caramel malts play together nicely. Some spices on the way, and the booze shows up only in the end. Pretty delicious.

Ölbeat

Fascist Pig somehow reminds us of Horse's Ass Sweat Pig Vomit, don't you think? Only by the name and the label, though. Staying with the theme, I selected a loyal cover of a heavy metal classic. It wasn't the easiest song for Mike Patton to start with in a new band.

Faith No More: War Pigs (YouTube)

From the 1989 album The Real Thing, the song was written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward.

Ölbeat 251: Sori Laudatur XVI

Brewery: Sori Brewing
Country: Estonia 
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 11 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is thick dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma has chocolate, caramel, vanilla and spicy alcohol. Taste starts with bourbonish spicy kick. Sweet caramel malts with chocolate and bittersweet fruits take over with hints of spicy smoke. Towards the end gently smoky bitterness with spicy and fruity oak flavour gets through. Aftertaste has fruity boozy bitterness and spicy oaky dryness.

Extremely tasty American Strong Ale with oak, smoke and spice from the Macallan and Glenmorangie whisky barrels. Would be nice to know what was in the barrels before Sori beer. Anyway, this goes to the same excellent section with bourbon barrel-aged Arrogant Bastard. World class brew, worth some praise. Seems that 2016 was an excellent year for Sori. Just waiting for the "XVII With Honors". ;)

Ölbeat

This one goes out to the brewery. The Gorillaz' song is about realizing how feeling good personally has led to excess consumption and hedonism. So the "Feel Good Inc." - or the world based on material goods - can feel like a prison after one realizes it doesn't actually feel good. I think Sori people are well on the way to the completely opposite direction: feeling good from making other people feel good... And before digging myself any deeper into the hole of pseudo-philosophical crap, I'm cutting it.

Gorillaz feat. De La Soul: Feel Good Inc. (YouTube)

From the 2005 album Demon Days, the song was written by Damon Albarn, Brian Burton and David Jolicoeur.

Ölbeat 225: Põhjala Porridge Bullet

Brewery: Põhjala
Country: Estonia
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 11,9 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is dark bro... actually black with a tiny beige head. Aroma has chocolate, sweet malts, coffee and bourbon - a delicious scent, indeed. Taste begins with aggressive fruity sweetness. Sweet chocolate malts and fruity bitterness start the party. Soon spicy bourbon and fruity brandy barrels - just guessing - take over as fine and rich, complex and growing flavour. Aftertaste has sweet dark fruits and spicy vanillaish alcohol... and lasts unbelievably long.

Incredible. Amazing. How can a beer taste this great and versatile. Every sip is a symphony. Beautifully barrel-aged Strong Ale. Don't know their trick but Pôhjala seem to master the business of barrel-aged strong beers.

Ölbeat

"Porridge" in the name probably comes from multigrain malts used. "Bullet" part should be explained with the deep hit the brew makes to the drinker. This classic rock song from the Prince of Darkness got picked for the beer immediately.

Ozzy Osbourne: Shot in the Dark (Vimeo)

From the 1986 album The Ultimate Sin, the song was written by Ozzy Osbourne and Phil Soussan.

Ölbeat 216: Stone Arrogant Bastard Bourbon Barrel-aged

Brewery: Stone Brewing
Country: United States
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 8,1 % 
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is reddish dark brown with a tiny tan head. Aroma has mostly deliciously luring sweet bourbon vanilla and some caramel malts on the background. Taste begins with slightly bitter bourbon vanilla kiss. Vanilla-oaky bourbon whiskey and fruity bitter malts take over. Towards the end the familiar Arrogant Bastard bitterness with an oaky twist rises. Aftertaste has lasting bitter fruit and some oaky boozy flavour.

Bourbon barrel-aged bastard is still a bastard. And what a beautiful bastard it is: oaky vanilla flavour of bourbon whiskey fits with the standard arrogant flavour perfectly. Powerful and sweet at the same time. Just superb.

Ölbeat

"Arrogance, violence, world in disarray / Dealing with insanity every fuckin’ day / I hate the life, hate the fame, hate the fuckin’ scene / Pissing match of egos, fuck their vanity." Words of an arrogant bastard? Actually no. Direct thoughts of a random observing and thinking individual.

Slayer: Repentless (YouTube)

From the 2015 album Repentless, the song was written by Kerry King.

Ölbeat 181: Stone (Berlin) Arrogant Bastard Ale

Brewery: Stone Brewing Berlin
Country: Germany (United States)
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 7,2 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is mahogany reddish brown with a large fluffy natural white head. Aroma has caramel malts, sweet citrus fruits and berries. Taste starts with sweet malty bitterness. Bitter citrus-pine liquid with caramel malts dominates. Herbal pine and bitter grapefruit grow towards the end. Aftertaste has piny dryness, citrus bitterness and warming alcohol.

Arrogant. Bastard. Yep, that's me alright. And I'm worthy. Aggressive showdown of nut-kicking strong malty base and face-slapping pine-grapefruit bitterness. Groovy. Love every drop.

Ölbeat

Finding a song to match the brew was hard. To be honest, it was actually very easy, since this was the obvious first choice. It was finding an option with an equal amount of bastardish arrogance in the song's name that was hard and in the end impossible. The mood of the song seems to have the same kind of neglecting aggressiveness as the beer does.

Green Day: American Idiot (YouTube)

From the 2004 album American Idiot, the song was written by Green Day.

Ölbeat 158: Jopen Doubting Thomas

Brewery: Jopen B.V.
Country: Netherlands
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 10 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is dark brown with a finger-thick diminishing natural white head. Aroma has sweet malts, syrup and dark fruits. Taste bites strongly with sweet alcoholic bitterness. Fruity caramel malts and sweet berries take over with a bitter alcohol twist. Towards the end a distinct sweet and bitter berry liquor flavour comes through. Aftertaste is fruity bitter and alcoholic dry.

American Barley Wine meets Belgian Quadrupel creating a disturbingly delicious mix. Barley wine comes out stronger - sweet bitterness and berry flavours play the starring role. Quad-like fruit flavours are present too but yeast is mostly missing. Tastes strong and would perform well as a dessert to end a fine dinner.

Ölbeat

Combination of two strong beer styles calls for symphonic metal - a combination of orchestral and heavy rock elements. Doubting Thomas refers to the apostle who wouldn't believe Jesus had risen from the dead without seeing it with his own eyes. Sometimes there's a story behind doubtfulness - being deceived and lied to before. That's what Sharon den Adel sings about here.

Within Temptation: Angels (YouTube)

From the 2005 album The Silent Force, the song was written by Robert Westerholt, Martijn Spierenburg and Sharon den Adel.

Ölbeat 117: Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 9 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is coffee brown with a finger-thick beige head. Aroma has bready malts, coffee beans and a mild scent of chocolate. Taste begins with gently bitter hops and malty coffee. Semi-sweet chocolate malts and roasted espresso take over, coffee taking the upper hand with cocoa flavour. Towards the end some hoppy bitterness shows up. Aftertaste has bitter malty dark chocolate and alcohol warmth.

Delicious mix of American strong ale and Indonesian coffee with distinctive chocolate flavour. Coffee seems to be an excellent companion to brown ale as well as stout and porter. Founders has already received a fine quality stamp from me before - this is another success in the line.

Ölbeat

Don't know if there's a lot of mist in the mountains of Sumatra. The highest peak of the Barisan range in Sumatra is 3.800 metres high, so probably there is during the warm and humid season. Enough with the babbling - let's match the unique brew with a unique song.

Led Zeppelin: Misty Mountain Hop (YouTube)

From the 1971 album Led Zeppelin IV, the song was written by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Ölbeat 082: Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown

Brewery: Tommyknocker Brewery
Country: United States
Style: American Strong Ale
Abv: 9,0 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is dark nut brown with only a thin white halo. Aroma has caramel malts, coffee and alcohol. Taste gets on with hoppy bitter and sweet malty bite. Sweet caramel malts and high bitterness dominate with a coffee sidenote, some hints of nut and chocolate flying by too. Towards the end sweet coffee comes in front with alcoholic bite. Aftertaste has alcoholic bitterness, coffee and malts.

Unique but delicious combination of caramel malts, bitter hops and sweet coffee. Bittersweet flavours make a beautiful three-wheel match. The alcohol shows up in the end without aggression. Very enjoyable American experience.

Ölbeat

We talked about how country music would probably match American brews like Bud and Coors in the previous post, didn't we? While waiting for that to happen, we'll stick to folky rock and continue this blog's Black Crowes Friday with their debut single:

The Black Crowes: Jealous Again (YouTube)

From the 1990 album Shake Your Money Maker, the song was written by Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson.