Ölbeat 322 (BC17 #9): Founders Barrel-Aged Series: Doom

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 12,4 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is bright golden orange with a medium-sized natural white head. Aroma has mango, orange and bourbon vanilla. Taste begins with sweet bourbon bite. Bitter pine and oaky vanillaish booze take over with sweet fruity side tones. Towards the end strongly piny and boozy bitterness comes through with grapefruit and peel lurking in the background. Aftertaste has heavily bitter grapefruit, dry resinous oak and boozy warmth.

Damn powerful and rich barrel-aged Triple IPA. The start is bourbon-dominated with sweet vanilla, oak and booze. In the middle pine and grapefruit - the hops - step in front. The end combines oak of the barrel and piny citrus of the brew beautifully. An unusual marriage between strong IPA and bourbon barrel brings out the beauty from both sides.

Ölbeat

"You take a mortal man / And put him in control / Watch him become a god / Watch people's heads a'roll." That's it. That's the doom.

Megadeth: Symphony Of Destruction (YouTube)

From the 1992 album Countdown to Extinction, the song was written by Dave Mustaine.

Ölbeat 320 (BC17 #7): Fuller's Imperial IPA

Brewery: Fuller's 
Country: England
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 10,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is amber red with a small tan head. Aroma has grape juice, dark fruits and caramel malts. Taste begins with biting fruity bitter caramel malts. Bitter dark fruits and sweet boozy malts take over with hints of sweet citrus. Towards the end boozy piny bitterness rises above the sweet fruity and caramel malty flavours. Aftertaste has piny bitter fruits and malty boozy dryness.

Heavy and biting Imperial IPA. The strong sweet malty presence and piny alcohol pushes this one determinedly towards the direction of barley wine, but I'm not that fussy about the beer style. Powerful show of hops and malts. Not the traditional Fuller's but still rich and great.

Ölbeat

Since I see this beer as a traditional English brewery's showcase on a modern strong American beer style, the music is about London rockstar turning into American Western legend. You don't have to make it identical to be authentically great.

Billy Idol: John Wayne (YouTube)

From the 2008 compilation album The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself, the song was written by Billy Idol, Brian Tichy and Derek Sherinian.

Ölbeat 306: Thornbridge Mango Halcyon

Brewery: Thornbridge Brewery
Country: England
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 7,4 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy juicy yellow with a large white head. Aroma has strong mango with grapefruit and orange. Taste begins with strongly hitting citrus punch. Fresh and softly carbonated sour-bitter grapefruit-lemon juice takes over with orange, mango and herbs in the background. Towards the end the fruit juice keeps its grip, piny and herbal flavours rising up a bit. Aftertaste has bitter grapefruit, sour lemon and herbal dryness.

Delicious fruity Double IPA. Fresh citrus and mango packed beer with moderate piny bitterness. Someone could call this a fake New England IPA. I call this one heck of a brew. Great tuned Halcyon from Thornbridge - something completely different from the ordinary but still magnificent.

Ölbeat

Time for some raw and brutal rock. With fruit, of course.

Danko Jones: The Mango Kid

From the 1999 EP My Love is Bold and 2001 album I'm Alive and On Fire, the song was written by Danko Jones.

Ölbeat 273: Vaat Blimey!

Brewery: Vaat
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 7,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is white-flaky hazy orange with a large white head. Aroma has a straight flush of citrus - lemon, grapefruit and orange - with piny and fruity drops. Taste begins with piny bitter grapefruit. Bitter grapefruit-lemon juice with citrus peel and spicy pine takes over. Towards the end sweet orange-mango juice gets through to the pine-grapefruit mix. Aftertaste has freshly bitter grapefruit, tart lemon and dry pine.

Fresh citrus-packed Double IPA. A very good one, though I don't believe this to belong to the sub-style of New England/Vermont IPA's: there's a fine amount of unshamed bitterness, especially in the finish. Rich in fruits, pine and bitterness. Delicious.

Ölbeat

Thought of bitter and fruity. Thought of Jimi Hendrix. Picked one song.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: The Wind Cries Mary (DailyMotion)

From the 1967 album Are You Experienced, the song was written by Jimi Hendrix.

Ölbeat 269: Evil Twin Molotov Lite

Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is flakey golden orange with a large white head. Aroma has dried fruits, caramel and candy. Taste begins with caramel softened fruity bitterness. Bitter grapefruit takes dominantly over with some sweet citrus in the background. Towards the end malty grapefruit is joined by piny elements and pineapple flavour. Aftertaste has strong piny-grapefruity bitterness and caramel-boozy warmth.

Slowly growing, eventually excellent Imperial IPA. Fruity bitterness hits its peak near the finish, the caramel malts round the strong flavour nicely. It seems clear that the darker twin is my favourite - with a narrow margin, though.

Ölbeat

The beer is a little brother of the brewer's Molotov Cocktail, a brew still to be tasted. Originally Molotov cocktail was the name of a petrol bomb used by Finns in Winter War 1939-1940. It was a "commercially produced homemade explosive" for disabling Russian tanks. Molotov Lite is expected to be something smaller, so I picked this song.

Lorde: Homemade Dynamite (YouTube)

From the 2017 album Melodrama, the song was written by Ella Yeilich-O'Connor, Ebba Tove Nilsson, Jakob Jerlström and Ludvig Söderberg.

Ölbeat 267: Victory Hop Ranch

Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 9 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy golden orange with a small white head. Aroma has orange, mango and pineapple. Taste starts with sweetish fruity bitter bite. Bitter piny grapefruit takes over with orange and caramel side tones. Towards the end pine and sweeter fruits like orange and mango step in the line with grapefruit. Aftertaste has sweet orange, bitter grapefruit and boozy pine.

My kind of Imperial IPA. More citrus fruits than biting bitterness, pine comes out supportive, not dominant. Alcohol stays viciously almost hidden. Damn delicious. Quite a salute towards the hop farmers from Victory Brewing.

Ölbeat

No country- nor farm-themed songs fit the mood of this great brew. And this song isn't about the fields of barley, neither.

Gary Moore (feat. Phil Lynott): Out in the Fields (YouTube)

From the 1985 album Run for Cover, the song was written by Gary Moore.

Skitbit Apr 2017: Radbrew Ivy Mike

Brewery: Radbrew
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark orange with a large white head. Aroma has caramel, mango and pineapple. Taste starts with bitter malty caramel. Piny caramel and roughly bitter grapefruit take over. Towards the end harsh pine runs over the fruity caramel flavour. Aftertaste has rough piny dryness and malty grapefruit bitterness.

Somewhat harsh and unbalanced Double IPA. If I was excited about overly striking piny bitterness which covers basically every fruity flavour of the aroma I'd probably be excited. Unfortunately I'm not. This was actually the third time I gave this brew a chance: OlutExpo in October 2015 and the brewery bar in May 2016 were the previous ones. Sad to say that third time wasn't a charm either. It'll take a while to grab something from Radbrew again.

Ölbeat

"For the love of the game or for the love of the money" is a question, that doesn't make sense when we're talking about someone's profession. If someone's making some or a shitload of money when doing something that he/she likes and is good at, it's hypocrite, ridiculous and redundant to even discuss about the theme. Still, a Finnish popstar made a camp-spirited dance track about the theme. Of course the difference between the artist and the brewery is, that Antti Tuisku is already a star and Radbrew has so far shown only camp spirit.

Antti Tuisku: Rahan takii (YouTube)

Released as a single in 2017, the song was written by Jurek, Saara Törmä, Aku Rannila and Antti Tuisku.

Ölbeat 256: Bidassoa Larrun

Brewery: Bidassoa Basque Brewery (in Spanish)
Country: Spain
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,5 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is cloudy copper brown with a large natural white head. Aroma has pineapple, mango, orange and caramel. Taste begins with biting bitter fruits and malty caramel. Piny and malty bitterness takes over with caramel malts and a slice of grapefruit. Towards the end bitter pine seems to rise above all. Aftertaste has oaky-piny-fruity bitterness, malty-nutty dryness and alcohol bite.

Powerfully piny and malty Imperial IPA. Pine clearly dominates but there are fruits clearly present. Alcohol bites in the aftertaste. Not exactly my cup of tea in the style but tasty anyway. Memories from last summer's Craft Beer Helsinki were better. Nevertheless, the first beer from Spain in the blog.

Ölbeat

Larrun is a 907 meter high mountain top situated at western Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain. It is a sacred place in Basque mythology, said to be the home of the first serpent, Lehensugea and later a gathering place of witches. I grabbed onto the myth of the serpent but chose the band from the other end of Europe.

Sirenia: Serpent (YouTube)

From the 2015 album The Seventh Life Path, the song was written by Morten Veland.

Ölbeat 226: Pühaste Humalakoda

Brewery: Pühaste
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,9 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy orange with a medium-sized white head. Aroma has pineapple, mango, sweet candy - seducing scent. Taste starts with piny and fruity bitter bite. Spiking pine and bitter grapefruit take over with malty flavour and a tiny bit of alcohol. Towards the end piny bitter grapefruit and boozy sweetish orange tones are in front. Aftertaste has bittersweet citrus followed by lasting sharp piny dryness.

Superb aggressive piny-fruity Imperial IPA. Bitterness, sweetness, dryness. Fruits, pine, malts, booze. All in a crisp and tasty package. Rough but joyful.

Ölbeat

Happy and tough. That means we're going back to the end of the 60's, when there was this new rock band from London. The song's lyrics are about the frustration of falling in love and being unable to show it. Not exactly a happy theme, but it belongs to youth and somehow to the feeling of first love. And reminiscing the personal first crushes... Well, let's say it makes me laugh at myself now though there was nothing to laugh at then.

Led Zeppelin: Communication Breakdown (YouTube)

From the 1969 album Led Zeppelin, the song was written by Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant.

Ölbeat 221: Sori Delirious

Brewery: Sori Brewing
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,1 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy dark orange with a large white head. Aroma has orange, mango and pineapple (a fresh tropical fruit salad, now we're there!). Taste starts with fresh sweet and bitter citrus. Sweet orange and mango juice takes over with a bitter twist of grapefruit. Near the finish the sweet fruity bitterness is accompanied by piny and spicy flavours. Aftertaste has sweet fruity bitter start and lasting piny dry finish.

It's great to find after a break the reason why good Double and Imperial IPA's are my original favorites. Damn, this is insanely delicious. The sweet fruits. The bitterness. The piny finish. Somehow I managed to just taste and forget this at CBH festival last summer. Big mistake. I'm truly sorry, Sori people.

Ölbeat

From all the songs named Delirious I chose this piece of disco house because of the distinctive aroma and flavour of fresh sweet fruits. The beer and the song share the unapparent "happy" side of delirium. And today it's techno-Wednesday for once. 

David Guetta (feat. Tara McDonald): Delirious (YouTube)

From the 2007 album Pop Life, written by David Guetta, Joachim Garraud, Carl Ryden and Tara McDonald.

Ölbeat 203: Thornbridge Huck

Brewery: Thornbridge Brewery

Country: England

Style: Imperial IPA

Abv: 7,4 %

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What about the beer?

Colour is bright golden orange with a finger-thick white head. Aroma has grapefruit, lemon, orange - nice fresh citrus palette. Taste starts with citrus bitter bite. Fresh grapefruit with gentle resin takes over. Towards the end bitterness grows and both citrus (grapefruit-lemon-orange) and pine come clearer through. Aftertaste has lots of lasting strong grapefruit and spicy piny dryness.

High quality Double IPA. Beautifully tasty citrus with developing piny bitterness. Extremely enjoyable. In my books Thornbridge seems to have the top resume in Pale Ales in England.

Ölbeat

The combining theme with the beer and the song's name is obvious. The brewery hasn't kept its beers inside Derbyshire borders, but sent them "over the hills and far away". Good for people like me, since we like ales that rock.

Gary Moore: Over the Hills And Far Away (YouTube)

From the 1987 album Wild Frontier, the song was written by Gary Moore.

Ölbeat 196: Nøgne Ø Rød Jul

Brewery: Nøgne Ø
Country: Norway 
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is murky brown with a 3-finger thick natural white head and some flakes. Aroma has grapefruit, orange, peach and spices. Taste begins with bitter and sweet fruits. Bitter grapefruit and caramel malts take over with a hint of sweet spices. Towards the end sweet orange and mango with gentle pine join the flavours. Aftertaste has fruity bitterness, malty dryness and a soft touch of pine.

Tasty and rich spiced Double IPA. Packed with bitter citrus flavours, kept in balance by strong malty body, gently spiced with pine. Excellent especially for a seasonal brew.

Ölbeat

Who said Christmas is over? Just a little over a month from the season, and everyone's nagging about how this should've been posted a month ago. Well, life sucks and then you die. We probably shouldn't celebrate Christmas either.

Hardcore Superstar: We Don't Celebrate Sundays (YouTube)

From the 2005 album Hardcore Superstar, the song was written by Hardcore Superstar.

Ölbeat 189: BrewDog Hardcore IPA

Brewery: BrewDog  
Country: Scotland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 9,2 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is bright dark orange with a small white head. Aroma has orange, mango and pineapple. Taste starts with strong fruity bitterness. Fresh bitter grapefruit with a slice of orange and mango takes over. Towards the end sweet citrus and gentle pine come through. Aftertaste has bittersweet citrus and gently piny dryness.

Amazing fruity Imperial IPA. Bitterness strikes in the start, but then it's all fruit explosion. Soft touch of pine in the end smoothens the experience to the finish. I'm rather pissed that the commercialized punks are retiring this one from their 2017 selection.

Ölbeat

Of course it's rock, no question about it. A personal message to the brewery on quitting this superb DIPA is written in two lines of the lyrics of this song:

• Now you're messin' with a son of a bitch
• Time's come to pay your dues

Nazareth: Hair of the Dog (YouTube)

From the 1975 album Hair of the Dog, the song was written by Manny Charlton, Dan McCafferty, Pete Agnew and Darrell Sweet.

Ölbeat 180: Stone (Berlin) Ruination Double IPA 2.0

Brewery: Stone Brewing Berlin
Country: Germany (United States)
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is light yellow-orange with a medium-sized white head. Aroma has pineapple, mango and hops. Taste begins with sharp fruity piny bitterness. Bitter piny grapefruit dominates with sweet fruit flavours in the background. Towards the end the pine comes in front with a bite of alcohol. Aftertaste has grapefruit bitterness, piny dryness and alcohol warmth.

Thoroughly piny, bitter and fruity Double IPA. Fresh and strong flavours. Powerful stuff, heavy experience, magnificent beer. Got to get this some other time - or many other times.

Ölbeat

Had to pick some rock with defiance and rebellion, that's the brew is about. How convenient, there was this song with some affiliation to the brew's name. By the way, the song's name seems to have foretold the story of it's music video, too. Of course it shows the whole meaningfulness of making expensive music videos. 

Faith No More: Everything's Ruined (YouTube)

From the 1992 album Angel Dust, the song was written by Roddy Bottum, Billy Gould and Mike Patton.

Ölbeat 168: Bryggeri Supernova (4th edition)

Brewery: Bryggeri Helsinki
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 7,8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is clear orange with a small white head. Aroma has mango, orange and candy sweetness. Taste begins with sweet fruits and slight bitterness. Bitter grapefruit juice with a sweet orange twist takes over. Bitterness grows towards the end and is joined by alcohol bite and a bit herbal dry flavour. Aftertaste has bitter grapefruit and citrus-fruity dryness.

Double IPA that has everything in it's place. Fruits and bitterness have more kick than a standard IPA, also the alcohol and dryness are more easily noticed. Quality brew which stands out with a bit more strong and fruity aroma and flavour than the usual thing.

Ölbeat

For a change, I decided that it's time for an instrumental piece. The guitar master's freshest album gave just the right answer - some strong and skilled playing is present here. Powerful and aggressive like the brew. We'll probably visit his surprise box another time later.

Joe Satriani: Shockwave Supernova (YouTube)

From the 2015 album Shockwave Supernova, the song was written by Joe Satriani.

Ölbeat 165: Buxton King Maker

Brewery: Buxton Brewery
Country: England
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 10,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is clear light orange with a finger-thick white head. Aroma has boozy fruit cocktail i.e. alcohol, orange and banana. Taste starts with strong fruity alcoholic bitterness. Bittersweet orange-mango liquor fills the mouth with hints of bitter grapefruit and dry pine. Towards the end sweet fruit candy, spicy-biting alcohol and strong piny bitterness start to compete with each other. Aftertaste is strong and lasting and has bitter pine and sweet fruity booze.

Really strong, fruity and bitter Imperial IPA. The combination of sweet orange, boozy bite and pine bitter make this one hard to handle - the beer barks and bites. And I love it. Excellent stuff from the other Derbyshire master brewery.

Ölbeat

Strong brew asks for a powerful song. In addition to a sword pictured in the bottle label, the king needs a temple or a sanctuary. This is a medieval-toned fantasy ballad about one. Rainbow was one of the supergroups of the 70's, originally joining together Ritchie Blackmore's mastery of guitar and Ronnie James Dio's unbelievable vocal range.

Rainbow: The Temple of the King (YouTube)

From the 1975 album Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, the song was written by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio.

Ölbeat 162: Hiisi Ruisperkele

Brewery: Panimo Hiisi
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is golden orange with a small white head. Aroma is very fruity with seducing mango-pineapple-orange juice. Taste begins with fresh sweet and bitter fruits. Sweet mango gets on top with a solid bitter grapefruit side note that grows towards the end. Final twist adds gently spicy piny flavour. Aftertaste is fruity bitter and piny dry.

On the label it says: "Humalaa niin perkeleesti." = Devilishly dosed hops. Imperial IPA that suits me. Damned and delicious. The luring fruity aroma gets finished in the taste. Bitter and piny flavours perfect the excellence. Hiisi belongs to my personal elite league of Finnish top breweries.

Ölbeat

For some reason the guys at the brewery know what they're doing but don't know shit about good music. Small amount of ambition would be good with artist recommendations. CMX, seriously? No. Never... Well, make a Skitbit brew and I'll consider. But here's a song to match the infernally hopped brew. Geezer Butler's bass solo intro snaps right together with the sinful aroma of the brew. 

Black Sabbath: N.I.B. (YouTube)

From the 1970 album Black Sabbath, the song was written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne amd Bill Ward.

Ölbeat 152: Buxton Nth Cloud

Brewery: Buxton Brewery
Country: England
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,2 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is clear golden orange with a bubbly medium-sized white head. Aroma has rich mango, pineapple and citrus. Taste begins with rough piny and  fruity bitterness. Piny bitter grapefruit juice takes over with some sweet citrus on the background. Orange and alcohol flavours join the taste near the finish. Aftertaste has piny dryness and grapefruit bitterness.

Rough pine in the start makes the entry of incoming fruits easy. Strong citrus and pine powered Double or Imperial IPA. Very savoury and rich. No disappointments from the favourite brewery.

Ölbeat

Heavy brew - heavy flight to the sky and beyond. Nuff said.

Avenged Sevenfold: Higher (YouTube)

From the 2016 album The Stage, the song was written by Avenged Sevenfold.

Ölbeat 120: Founders reDANKulous Imperial Red IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 9,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark reddish brown with a finger-thick tan head. Aroma has alcohol, grassy piny hops and mild citrus.Taste starts with sweet alcoholic and sharp piny bitterness. Fresh piny bitterness and malty sweetness take over with alcohol warmth in the background. Dark fruits, grapefruit and sweet caramel linger in near the finish. Aftertaste has heavy piny dryness and alcohol bitterness, and it lasts long.

Strong and heavy. Piny bitter-dryness and boozy backbone dominate in the flavour. Malty sweetness shows up. Fruits are in the background. The brew leaves the mouth dry. Massive hop-bomb. Mostly I love the powerful presence but almost completely missing fruit flavours leaves a part of me cold.

Ölbeat

The beer was pure power and fist in the face with no small talk. Can we find a song with similar attitude? N.. Hey, wait. This legendary heavy/thrash metal band from Texas might have a word here.

Pantera: Walk (YouTube)

From the 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power, the song was written by Pantera.

Ölbeat 118: Founders Devil Dancer Triple IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 12 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is bright dark copper orange with a small whiteish head. Aroma has mango, sweet berries and flowery hops. Taste begins with dry pine and burning heavy bitterness. Piny bitterness with grapefruit and some sweet orange flavours take over. Towards the end the orange with a strong alcohol burn comes clearly through. Aftertaste has long-lasting extra dryness and heavily bitterness with alcohol-powered fruitiness.

Insanely intensive and aggressively alcoholic hop-bomb. Bitterness and dryness are the strongest forces with citrus fruits coming through in their full force near the finish. Delicious Triple IPA but not for the faint-hearted.

Ölbeat

There's an obvious American rock song for this American brew. It's got nothing to do with dancers but the devil is clearly here. The loud intro with car horns pretty well describes the first impression of the beer's taste.

Van Halen: Runnin' with the Devil (YouTube)

From the 1978 album Van Halen, the song was written by Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen.