Ölbeat 298: Victory HopDevil

Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: India Pale Ale
Abv: 6,7 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is amber orange with a small white  head. Aroma has resin, orange and alcohol. Taste starts with bittersweet piny citrus kick. Strong resiny bitterness takes over with grapefruit and sweetish orange. Towards the end bitter pine and grapefruit come dominant with alcohol kicking in. Aftertaste has very dry & bitter pine and warming fruity alcohol.

Strong piny India Pale Ale. Bitter pine goes to the limit just without going over it. Nice orange, grapefruit and alcohol flavours, too. Stands out of the crowd. High quality brew.

Ölbeat

I'm starting to slowly believe that Ölbeat is not just random word play and that this blog is actually used to promote Volbeat. It's those damn Danes. But, as long as breweries name beers with heaven/hell themes, that shit keeps happening and it's ok.

Volbeat: Heaven Nor Hell (YouTube)

From the 2010 album Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, the song was written by Michael Poulsen.

Ölbeat 186: Amager Hr. Frederiksen

Brewery: Amager
Country: Denmark
Style: Imperial Stout
Abv: 10,5 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a finger-thick beige head. Aroma has heavily roasted malts, strong black coffee and bitter alcohol. Taste starts with strong and bitter charcoal roast. Heavily roasted malts and bitter espresso take over with cocoa hints. Towards the end bitter black coffee and dark chocolate get strongest. Aftertaste has dry bitter roast, dark chocolate, coffee and alcohol warmth (and it lasts pleasantly long).

Unbelievably untamed and powerful Imperial Stout. Roast, coffee and dark chocolate all attack with full throttle as does the bitterness. Extreme beer in the word's best and most fabulous meaning. Amager shows once again world class skill in brewing.

Ölbeat

Don't know Mr./Hr. Frederiksen personally, so I don't know if he is an asshole, a liar, a cheater or a fool. But at least the brew named after him hits you hard, as does this Danish rockabilly metal. (And no, I still don't know what it is with Danish beers and Volbeat.) 

Volbeat: Still Counting (YouTube)

From the 2008 album Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood, the song was written by Michael Poulsen, Anders Kjølholm, Jon Larsen and Thomas Bredahl.

Ölbeat 146: Midtfyns Bryghus/De Molen X Porter

Brewery: Midtfyns Bryghus (Brouwerij de Molen)
Country: Denmark 
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 8 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has sweet roasted malts, liquorice, black coffee and chocolate. Taste bites sharply with sweet roasted malts. Sweet ashy-roasted malts and dark chocolate take over with moderate alcoholic bitterness and a mild slice of coffee in the background. Towards the end sweet liquorice comes in front and alcohol bites gently. Aftertaste has the combination of all flavours: sweet roast and bitterness, chocolate, liquorice and alcohol.

Unbelievably rich, thick, complex and delicious Imperial Porter. The combination of flavours is overwhelming: roast, liquorice, chocolate and a nice boozy kick in the end. This collab truly shows the brewing skills in both breweries. Masterpiece. Perfect.

Ölbeat

It's the third time committing the same sin: pairing a Danish beer with a Volbeat song. Well, it's the first for Midtfyns brew and truly deserved. Tough Porter that shares immortality with the song's lyrics.

Volbeat (ft. Johan Olsen): For Evigt (YouTube)

From the 2016 album Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie, the song was written by Michael Poulsen.

Ölbeat 103: Ugly Duck Hop Devil

Brewery: Indslev Bryggeri / Ugly Duck Brewing Co.
Country: Denmark
Style: India Pale Ale
Abv: 7,5 %
@RateBeer

What about the beer?

Colour is hazy copper orange with a large white head. Aroma has lemon, grapefruit and grass. Taste begins with a gently bitter first bite but explodes with fresh, biting bitter grapefruit and dry hops. Towards the end dry-tart pine, bite of sweet orange and some citrus peel are added to the flavour. Aftertaste has heavy dryness with a bitter sidekick.

Quote from the bottle label: "This is Nelson and Citra. This is tropical fruits and citrus aromas. This is pure joy." And damn tasty, too. Nuff said.

Ölbeat

Ok. This will not be a habit - I've done this before: matched a heck of a Danish beer with a heck of a Danish rockabilly metal song. The joy of this brew is shared with the joy I get from Volbeat's music. I can promise only one thing: there'll be more from the band in the blog in the future.

Volbeat: The Devil's Bleeding Crown (YouTube)

From the 2016 album Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie, the song was written by Michael Poulsen.

Ölbeat 005: Amager/Grassroots Black Nitro

Brewery: Amager Bryghus
Country: Denmark
Style: India Black Ale (instead of the usual Black IPA)
Abv: 7,5 %
@RateBeer

Danish-American Heavy Fuel

Amager Bryghus, a Danish brewery located in the island of Amager by Copenhagen, had convinced me to arrange a second meeting. I had a bottle of The Sinner Series Envy (IPA) at Mallaskukko in Turku and enjoyed it. So a brew made on a recipe by Shaun E. Hill (the brewmaster of Hill Farmstead/Grassroots Brewing) caught my eye in an online shop and was the next victim.

What about the beer?
Colour is black as the night with a thick bubbly beige head. Aroma has a hoppy headnote with some roasted malts on the side. Taste attacks with a dry hops in the foreground, then given some citrus fire support - mainly grapefruit and lemon. Palate adds a very mild taste of roasted malts to the picture. Long aftertaste is dominated by hops with a hint of citrus.

I am positively surprised by the absence of roasted malts in the taste. Kinda used to get some stout-and-porter like burned notes even with a hoppy black ale. A very tasty American IPA with unusual colour. The brewery maintains its exceptionality and attractiveness.  

Ölbeat

Choosing a performer and a song from the same country where the beer was made is rather an exception than a rule, so with this exceptional beer I stay inside the country borders:

Volbeat: Sad Man's Tongue (YouTube)

From the 2007 album Rock the Rebel / Metal the Devil, the song was written by the singer-guitarist Michael Poulsen. The country-style intro and 1st verse with banjo, acoustic guitar and Poulsen's "Elvis-mode" singing explode to a full heavy metal beat for the 2nd verse. The lyrics - with the start - show out the inspiration from Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues. The song tells about a man who in the end has refused to join the army and ended up in prison "with a pocket full of real tales, and a broken guitar mode". A rockabilly-tuned heavy metal song with a country twist matches the mood of Black Nitro. Well, for me, at least.