Good evening true beer believers! It is Friday night and you know what that means... another beer and metal pairing from yours truly, the Meista! Tonight I'm pairing MacTarnahan's Brewing Company's Spine Tingler Golden Belgian-Style Triple Ale and the Tygers of Pan Tang's "Live at Nottingham Rock City." I paired these two bad boys for one simple reason... high energy!
With a frothy head, the Spine Tingler Golden Belgian-Style Triple pours a light golden amber hue. The nose is fruity and floral with notes of sour apple, banana, exotic spice, and vanilla. Being a Triple, the Spine Tingler comes in at 8.5% ALC with big flavor. A little boozy, the flavor is sharp, crisp, and sour... like biting into a green apple... a green apple that bites back! With a higher carbonation content and that ALC kick, the Spine Tingler truly is a spine tingling experience. If you could categorize a beer as having high energy... this would be such a beer. It makes you want to move!
Along with my usual diet of power metal, thrash, and death, I've been listening to a lot of NWOBHM bands' albums as of late: Angel Witch, Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Pentagram, Tygers of Pan Tang, Witchfinder General, etc. One album that has always stood out for me is Tygers of Pan Tang's "Live at Nottingham Rock City," which was recorded in the Spring of 1981 during their "Spellbound" tour, but not released until 2001. I found this little gem at a music store in Tempe, Arizona one week after 9/11. What I love about this album is the high energy of the band and colossal onslaught of sound... especially considering that the entire band had come down with the flu (apart from guitarist John Sykes.) As sick as they apparently were, you would have had no idea... this is powerful, fast-paced rock and roll ecstasy with bite! Singer Jon Deverill (who had replaced original singer Jesse Cox) is at the top of his game, delivering energetic and powerful vocals. The rhythm section of Brian Dick (drums) and Rocky (bass) is a driving, pounding, and precise force. The guitar work of the legendary John Sykes (later to join Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, and form Blue Murder) and Robb Weir is stunning to say the least! Sykes signature vibrato is wonderful... check him out on "Mirror"... breathtaking. The tracks are high energy, intense, fast, and a blast to listen to... especially with brew in hand! The Tygers whip the crowd into a frenzy with tracks like "Take It," "Rock and Roll Man," Tyger Bay," "Euthanasia," "Silver and Gold," "Hellbound," and my favorite, "Insanity"... "Do you know... do you know what it's like to lose your mind?" Deverill asks the crowd. Wow, what a fantastic, high energy live album! Sadly, within a year, this incarnation of the band would cease to exist. But at least we have this wonderful live album to seal them in time as one of the great NWOBHM performing bands.
If you are looking for some high-octane beer and metal, I highly suggest checking out Spine Tingler Golden Belgian-Style Triple from MacTarnahan's and Tygers of Pan Tang, but stick with their earlier work... faster and heavier for sure! Cheers!!
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