August 18th, 2012 - Your Tomorrow Schwarzbier

Evening rockers, brewers, and aficionados!  The Meista here with another pairing for you... tonight I'm pairing Session Black Lager from Full Sail Brewing Company and Corrosion of Conformity's self-titled, eponymous album released earlier this year.

As with any good band and their music, it is about bringing people together.  Like Motorhead, Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C) is a crossover band, bringing punk and metal together in a wonderful fusion of heaviness and speed.  A power trio now, the band consists of guitarist/vocalist Woody Wetherman, bassist Mike Dean, and drummer Reed Mullin - all original members, all talented bastards!  There are elements here of early Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Black Flag, and Mastodon, and even a little Soundgarden... but this is all original music - all heavy, all fantastic. Woody seems to channel Robin Zander at times and Lemmy at others in voice and delivery.   The guitar work is chunky, sharp, and honest.  The bass work is simple, yet compelling.  And the drumming is solid, straightforwar, and pounding. My favorite tracks are "River of Stone," "Your Tomorrow" (definitely love this song!), "Leeches," "The Doom," "The Moneychangers," and "Rat City," but all the tracks are f***ing great!  This is just a great, solid, heavy album that should please the ears of any punk or metal head simultaneously.  I cannot get enough of it... I think I've listened to it 3 or 4 times now today!  :)

I paired C.O.C. with the Session Black Lager for the simple fact that these are two solid, straight-ahead rockers!  As the name denotes, the Session Black Lager is a fine, very drinkable beer without frills, but solid in flavor and delivery.  The nose consists of mellow notes of chocolate, roasted coffee, and roasted malt.  Very drinkable, this Black Lager has a respectable bite (much like C.O.C.), but goes down easy.  As with any good session ale, nothing mind-blowing here, but a very good, solid beer... especially good for pairing with the solid rocking explosion of C.O.C.!!  Go get some... of both!!