October 21st, 2012 - Imperial Black Jacked Sabbath

Hey there boils and ghouls!  The Meista here with another pairing for you... and this is one of my favorites as of late.  To continue the pre-Halloween theme... today I'm pairing Uinta's Crooked Line Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale and the magical, wonderful, and brilliant, self-titled, first album of Black Sabbath!  Oh, I'm dedicated this to my good buddy, Matt Rodgers who LOVES pumpkin beer.  Cheers Matt!!  And I'm also dedicated this to my other good buddy, Jerry Howard who introduced me to this album, although I don't think he remebers that... cheers Jerry!!

This is it folks... arguably the very first and the ultimate heavy metal album, "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath!  Amazing to think this album came out in 1970.  It still sounds as fresh and powerful as it did then.  I still remember the exact place I was when I first heard it... it made that much of an impression on me.  Musically and lyrically, "Black Sabbath" is dark, cerebral, heavy as hell, and profound.   The opening song is based almost entirely on a diminished tritone (the "Devil's note") interval played at slow tempo with fast-paced bursts of Iomi's amazing guitar, Geezer's booming bass, and Ward's unparalleled drum attack.  It opens with the sound of rain, thunder, and an ominous church bell... and then boom! the music nails you right between the eyes.  Ozzy's vocals are ominous, terrifying, honest, powerful.  And it doesn't end there!  "N.I.B.," a love song from the viewpoint of Lucifer is a powerful rocker.  "The Wizard," inspired by Tolkien's Gandalf is another rocking monster with fantatic signature changes, and Ozzy's rare harmonica stylings (he should definitely play more harmonica!)   "Behind the Wall of Sleep" references a story by horror master H.P. Lovecraft (there's that Halloween theme again for ya kids.)   The songs heavy-hitting "Warning" and the almost poppy "Evil Woman" are wonderful bluesy rock cover songs.  "Warning" was written by the amazing Aynsley Dunbar and his band Retaliation, and the second was written and performed by the band Crow.  All in all, "Black Sabbath" is metal perfection - deep, musical, heavy, and complex!

Like "Black Sabbath," the Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale is a complex, bold, and an impressionable work of art (that's a mouthful!) It pours a deep, dark amber with a thin, yet frothy head with fairly good lacing.  The nose is straight-up pumpkin pie - sweet, spicy, and rich.  Unlike most pumpkin beers, which are usually too sweet for me, Jacked's flavor (unlike the nose) is oak, chewy, and malty.  There are generous notes of pumpkin, nutmeg, clove, raisin.  Earthy, organic notes weave throughout adding to the complexity of the brew... a wonderful balance of slightly sweet and rich oak.  Being an imperial ale it is a bit of a bad boy as well, coming in at 10.31% ABV, but deceptively not boozy.  I tell ya... this is how all pumpkin ales should taste.  All in all, Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale is pumpkin ale perfection - deep, heavy, inviting, and complex!

Check out Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin Ale and all the other wonderful beers of Uinta's at www.uintabrewing.com and make sure you pick up a copy of "Black Sabbath" (if you don't already own it... and if you don't SHAME!!) from my buddy Kevin at the Heavy Metal Shop at www.heavymetalshop.