Good evening rockers and brewzers! The Meista here with another pairing for you... tonight I'm pairing MacTarnaham's Brewing Company's Winter HumBug'r Ale and Swedish power metal heavies, Hammerfall and their 2009 album, "No Sacrifice, No Victory."
The Winter HumBug'r pours a wonderful black with flecks of crimson and a mocha half-finger head. The nose is earthy with notes of coffee and bitter-sweet dark chocolate. Employing Caramel, Black Roast, Wheat, and Oats malt and Northern Brewer and Willamette hops, the Winter Hum Bug'r Ale is no-frills, but a solid seasonal ale/porter. Those Northern Brewer and Willamette hops give it a nice, subtle bite (27 IBUs), but nothing overpowering or anything that attenuates the richness of the malty and chocolaty flavors. Coming in at 5.3% ABV, the Winter HumBug'r is a well-balanced dark beer that goes down easy. This is a great, meaty beer for a cold, winter night and for an evening of power metal goodness... specifically Hammerfall!
With a "festive" winter ale, I thought I would go with something with a Scandinavian flair musically... thus "No Sacrifice, No Victory" by the mighty Hammerfall. Released in the winter of 2009, "No Sacrifice, No Victory" is Hammerfall's 7th studio album and debut for lead guitarist Pontus Norgren. In the tradition of Blind Guardian as well as other great founding bands from the "second wave of Power Metal" and traditional power metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, Hammerfall delivers a passionate, thought-provocative masterpiece of complexity, intensity, and darkness. With songs about serial killers ("Any Means Necessary"), demonic temptation ("Legion"), warriors in battle ("One Of A Kind"), and straight-ahead metal rocking ("Life Is Now" and "Bring The Hammer Down"), Hammerfall delivers a fast-paced, metal monster! Joacim Cans' vocals soar! He is truly one of the best out there! Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren deliver awe-inspiring guitar work with amazingly fast arpeggios and machine gun power (I'm reminded of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton)! Anders Johansson is quite simply the shit... a monster on the drum kit, invoking the spirit of Bonzo! And Fredrik Larsson lays the thunder down through his bass work! This is a joy to listen to... just listen to "Punish And Enslave!" Magic! The album even ends on a bit of strange note with a cover of new-wave/pop hit "My Sharona" by the Knack! :)
Hails... cheers!!
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