October 24th, 2014 - Frost And Firestone Oaktoberfest

Good afternoon rockers and brew lovers!  Your buddy the Meista here with another killer metal and craft ale pairing... today I'm going with Cirith Ungol's "Frost And Fire" and a Oaktoberfest Paso Marzen Bier from Firestone Walker Brewing Company!

Profoundly underrated, "Frost And Fire" is the debut album by the great American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol.  It was released in January of 1981.  Characterized by fantasy based lyrics and a fast-paced, aggressive, and epically doomy musical assault, Cirith Ungol's tunes on "Frost And Fire" are a hybrid between late 1970s hard rock and early 1980s heavy metal, very much in the vein of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) bands like Angel Witch, early Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Tygers of Pan Tang.  Songs like the title track, "I'm Alive", "A Little Fire", "Edge Of The Knife", "Better Off Dead", and "Maybe That's Why" are monstrous rock classics... powerful, epic, and heavy!  The band at the time was Tim Baker (lead and backing vocals), Jerry Fogle (guitars), Robert Garven (drums and backing vocals), Greg Lindstrom (guitars, synthetizers, e-bow, backing vocals, and bass), and Michael "Flint" Vujea (bass).

The Oaktoberfest Paso Marzen Bier is a German-style Marzen brewed in the traditional style with premium imported Pilsner and Vienna malts and spiced with imported Bavarian hops.  Firestone Walker also employs Bavarian Augustiner Lager yeast from Munich and German Hallertauer Traditions "for both bittering and aroma additions adding a rich, noble hop presence".   The Oaktoberfest pours a light copper amber with a thin, white head.  The nose is mild, yet malty.  There are sweet notes of caramel and banana along with richly baked bread and subtle spices.  Medium bodied and well carbonated, the mouthfeel is crisp and refreshing and quite smooth.  With a huge malt backbone, the flavor is characterized by notes of freshly baked bread, toasted grains, graham cracker, sweet caramel, peat, and floral/bitter hops.  Perfectly balanced, the Oaktoberfest goes down easy and finishes with a crisp and slightly bitter bite.  Good stuff!!

Prost!!