Sunday, October 26, 2014

October 26th, 2014 - Weizen Bam For The Divine





Good afternoon!  Today your pal the Meista is pairing High On Fire's "Snakes For The Divine" and a Weizen Bam Farmhouse Wheat Beer from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales outta Dexter Michigan!

"Snakes For The Divine" is the 5th studio release by stoner/sludge metal trio High On Fire.  It was released on February 23rd, 2010 through E1 Music.  The band is made up of Matt Pike on lead vocals and guitar (he's also the guitarist for the doom metal band Sleep), Jeff Matz on bass, and Des Kensel on drums.  The amazing album cover was designed and produced by artist Arik Roper.  When asked about the album's theme(s), Pike described it as: "The title 'Snakes for the Divine' is based on the premise that Adam and Eve weren't the first people on Earth, and Adam actually having a wife that was a Reptilian named Lilith. They were the first two people to actually take the reptilian DNA, and make shape shifting human beings that go between the fourth-dimensional, the Anunnaki, and human beings. Eventually, from ancient Mesopotamia, this spawned a thing called the Illuminati - the enlightened ones - coming up through the centuries, and choosing the kings, controlling your media, controlling your banking, blah blah blah. It's just theory at most points. I thought it'd make a great metal song, so I just went ahead and started writing about that. That's how the record came about, as far as the theme."  Musically on "Snakes For The Divine", High On Fire combines bass-heavy elements of stoner and sludge metal with faster-paced elements of NWOBHM, progressive death metal, and even some thrash.  You can hear influence from bands like Baroness, Black Sabbath, Goatwhore, Mastodon, Pentagram, and Saint Vitus in their wonderfully heavy and aggressive sound.

The Weizen Bam Farmhouse Wheat Beer is an outstanding and delightful Saison-style brew with lots of tartness and  farmhouse funkiness.  Jolly Pumpkin describes it as "a ruddy golden, with yeast driven esters of banana, spicy clove, and nutmeg all wrapped up with a generous dose of rapscallion".  The Weizen Bam pours a murky golden peach color with a thin, but frothy head that leaves lots of bubbly lacing.  The nose is characterized by big tart aromas of lemon and orange peel with traces of wheat and Weizen yeast.  There's also a little bit of spice in there, but the acidic qualities overpower most of the other aromas.  The flavor is similar to the nose in that the tartness really stands out and seems to punch you in the face with a beautiful intensity similar to the way "Snakes For The Divine" attacks you.  There are those big acidic and tart and tangy notes of lemon, sour grapes, green apple, and old leather, but there is also some soft banana, subtle clove, light vanilla, and bready wheat in the finish. The mouthfeel is light and effervescent with lots of tight bubbles from the higher carbonation.  Learn more about the Weizen Bam Farmhouse Wheat Beer and all the other great brews from the Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales at http://www.jollypumpkin.com/

Cheers!!

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