November 28th, 2015 - Dawn Of The Red Infection

God kväll evil-doers!  The Meista here pairing "Infected" from Swedish power metal monsters HammerFall and a Dawn Of The Red India-Style Red Ale from Ninkasi Brewing Company!  Skitsnygg!!

Album Info:

• Artist: HammerFall
• Title: "Infected"
• Recorded: June 2010 through early 2011 at Red Level 3 Studios Nashville, Tennessee, ⌘-s Studios, Goteborg, Sweden, and Bohus Studios Kungälv, Sweden
• U.S. release date: June 7th, 2011 (8th studio album by HammerFall)
• Record company: Nuclear Blast Records
• Production: James Michael, Oscar Dronjak, and Pontus Norgren
• Album cover art: Mark Ljungberg and Patric Ullaeus  
• Personnel: Joacim Cans (lead and backing vocals), Oscar Dronjak (rhythm, lead guitars, keyboards and backing vocals, and production), Anders Johansson (drums), Fredrik Larsson (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pontus Norgren (rhythm, lead guitars and backing vocals, and production)
• Musical style: Power metal, speed metal, neo-classical metal
• Sound: In a word, HUGE!!  What I've always loved about HammerFall is their very big, very bold, very rocking style of power metal.  The guitar work of Dronjak and Norgren is paint-peeling, face-melting, fiery goodness while the rhythm section of Johansson and Larsson is a thunderous freight train bearing down on you!  And the vocal range of Cans is (as always) pure magic!
• Major themes: Heavy metal, rockin' out, zombies, the occult, evil, darkness, etc. 
• Tracks:  

1. "Patient Zero"
2. "B.Y.H."
3. "One More Time"
4. "The Outlaw"
5. "Send Me A Sign"
6. "Dia De Los Muertos"
7. "I Refuse"
8. "666 - The Enemy Within"
9. "Immortalized"
10. "Let's Get It On"
11. "Redemption"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Ninkasi Brewing Company (Eugene, Oregon)
• Website: http://ninkasibrewing.com/
• Brew: Dawn Of The Red India-Style Red Ale
• Style: India Red Ale (IRA)
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 7.0%
• IBUs: 75 
• Ingredients: 2-Row Pale, CaraRed, Crystal, Flaked Barley, and Black malts; Galena, Millennium, Ahtanum, El Dorado, and Mosaic hops
• Pour: Cloudy and pale copper-orange with a frothy half-finger head
• Nose: The nose is characterized by lots of citrus, tropical fruit, and sweet caramel aromas.  There are big notes of mango, pineapple, pink grapefruit, tangerine, pine, herbs, floral hops, and burnt toffee.
• Taste: Bursting with tropical fruit, citrus, dank earthy, and sweet malt flavors, the Dawn Of The Red's taste is characterized by notes of mango, papaya, pineapple, pink grapefruit, apricot, pine, black tea, hearty bread, and caramel/toffee. 
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp, slightly sticky, and very smooth with a dry, slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: Those big, punchy, and bold citrus and caramel notes in Ninkasi's Dawn Of The Red India-Style Red Ale are perfect for the bombastic, crunching power that is HammerFall's "Infected"!  The bitterness of the beer is great for the darker elements of the album while the sweeter notes go great with Cans' wonderful vocal range, the intricate melodies, and the soaring guitars!

Skål... hails!!