December 27th, 2015 - Fair Warning, I'm Taking A Lunch Break With Van Halen

Good afternoon!  Your pal the Meista here pairing a Lunch Break India Session Ale from Breakside Brewery and Van Halen's very underrated "Fair Warning"!

Album Info:

• Artist: Van Halen
• Title: "Fair Warning"
• Recorded: Early March through early April 1981
• Release date: April 29th, 1981 (4th studio album by Van Halen)
• Record company: Warner Bros.
• Production: Ted Templeman (painting) and Pete Angelus (design)
• Album cover art: William Kurelek
• Personnel: Michael Anthony (bass and backing vocals), David Lee Roth (lead vocals and guitar), Alex Van Halen (drums), and Eddie Van Halen (guitars, synthesizers, and backing vocals)
• Musical style: Hard rock with elements of heavy metal and power pop
• Sound: Aggressive guitar-oriented and darker sounding than previous albums, "Fair Warning" is a hard hitting album with lots of that big, meaty Van Halen sound of the early 1980s... pure heavy rock!
• Major themes: Darker thematically than the 3 previous albums, themes include sex, loneliness, love, loss, aggression, broken dreams, broken relationships, etc.
• Tracks:  

1. "Mean Streets"
2. "Dirty Movies"
3. "Sinner's Swing!"
4. "Hear About It Later"
5. "Unchained"
6. "Push Come To Shove"
7. "So This Is Love?"
8. "Sunday Afternoon In The Park"
9. "One Foot Out The Door"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Breakside Brewery (Portland, Oregon)
• Website: http://www.breakside.com/
• Brew: Lunch Break India Session Ale (ISA)
• Style: American India Pale Ale / American Pale Ale
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 4.7%
• IBUs: 28
• Ingredients: Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, and Centennial hops with Two Row, Munich, and Light Crystal malts
• Pour: Clear golden-amber with a thin white head that displays good lacing throughout.
• Nose: The nose is citrusy, slightly dank, earthy, and malty.  There are aromas of juicy pink grapefruit, orange marmalade, lemon, pine resin, caramel, and light bread.
• Taste: Big in flavor, yet very drinkable, the Lunch Break ISA is chalk full of big citrus, floral hops, and sweet malt flavors.  There are notes of pink grapefruit, tangerine, orange, lemongrass, pine, summer grass, caramel/toffee, and minerals. 
• Mouthfeel: Light to medium-bodied with good carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp and refreshing and very smooth with a clean, slightly dry finish.

Overall pairing: The Lunch Break ISA from Breakside Brewery is a very solid, very sessionable IPA, and as such, it works perfectly well with the hard-rockin' goodness that Van Halen slams down without apology on "Fair Warning"!  Those fiery guitar hooks and solos of Eddie's work really well with the citrusy complexity of the brew, while the solid malt backbone is accentuated by heavy-hitting rhythm section of Anthony and Alex.  And of course those earthy pine notes are great for the gravely yelps of Mr. Roth! 

Cheers!!