April 14th, 2017 - A Little Citra Sting In The Tail

Hello!  The Meista here today with another great pairing ya... a Red Rock Citra Pilsner from Red Rock Brewery in Salt Lake City, Utah and "Sting In The Tail" from the mighty Scorpions!

Album Info:

• Artist: Scorpions
• Title: "Sting In The Tail"
• Recorded: May through December 2009 at Scorpio Sound Studio and Vocal Land Studio in Germany, and  The Garage Studio and Atlantisstudion in Stockholm, Sweden
• Release date: March 19th, 2010 (17th studio album by the Scorpions)
• Record company: New Door/UME
• Production: Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen
• Album cover art: Dirk Illing
• Personnel: Matthias Jabs (lead guitar and backing vocals), James Kottak (drums and backing vocals), Paweł Mąciwoda (bass and backing vocals), Klaus Meine (lead vocals), and Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar and backing vocals)
• Additional musicians: Tarja Turunen (vocals on "The Good Die Young")
• Musical style: Heavy metal, hard rock
• Sound: It's the Scorps... it fuckin' rocks!!  Of the album's sound, Schenker described it as: "If you take the best song elements from the '80s albums, and put these on one album, you come up with the Sting in the Tail album. So in this case we tried to re-invent the Scorpions sound from the '80s, using the same DNA after putting in a modern twist, to make it sound like today's music."
• Major themes: Rock and roll, sex, love, lust, desire, attitude, anti-war, standing for freedom and peace, the water-spirit Lorelei, etc.
• Tracks:  

1. "Raised On Rock"
2. "Sting In The Tail"
3. "Slave Me"
4. "The Good Die Young"
5. "No Limit"
6. "Rock Zone"
7. "Lorelei"
8. "Turn You On"
9. "Let's Rock!"
10. "SLY"
11. "Spirit Of Rock"
12. "The Best Is Yet To Come"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Red Rock Brewery (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://redrockbrewing.com/
• Brew: Red Rock Citra Pilsner
• Style: German Pilsener 
• Serving: Pint off the tap
• ABV: 4.0%
• Pour: The Red Rock Citra Pilsner pours a clear (very slightly hazy) golden-straw yellow with lots of effervescence and a very dense, foamy, bright white, 2+ finger head with great retention and lot of layered lacing throughout.
• Nose: The nose is citrusy, grassy, and grainy.  There are aromas of summer grasses, mountain flowers, tropical fruit, grapefruit rind, tangerine, sourdough bread, cereal grains, and crackery biscuit.
• Taste: Incredibly crisp and refreshing, the taste of the Red Rock Citra Pilsner is characterized by notes of pink grapefruit, lemon zest, light mango, crackery biscuit, and lots of grassy hops.
• Mouthfeel: Light-bodied and well-carbonated, the mouthfeel is very crisp, very refreshing, very smooth with a clean and crisp finish.

Overall pairing: Those crisp, citrusy, and grainy flavors and aromas of the tasty Red Rock Citra Pilsner are perfect for the straight-forward rock and roll style of the Scorpions!  You could definitely throw back several of these delicious brews whilst pumping your fist and banging your head to the upbeat and fiery "Sting In The Tail"!

Cheers!!  Prost!!  Rock on!!