April 2nd, 2017 - Give Me IPA Or Give Me Endless Pain

Good afternoon and happy lazy Sunday!  The Meista here today priming the pump for tomorrow night's Kreator show here in Utah with a pairing of their debut album "Endless Pain" and  a Give Me IPA Or Give Me Death Double IPA from Stone Brewing Company!!  Hells yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Kreator
• Title: "Endless Pain"
• Recorded: March 1985 at Caet Studio in Berlin, Germany
• Release date: October 1985 (debut album by Kreator)
• Record company: Noise Records
• Production: Horst Müller and Karl-Ulrich Walterbach
• Album cover art: ?
• Personnel: Rob Fioretti (bass guitar), Mille Petrozza (lead and rhythm guitars, and lead vocals on tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10), and Jürgen "Ventor" Reil (drums and lead vocals on tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9)
• Musical style: Thrash metal with elements of black metal
• Sound: Highly influential on the black metal movement of the 1990s, with "Endless Pain" combined the blisteringly fast, machine gun fire sound of the California thrash metal scene with the occult-drenched themes of Venom and a more nihilistic Germanic viewpoint.  Raw, chaotic, pure fast, and aggressive... this is old-school thrash perfection!! 
• Major themes: Death, war, violence, nihilism, suffering, hate, power, aggression, evil, etc.
• Tracks:   

1. "Endless Pain"
2. "Total Death"
3. "Storm Of The Beast"
4. "Tormentor"
5. "Son Of Evil"
6. "Flag Of Hate"
7. "Cry War"
8. "Bone Breaker"
9. "Living In Fear"
10. "Dying Victims"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Stone Brewing Company (Richmond, Virginia)
• Website: http://www.stonebrewing.com/
• Brew: Give Me IPA Or Give Me Death
• Style: Double India Pale Ale (DIPA) / Imperial IPA (IIPA)
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 8.0%
• IBUs: 75
• Ingredients: VA Cascade, VA Columbus, Belma, Columbus, Mosaic, Delta, and Crystal hops with Virginia raspberries and blackberries
• Pour: The Give Me IPA Or Give Me Death pours a cloudy, deep bronze-amber with a thick and frothy, 2-finger off-white head with great retention and lots of layered spider web lacing.
• Nose: The nose is very hoppy, dank, earthy, and fruity.  There are bold aromas of pine resin, grapefruit rind, orange peel, tart berries, caramel malt, herbs, and black tea.
• Taste: The taste is sweet, citrusy, bitter, and hoppy.  There are notes of pink grapefruit, tangerine, tart blackberry and raspberry, pine, black tea, caramel/toffee, and molasses.
• Mouthfeel: Medium to full-bodied with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is sharp, tart, bitter, yet smooth and crisp with a dry, sweet, and slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: The aggressively hopped Give Me IPA Or Give Me Death from Stone Brewing's Virginia location is a delicious and unique DIPA with enough berry to make it interesting, but not enough to make it overly sweet.  It is also biting and sharp!  As such, it is the perfect beer to accompany your raised fist/horns and Sunday afternoon head-banging to Kreator's wonderfully aggressive and raw debut album, "Endless Pain"!!

PROST!!  And HAILS!!