December 31st, 2019 - A Gingerbread Stout Fraught With Peril

Hello and happy New Year's Eve!  The Meista here tonight pairing "Fraught With Peril", a split by Khemmis and Spirit Adrift with a tasty Gingerbread Stout from Talisman Brewing Company!  

Album Info:

• Artist: Khemmis / Spirit Adrift
• Title: "Fraught With Peril"
• Recorded: 2017 at Flatline Studios in Westminster, Colorado and Flying Blanket Recording in Mesa, Arizona
• Release date: June 16th, 2017 ( studio album by )
• Record company: War Crime Recordings
• Production: Bob Hoag and Dave Otero
• Album cover art: Nate Burns
• Personnel: Khemmis is Ben (vocals and guitars), Dan (bass), Phil (lead vocals and guitars), and Zach (drums); Spirit Adrift is Nate Garrett (all vocals and instruments)
• Musical style: Doom metal, traditional folk music
• Sound: Slow, a little sludgy, but warm and rich, the sound on this little 7 inch split is wonderfully melancholy, yet inviting.  
• Major themes: Death, life, mortality, isolation, sorrow, etc.
• Notes: "A Conversation with Death” is an early 20th century Appalachian dirge written by Lloyd Chandler, an itinerant Free Will Baptist Preacher from North Carolina. The song is best known as “O Death,” after being famously covered by Ralph Stanley in 2002. Our interpretation pays homage to both versions and is a reminder that even wealth and power cannot stop the inevitable: death comes for us all. – Khemmis
• Notes: "Man of Constant Sorrow" (also known as "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow") is a traditional American folk song first published by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The song was originally titled "Farewell Song" in a songbook by Burnett dated to around 1913. An early version was recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928, which gave the song its current title.” – Spirit Adrift
• Tracks:   

1. "A Conversation With Death" - Khemmis
2. "Man Of Constant Sorrow" - Spirit Adrift

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Talisman Brewing Company (Ogden, Utah)
• Website: https://www.talismanbrewingco.com/home
• Brew: Gingerbread Stout
• Style: Stout
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 8.5%
• Pour: The Gingerbread Stout pours an almost ink black with a creamy, frothy, and firm 1-finger mocha head with great sustain and lots of sticky and intricate lacing.
• Nose: The nose is roasty, chocolaty, spicy, and slightly sweet.  There are aromas of spicy gingerbread, cinnamon, dark chocolate, dark roasted coffee, burnt toffee, oak, and a hint of cream.
• Taste: The taste of the Gingerbread Stout follows the nose with lots of earthy, chocolaty, and spicy character.  There are notes of bittersweet dark chocolate, gingerbread, cinnamon, nutmeg, toffee, dark roasted coffee, and cream.  
• Mouthfeel: Full-bodied with minimal carbonation, the mouthfeel of the Gingerbread Stout is thick, sticky, smooth, and creamy, but with a dry finish.

Overall pairing: The Talisman Gingerbread Stout is a sipper... it is a very big, bold, tasty, and bombastic brew, perfect for the doom folk workings of Khemmis and Spirit Adrift!  Those folksy tunes seem to have been written expressly to groove with the heaviness of the Gingerbread Stout!  And the biting gingerbread flavor and aroma is great for the thematic elements!

    

Cheers!!