March 25th, 2022 - The 723rd Batch For A Restless Breed

 

Alright my friends... the Meista here pairing another great craft brew tonight with another great album!  This evening I'm going with the mighty Riot and their 4th studio album, "Restless Breed" along with a bold and tasty Batch #723 Double IPA from the fine folks at Fisher Brewing Company!  The Batch #723 is literally the 723rd beer brewed at Fisher and was released in celebration of their 5-year anniversary!  Hell yeah!

Album Info:

• Artist: Riot
• Title: "Restless Breed"
• Recorded: 1982 at Greene Street Recording in New York, New York
• Release date: May 21st, 1982 (4th studio album by Riot)
• Record company: Elektra / Metal Blade Records
• Production: Steve Loeb and Billy Arnell
• Album cover art: Kid Kane
• Personnel: Rhett Forrester (vocals and harmonica), Kip Leming (bass), Mark Reale (guitars), Sandy Slavin (drums), and Rick Ventura (guitars)
• Musical style: Heavy metal, hard rock
• Sound: Maybe not as heavy as their previous albums, with "Restless Breed", Riot took a more commercial, radio-friendly approach.  However, this is still very solid, straight-forward hard rockin' goodness!  The dual guitar work of Reale and Ventura is a thing of beauty... intricate, yet unobtrusive playing, rich tones, and killer hooks! 
• Major themes: Love, loss, life, rebellion, violence, crime, etc.
• Tracks:

1. "Hard Lovin' Man"
2. "C.I.A."
3. "Restless Breed"
4. "When I Was Young" (Eric Burdon and the Animals cover)
5. "Loanshark"
6. "Loved By You"
7. "Over To You"
8. "Showdown"
9. "Dream Away"
10. "Violent Crimes"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Fisher Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://www.fisherbeer.com//
• Brew: Batch #723 Double IPA
• Style: West Coast-style Double India Pale Ale (DIPA) / Imperial IPA (IIPA)
• Serving: 25-ounce crowler can
• ABV: 9.0% 
• Ingredients: Citra Lupomax hops 
• Pour: The Batch #723 pours a slightly hazy, golden-amber hue with an off-white head, 1+ finger, firm head with great retention and lots of sticky, spider web lacing.
• Nose: The nose is hoppy, floral, citrusy, and malty.  There are aromas of grapefruit rind, tangerine, orange zest, toasted barley, biscuit, toasted malts, black tea, pine resin, and lots of sweet caramel/toffee. 
• Taste: The taste of the Batch #723 follows the nose with lots of hoppy, and earthy flavors.  There are notes of pink grapefruit juice, tangerine, orange, lemon zest, crackery biscuit, toasted bread, black tea, light pine, and soft caramel/burnt toffee in the finish.
• Mouthfeel: Medium to full-bodied and moderately carbonated, the mouthfeel is crisp, with a slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: The crushable, very drinkable tastiness of the Batch #723 is perfect for an evening of rocking the hell out to the fiery goodness that is the mighty Riot!  Those bold, hop flavors are great for the soaring guitars while the malty backbone goes great with the heavy bass and drums as well as the tight musicianship and the hard rock sensibility and inventiveness.  Man, this album is just plain bad-ass rock and roll from start to finish... a real joy to listen to with a bold, frosty brew! 

Cheers!!  Rock on!!

I interviewed the very cool guitarist Rick Ventura recently... see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jerajizoow!