April 18th, 2022 - A Spoonful Of Sugar Helps The Red Medicine Go Down

 

Hey there rockers and craft beer freaks!!  The Meista here this evening with a pairing of Fugazi's wonderful "Red Medicine" and a punchy, juicy, and slightly sweet Spoonful Of Sugar Double Dry-Hopped Double IPA w/ Lactose from Illuminated Brew Works!  Hell yeah!

  
Album Info: 

• Artist: Fugazi
• Title: "Red Medicine"
• Recorded: January and February 1995 at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia
• Release date: June 12th, 1995 (4th full-length studio album by Fugazi)
• Record company: Dischord Records 
• Production: Fugazi 
• Album cover art: Jem Cohen 
• Personnel: Brendan Canty (drums and percussion), Joe Lally (bass and vocals), Ian MacKaye (guitars and vocals), and Guy Picciotto (guitars, clarinet, and vocals)
• Musical style: Post-punk, hardcore punk, art rock, experimental rock 
• Sound: Still fast-paced and aggressive, "Red Medicine" is a bit more ambient, more experimental, and complex than its predecessor, "In On The Kill Taker".  With the album, Fugazi explored new sounds, instrumentation, and tuning as well as production.  They also expanded their musical pallet, incorporating noise rock, psychedelia, jazz, and dub with their style of punk.  The album include four of my all-time favorite Fugazi tracks: "Forensic Scene", "Combination Lock", "Fell, Destroyed", and "Version" along with a plethora of other great, cerebral, and inventive songs.  The album also includes short, sampled segues that help set mood and create interesting dove tails between tracks.
• Major themes: With socio-political lyrics, themes on the album include life, death, criticism of capitalization and corporate greed, acceptance, etc.
• Tracks: 

1. "Do You Like Me"
2. "Bed For The Scraping"
3. "Latest Disgrace"
4. "Birthday Pony"
5. "Forensic Scene"
6. "Combination Lock"
7. "Fell, Destroyed"
8. "By You"
9. "Version"
10. "Target"
11. "Back To Base"
12. "Downed City"
13. "Long Distance Runner"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Illuminated Brew Works (Chicago, Illinois)
• Website: https://www.ibw-chicago.com/
• Brew: Spoonful Of Sugar Double Dry-Hopped Double IPA w/ Lactose
• Style: Double India Pale Ale (DIPA)
• Serving: 16 ounce can
• ABV: 8%
• Ingredients: Galaxy and Motueka hops and lactose sugar 
• Pour: The color of a fresh squeezed orange juice, the very hazy displays a very frothy, bright white, 2-finger head with great retention and lots of sticky, sudsy lacing.
• Nose: A big, citrusy, and tropical aromatic punch, the nose with a nice balance of sweeter malts, there are notes of orange juice, orange peel, mango, strawberry, pineapple, guava, wildflowers, fresh cream, and sweet caramel/toffee. 
• Taste: With loads of juicy citrus and tropical fruit flavors, the is characterized by notes of orange, tangerine, mango, melon, guava, and a well-balanced and semi-sweet malt backbone. 
• Mouthfeel: Medium to full-bodied with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp, juicy, yet smooth and creamy with a dry, slightly sweet finish.

Overall pairing: The bright, juicy, and sweeter flavors and aromas work great as a foil to the aggression and artistic intensity of "Red Medicine"!  The fiery and dual guitar work of Picciotto and MacKaye shines even brighter with the sweeter notes, while that hop punch is right in line with the biting lyrics!  And that malt backbone is perfect for the rhythmic power of Canty and Lally!

Cheers!!