August 25th, 2013 - Addicted To Citra!

Good evening!  Tonight I'm pairing a Widmer Brothers Brewing Company Citra Blonde Summer Brew with "Addicted" by the Devin Townsend Project!

"Addicted" is the 12th studio album by multi-talented Canadian musician Devin Townsend.  It is the second of 5 albums in The Devin Townsend Project series thus far and was released on November 17, 2009.  The band on "Addicted" is made up of Townsend on lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, and programming; Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums; Brian Waddell on bass; and Mark Cimino on guitar.  The amazing Anneke van Giersbergen provides vocals on "Supercrush!", "Hyperdrive!", "Resolve!" and "Numbered!"  Obviously not has heavy as Townsend's work with Strapping Young Lad, the work on "Addicted" is (according to Townsend) more "melodic" and "danceable" music but is "much heavier" than previous Project and other solo work.  As with other Townsend works, he combines metal, avante garde, pop, symphonic, and techno to create complex, epic, and bombastic tracks of beauty, power, and depth.  Townsend described "Addicted" as"parts of it sound like Meshuggah, some parts of it sound like Boney M."  Although there is a huge heaviness to "Addicted," there is also a "bright" quality to the sound, the approach, and the lyrics.  I find it powerfully heavy and at the same time fun and poppy!  Songs like "Addicted!", "Universe In A Ball!," "Bend It Like Bender!", "Hyperdrive!", "Ih-Ah!", "The Way Home!", and "Awake!" are fantastically entertaining tracks that make you want to move and at the same time, provide musical depth and integrity.  Wow... what a wonderful album!

Citra Blonde Summer Brew from Widmer Brothers Brewing Company is a bright, crisp, and refreshing summer ale.  It pours a transparent, pale straw color with a white thin head.  The nose is like sticking your face in a grapefruit... sharp and citrusy.  There are also notes of orange peel, peach, tangerine, and a faint grassy/piney bitterness.  Along the same lines, the flavor is like biting into a grapefruit initially, but the biscuitty malt flavors smooth the flavor very quickly.  It is crisp and somewhat dry like an IPA, but with very little bitterness... a good hoppy beer to introduce to a non-IPA fan.  It goes down easy and finishes very clean.  Like "Addicted," the Citra Blonde Summer Brew is a bright, flavorful, and sharp work of beauty and popping flavor!