Good evening! The Meista here with a pairing with one of many brews I had the pleasure of sampling this past week in Massachusetts! This is a pairing of Dirt Wolf Double IPA from Victory Brewing Company out of Downingtown, Pennsylvania and Alice In Chains' "Dirt"! This pairing goes out to my good friend Rick, who not only provided this wonderful brew, but also the idea for the pairing with "Dirt"... cheers buddy!!
Released on September 29th, 1992, "Dirt" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Seattle metal band Alice In Chains. Musically heavy and lyrically focusing mostly on drug abuse, depression, war, and death, to say "Dirt" is a dark album would be an understatement. However, it is brilliantly dark... dark, honest, personable, and raw. I think this is one of the best albums to come out of the era and the so-called "grunge" movement. Of the album, guitarist Jerry Cantrell stated, "We did a lot of soul searching on this album. There's a lot of intense feelings. We deal with our daily demons through music. All of the poison that builds up during the day we cleanse when we play". The album spawned five brilliant singles: "Angry Chair", "Down in a Hole", "Rooster", "Them Bones", and "Would?" along with several other truly amazing pieces like "Dam That River", "Dirt", "God Smack", and "Junkhead".
The Dirt Wolf Double IPA from Victory Brewing Company is serious business! "Brewed using whole flower Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops," this ale (like "Dirt") is packed with flavor, complexity, and depth! It pours a slightly hazy, honey gold with a frothy white head, which displays sustained and intricate lacing. The nose is sweet and hoppy. There are big citrus aromas of grapefruit, orange, and lemon along with more tropical fruit aromas like mango, pineapple, and maybe passion fruit? Those Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops provide a great balance of bitter piney aromas as well. Medium bodied, the Dirt Wolf has a really nice, smooth mouthfeel... especially for an IPA. Like the nose, the flavor of this lovely brew is on the sweeter side, but with a nice earthy blend in the back. Big, juicy notes of mandarin orange, grapefruit, pineapple, mango, and peach balanced with pine resin and grassy hops prevail. It finishes with some nice grapefruit bitterness... perfect for the final notes of "Would?"!
Bang those heads, pump those fists, and raise a glass to the memory of Layne Staley and Mike Starr... cheers!!
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