July 19th, 2014 - An Appetite And Thirst For Double-Wide Destruction

Good evening rockers and drinkers!  One more for ya tonight from the Meista... and we are going aggressive on this one!  How 'bout Guns N' Roses' seminal album "Appetite For Destruction" and a Double-Wide IPA from Boulevard Brewing Company!?  Hell yeah!!

Released on July 21st, 1987 (27 years old this coming Monday!), "Appetite For Destruction" is the debut studio album by hard-rockin' LA bad boys Guns N' Roses, and one of the most commercially successful hard rock albums of all time.  The band at the time was W. Axl Rose (lead vocals, percussion on "Welcome to the Jungle", synthesizer and whistle on "Paradise City", and additional percussion), Slash (lead and rhythm guitars), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitars, backing vocals, lead guitars on "Nightrain" and "Think About You", percussion on "Paradise City", and additional percussion), Duff McKagan (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Steven Adler (drums).  (All members also provided copious amounts of drunkenness and debauchery as well... ha-ha!)  Anyway, "Appetite For Destruction" is a wonderfully raunchy, wonderfully intense, in-your-face hard-rockin' monster of an album!  Each track demands your attention and as my brother-in-law Nick would say "melts your face"!  I love each and every song!  Damn great stuff!!

For something as aggressive and in-your-face as "Appetite For Destruction", I needed a brew with equal merit.  I found that in a bottle of  Double-Wide IPA!  As the label so eloquently states, "hops rip the roof off the Double-Wide".  Brewed with Pale Malt, Cara 300, Cara 120, and Amber 50 malts, Bravo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Zeus hops, as well as dextrose and brown sugar, this 8.5% ABV Imperial IPA has BIG aroma, BIG flavor, and kick!  This bad boy pours a very cloudy very rich rusty copper red with a big, billowy and rocky off-white head that displays very good, sustained retention and complex lacing.  The nose is both hoppy and sweet.  There are aromas of pineapple, grapefruit rind, black tea, and pine along with brown sugar and caramel.  The mouthfeel is both dry and chunky with a nice bitter bite. Moderate carbonation and heavy malts and hops gives this brew a medium to heavy body.   The taste is a bit hard to peg down.  There are definitely big hop and big malt flavors, but there is a lingering sweetness from the brown sugar that permeates and lingers.  There is almost a Jordan almond quality to the Double-Wide... bittersweet!  There are notes of pine resin, heavy multi-grain bread, big roasty toffee and caramel flavors, and bitter tea.  As I mentioned already, the sweetness ("Sweet Child O' Mine") is very dominate.  Big notes of maple, brown sugar, and maybe molasses make their presence felt.  The finish is a bit peppery and boozy.  Learn more about the Double-Wide IPA from Boulevard Brewing Company at http://www.boulevard.com/BoulevardBeers/double-wide-i-p-a/! 

Cheers!!