January 21st, 2015 - Rosemary Through The Devil's Doorway

Good evening!  The Meista here pairing Orchid's "Through The Devil's Doorway" EP and a Holiday Rosemary Porter from Roosters Brewing Company!

Album Info:

• Artist: Orchid
• Title: "Through The Devil's Doorway" EP
• Release date: December 2009
• Record company: The Church Within Records
• Personnel: Mark Thomas Baker (guitars), Carter Kennedy (drums), Theo Mindell (vocals, synthesizers, and percussion), and Keith Nickel (bass)
• Musical style: Doom rock/doom metal/heavy blues
• Sound: Very much in the vein of Black Sabbath, Orchid's sound is heavy as hell, murky, muddy, and sludgy with great driving riffs and melodies, powerful and thunderous drums and bass, and explosive guitars and vocals!
• Major themes: Occultism, mysticism, darkness, and power
• Tracks:

1. "Into The Sun"
2. "Eastern Woman"
3. "Son Of Misery"
4. "No One Makes A Sound"

  Brew Info:

• Brewery: Roosters Brewing Company
• Website: http://roostersbrewingco.com/
• Brew: Holiday Rosemary Porter
• Style: American Porter
• Serving: pint glass off the tap (at the Beer Hive, SLC, UT)
• ABV: 4%
• Pour: Deep mahogany with a thin mocha head that dissipates quickly leaving only a thin, sticky ring on the edges.
• Nose: A big bold blast of rosemary, roasted malt, chocolate, toffee, and some slight smokiness.
• Taste: A really interesting flavor of rosemary throughout well-balanced with roasted malt, dark chocolate, coffee, and caramel. 
• Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a slick and creamy mouthfeel and a fairly dry finish.  
• Note: The only downside to this brew is the buttery diacetyl note in the flavor that lingers a bit on the tongue.

Overall pairing:  The dark flavors and the more interesting rosemary notes go great with the muddy heaviness of Orchid's bad-ass EP "Through The Devil's Doorway"!!

Cheers!!