February 13th, 2015 - Drinking A Doppelbock Dunkel In Blackwater Park

God kväll and hails!!  The Meista here tonight pairing an Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel from Klosterbrauerei Andechs and Opeth's amazing "Blackwater Park" for ya!  Hells yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Opeth
• Title: "Blackwater Park"
• Recorded: August through October 2000, Fredman Studio, Göteborg, Sweden
• Release date: February 27th, 2001 (5th studio album by Opeth)
• Record company: Music for Nations/Koch
• Personnel: Mikael Åkerfeldt (vocals and guitars), Peter Lindgren (guitars), Martin Lopez (drums), and Martin Mendez (bass) with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame (clean and backing vocals on "Bleak", "Harvest", "The Funeral Portrait" and "The Drapery Falls", keyboards, mellotron, additional guitar, production, engineering, and mixing)
• Album cover art: Travis Smith
• Musical style: Progressive death metal, progressive metal/rock
• Sound: A wonderful rich, and textured album, at times it is soft and warm, and at times angry, aggressive, and decisive.  There are elements of Pink Floyd and elements of Morbid Angel all tightly and masterfully woven into a fantastically engrossing tapestry!
• Major themes: Death, loss, solitude, loneliness, etc.
• Note: The album's title is named after the German progressive rock band of the same name.  Opeth actually came up with the title for the album before they even started recording.
• Tracks:

1. "The Leper Affinity"
2. "Bleak"
3. "Harvest"
4. "The Drapery Falls"
5. "Dirge For November"
6. "The Funeral Portrait"
7. "Patterns In The Ivy"
8. "Blackwater Park"
9. "Still Day Beneath The Sun"
10. "Patterns In The Ivy II"

  Brew Info:

• Brewery: Klosterbrauerei Andechs
• Website: http://www.andechs.de/nc/en.html
• Brew: Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel
• Style: Doppelbock
• Serving: 12 ounce bottle
• ABV: 7.1%
• Pour: The Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel pours a very dark tarnished copper with fiery red flecks.  The off-white head is thick and creamy, leaving chunky and sustained lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a bold mixture of dark fruits, caramel, hearty bread, spices, and a touch of cocoa.  There are aromas of raisin, dates, figs, plum, burnt toffee, and sweet meat. 
• Taste: Like the nose, the ale perfectly blends hearty bread flavors with sweet toffee and dark fruit flavors.  There are notes of raisin bread, cloves, nutmeg, dates, soft caramel, and light chocolate.
• Mouthfeel: Mildly carbonated, there is a soft and pleasant effervescence to this very smooth and velvety brew.  The finish is fairly clean with some light, lingering sweet notes.

Overall pairing: The exceptionally rich, well-balanced, and complex flavors of the Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel is the perfect mate to the beautifully and brutally crafted brilliance that is Opeth's "Blackwater Park"!

Skål... prost!!