May 17th, 2015 - Nine Destinies And Salted Caramel Porter

God ettermiddag!  Your pal the Meista here today pairing "Nine Destinies And A Downfall" by Norwegian gothic metal band Sirenia and a Salted Caramel Porter from Avenues Proper Restaurant & Publick House!

Album Info:

• Artist: Sirenia
• Title: "Nine Destinies And A Downfall"
• Recorded: July 17th through October 1st, 2006 at Sound Suite Studio (Marseille, France), Jailhouse Studios (Kristiansand), and  Stargoth Studios (Tau, Norway) 
• Release date: February 23rd, 2007 (3rd studio release by Sirenia)
• Record company: Nuclear Blast
• Production: Terje Refsnes and Morten Veland
• Personnel: Bjørnar Landa (guitar - joined the band during the recording), Monika Pedersen (female lead vocals), Jonathan Pérez (drums), and Morten Veland (guitars, harsh male vocals, clean male vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, and programming)
• Guest musicians: Damien Surian, Mathieu Landry, Emmanuelle Zoldan, and Sandrine Gouttebel (backing choir vocals)
• Musical style: Gothic metal/symphonic metal with elements of progressive metal and power pop
• Sound: Combining angelic female vocals and symphonic synthesizers with  distorted guitars and harsh death metal male growls, the sound on Sirenia's "Nine Destinies And A Downfall" is symphonic, bombastic, thunderous, cinematic, and wholly engaging!       
• Major themes: Various emotional states including love, loss, depression, and pain, along with human existences, states of mind, states of consciousness, death, the afterlife, etc.
• Notes: "Nine Destinies And A Downfall" is the only Sirenia album to feature vocalist Monika Pedersen.  She quit the band over musical disagreements in November of 2007.
• Tracks:   

1. "The Last Call"
2. "My Mind's Eye"
3. "One By One"
4. "Sundown"
5. "Absent Without Leave"
6. "The Other Side"
7. "Seven Keys And Nine Doors"
8. "Downfall"
9. "Glades Of Summer"
10. "My Minds Eye" (Radio Edition Bonus Track)

    Brew Info:

• Brewery: Avenues Proper Restaurant & Publick House (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://www.avenuesproper.com/
• Brew: Salted Caramel Porter
• Style: Session Porter
• Serving: pint glass off the tap
• ABV: 4% 
• Pour: Deep mahogany red/brown with a creamy, well-sustained off-white head that displays sticky lacing throughout.
• Nose: The nose is characterized by rich aromas of sweet caramel, burnt toffee, cocoa, light coffee, and milk chocolate.   
• Taste: A very sessionable brew, the Salted Caramel Porter taste is a well-balanced presentation of sweet and rich, earthy malts with hints of salt and bitter hops.  There are notes of sweet and salted caramel, dark and milk chocolate, coffee cake, light roasted coffee, and hints of salt and bitter hops in the finish. 
• Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation, the mouthfeel of the Salted Caramel Porter is creamy, velvety, and slightly sticky with a sweet, lingering caramel note in the finish.  There is slight bitter saltiness throughout.

Overall pairing: The rich caramel, chocolate, and coffee flavors but with a smooth, creamy, and velvety drinkability make the Salted Caramel Porter perfect for the gothic bombast of Sirenia's "Nine Destinies And A Downfall"!  The sweet flavors of the brew work well with the beautiful vocal delivery of Pedersen while the salty flavor brings out the harsher guitar and growling vocals of Veland.

Skål and hails!!