January 16th, 2016 - Foo And The Armory Fighters

Hey there rockers, rollers, and hop lovers!  The Meista here today pairing the debut album by the Foo Fighters and an Armory XPA from Deschutes Brewing Company!

Album Info:

• Artist: Foo Fighters
• Title: "Foo Fighters"
• Recorded:  October 17 through 23, 1994 at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington
• Release date: July 4th, 1995 (debut album by the Foo Fighters)
• Record company: Capitol Records / Roswell Records
• Production: Barrett Jones and Dave Grohl
• Album cover art: Jaq Chartier (artwork), Tim Gabor (design), and Jennifer Youngblood (photography)
• Personnel: Dave Grohl (vocals, guitars, bass guitar, drums, and production)
• Additional musicians: Greg Dulli (guitar on "X-Static")
• Musical style: Rock, hard rock, grunge rock, post-grunge, post punk, alternative rock, indie rock, power pop
• Sound: In the musical vein of Nirvana, but with a poppier approach, the solo debut album by Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) is fast-paced, rockin' goodness!  The guitars are big and crunchy, the vocals are warm and inviting, and the drums are thunderous, foot-stomping fun!
• Major themes: Departing from the darker lyrics of Nirvana, the lyrics on "Foo Fighters" is more cheery, often whimsical and nonsensical, somewhat simplistic, and fun.
• Tracks:  

1. "This Is A Call"
2. "I'll Stick Around"
3. "Big Me"
4. "Alone + Easy Target"
5. "Good Grief"
6. "Floaty"
7. "Weenie Beenie"
8. "Oh, George"
9. "For All The Cows"
10. "X-Static"
11. "Wattershed"
12. "Exhausted"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Deschutes Brewing Company (Bend, Oregon)
• Website: www.deschutesbrewery.com
• Brew: Armory XPA
• Style: American Pale Ale (APA) / Experimental Pale Ale (XPA)
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 5.9%
• IBUs: 55
• Ingredients: Crystal and Pale malts with Nugget, Northern Brewer, Citra, Cascade, and Centennial hops
• Pour: Clear, deep copper/bronze-amber with a huge 2-3 finger frothy head that leaves lots of spotty lacing from start to finish.
• Nose: The nose of the Armory XPA is piney, citrusy, dank, and earthy with herbal and floral hops.  There are notes of pine resin, cedar, juniper, clove honey, lemon zest, grapefruit, tangerine, summer grass, and sweet toffee.
• Taste: The taste of the Armory XPA blends dank and earthy pine with bright citrus, tropical fruit, and sweet malts.  There are notes of pine, cracker malt, caramel malt, pink grapefruit, melon, mango, lemongrass, and black tea.
• Mouthfeel: Medium carbonation and medium body, the mouthfeel is very smooth, moderately crisp, slightly sticky/oily, and lightly creamy with a dry, fairly clean finish.

Overall pairing: The crisp, smooth, easy-drinkability of Deschutes' Armory XPA makes for a great drinking companion to the fast, fist-pumping fun of the debut album by the Foo Fighters!  And that hoppy kick is great for the rockin' punk elements of the album!

Cheers!!