May 4th, 2022 - A Trail Rye'd On The Left Hand Path

 

Hej, happy Wednesday, and hails evil-doers and craft beer lovers!  The Meista here tonight pairing "Left Hand Path", the wonderful debut album by death metal legends Entombed and a very tasty and bold Trail Rye'd Ale from my friends at UTOG Brewing Company in collaboration with Yakima Valley Hops!  Hell yeah!

Album Info: 

• Artist: Entombed
• Title: "Left Hand Path"
• Recorded: December 1989 at Sunlight Studio in Stockholm, Sweden
• Release date: June 4th, 1990 (1st studio album by Entombed)
• Record company: Earache Records
• Production: Tomas Skogsberg
• Album cover art: Dan Seagrave
• Personnel: Nicke Andersson (drums and bass), Uffe Cederlund (guitars and bass), Alex Hellid (lead guitar), and Lars-Göran Petrov (vocals)
• Musical style: Death metal
• Sound: Blending aggressive, "buzzsaw" guitar tones with a more garage rock sound, Entombed were instrumental in helping create and define the Swedish death metal sound.
• Major themes: Death, horror, murder, evil, isolation, loss, darkness, violence, etc.
• Tracks: 

1. "Left Hand Path"
2. "Drowned"
3. "Revel In Flesh"
4. "When Life Has Ceased"
5. "Supposed To Rot"
6. "But Life Goes On"
7. "Bitter Loss"
8. "Morbid Devourment"
9. "Abnormally Deceased"
10. "The Truth Beyond"
11. "Carnal Leftovers" (bonus track)
12. "Premature Autopsy" (bonus track)

Brew Info:

• Brewery: UTOG Brewing Company (Ogden, Utah) in collaboration with Yakima Valley Hops (Yakima, Washington)
• Website: https://www.utogbrewing.com/
• Brew: Trail Rye'd
• Style: Amber Rye Ale
• Serving: 16 ounce can
• ABV: 5.0%
• Ingredients: "LUPOMAX®, a concentrated lupulin pellet. We used Cascade, HBC 586, and Mosaic® hops and dry hopped using Citra® Spectrum, which is the next generation of dry hopping."
• Pour: The Trail Rye'd pours a slightly hazy, deep copper-red with a frothy, light beige 2+ finger head with good retention and lots of intricate, sticky, and layered lacing.
• Nose: The nose is characterized by malty, bready, nutty, peppery, citrusy, hoppy aromas.  There are aromas of freshly baked rye bread, roasted walnuts, herbal tea, grapefruit rind, orange zest, lemon zest, pine resin, herbal tea, soft caramel, black pepper, and honey.
• Taste: The taste of the Trail Rye'd follows the nose with hoppy, malty, herbal, somewhat bitter, yet smooth flavors.  There are notes of grapefruit juice, tangerine, orange zest, herbal tea, pine, freshly baked rye bread, soft caramel/toffee, and clover honey.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and moderately carbonated, the Trail Rye'd is crisp and punchy, yet incredibly smooth with a dry, slightly bitter finish. 

Overall pairing: UTOG's Trail Rye'd Ale is wonderfully balanced, hoppy, malty, and bold... a perfect brew for crushing while the extreme metal insanity and artistic integrity of Entomb's brutal and fiery "Left Hand Path" is crushing your soul!!  'Nuff said!

Skål and hails!!