September 7th, 2025 - Puff Puff and then Pour... Dopesmoker

 

Hello and happy Sunday rockers, rollers, craft beer freaks and dope smokers!  Your drinking buddy the Meista here getting very heavy with Sleep's mesmerizing "Dopesmoker" and a crisp and fruity Puff Puff Pour from the fine folks at Ogden Beer Company!

Album Info:

• Artist: Sleep
• Title: "Dopesmoker" (2012 Southern Lord reissue)
• Recorded: 1996 at Record Two Studio in Comptche, California
• Release date: Originally released April 22nd, 2003.  Re-released in 2012 by Southern Lord Records.
• Record company: Southern Lord Records
• Production: Billy Anderson
• Album cover art: Arik Roper
• Personnel: Al Cisneros (bass and vocals), Chris Hakius (drums), and Matt Pike (guitar)
• Musical style: Doom metal, stoner rock/metal
• Sound: This is the heaviest of the heavy!  Of their sound, a New York Times critic once wrote: "What seems disorienting and monochromatic at first grows richer and more rewarding upon repeated exposure. It’s like a Mark Rothko painting hitting you over the head with a bag of hammers."  I couldn't agree more!
• Major themes: Life and death, cannabis, being high, heaviness, etc. Cisneros stated that smoking pot was important to the song's creative process: "I was really dependent on the space I got into when I was using it, and some of the lyrics are about that...The line, 'Drop out of life [with bong in hand],' was kind of a creed at that point."
• Tracks:  

1. "Dopesmoker"
2. "Holy Mountain"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Ogden Beer Company (Ogden, Utah)
• Website: http://www.ogdenbeercompany.com/
• Brew: Puff Puff Pour
• Style: India Pale Ale (IPA) / Fruited Beer
• Serving:12 ounce can
• ABV: 5.0%
• Ingredients: Mango and grapefruit Kush
• Pour: The Puff Puff Pour pours a very hazy, pale, golden-orange hue with a half-finger, off-white head that slowly dissipates to the thin ring with light lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a characterized by fruity, citrusy, malty, and hoppy aromas.  There are aromas of freshly sliced mango, grapefruit rind and juice, orange zest, tangerine, herbal tea, and soft caramel.
• Taste: Well-balanced, the Puff Puff Pour has a nice blend of fruity, citrusy, herbal, and malty flavors.  There are notes of bright mango, pink grapefruit juice, orange juice and pith, and sweet caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp, yet smooth with a dry, slightly bittersweet finish.

Overall pairing: The bright, fruity, and inviting mango and grapefruit aromas and flavors of the Puff Puff Pour make a wonderful foil to the sludgy, heavy, monolithic intensity that is Sleep's "Dopesmoker"!  'Nuff said!

Cheers and hails!!