Whatever realm of the darker worshipping Metal world you seem to hail from there is almost always one thing in common, we all love beer. Celebrating their momentous 25th anniversary as a band Opeth are not in the hoppy club.
Previously this year we have seen the announcement that Black Metallers 1349 have released their own brew, then recently Cannibal Corpse unleashed the best title beer in the world Amber Smashed Faced and now Opeth will be brewing for a limited time only. Banding together with Leeds based Northern Monk Brewing Co the band release the beer under the prestigious XXV Anniversary Imperial Stout.
However when we say it’s limited it really is, only 1,700 bottles will be made and described from being used from the strongest Stout Porter Brewed in Britain in the 18th century and brewed with different malts for uttermost complexity and flavour. Apparently it shall have notes of rich chocolate, cinder toffee and coffee!
Stating the brewery often blast Opeth when brewing the beer it seemed like a match made in heaven. Mikael Akerfeldt elaborates :
Even if we’re musicians firstly, we’re beer drinkers secondly. Kind of. Let me rephrase – we love beer. We love good beer. We’ve turned into culinary connoisseurs of late.
“Not too much snobbery however. We just love good food and drinks. So when we were approached by the fantastic Northern Monk brewery to do a Opeth signature beer we simply could not turn it down. But believe me, we’ve turned down zillions off offers to do alcoholic beverages with the Opeth logo on it.
“Northern Monk are great. They have great ideas and makes great beer. They even invited Fredrik and Axe down to the brewery for a walkthrough of their premises in Leeds. Needless to say, they got both of them drunk, but we also managed to get our own brand of signature beer down to a tee.
“And Axe and Fredrik know their beer, from years of over-indulging. And now it’s ready. One is a top of the line Imperial stout that can be matured up to about 25 years. We’ll also have a lovely pale ale out in early 2016. I know we’re not the first band to do our own beer, and not the last. All I know is that it’s a top quality beer and I will certainly enjoy having my own little stash in the cooler for Christmas. Cheers.”
