If you’re reading this, chances are high that you drink craft beer. And if you drink craft beer, chances are even higher than you listen to music while doing so. Music and beer is perhaps the most powerful sensory pairing imaginable, one that can conjure memories regardless of time passed. If you find yourself with tickets to a concert at Artpark this summer, you can experience the true power of beer and music as Thin Man Brewery and Lewiston’s Brewed & Bottled Craft Beer Shop have teamed up on a new summer concert beer series, which consists of four beers brewed exclusively for four summer concerts.
First up is Golden Tear, a West Coast-style IPA brewed for Saturday’s Flogging Molly concert. The beer, whose name is plucked from the liner notes of the band’s song “What’s Left of the Flag?” features notes of dank pine and resin and light malt sweetness. It’s an extremely drinkable, old school IPA worthy of firing you up before an energetic show.
And if you want some of Golden Tear, cans and draft are ONLY available at Brewed & Bottled.
Brewed & Bottled Owner Chris Budde says that when he was first approached by Thin Man about the Summer Concert Series, it was a no brainer.
“Mike Shatzel and the Thin Man crew approached me with the idea to create a collaboration for Lewiston’s Summer Concert Series,” he explains. “In the past, we’ve had pop-ups and tappings, but this is next level. The idea was awesome and, of course, I said yes! I’m ecstatic to be a part of this and to have named Golden Tear after Flogging Molly’s song, “What’s Left of The Flag.” I am humbled to be able to have the Brewed & Bottled logo on a can label. How cool is that?”
Thin Man’s Rudy Watkins says that this new collaboration was born out of a mutual love of craft beer and music.
Current plans calls for four collaborative releases this summer with more information on those to be announced in the coming weeks and months. Budde says that the Summer Concert Series will be a continuing series that we’re going to expand even further next summer. Watkins further explains that when it comes to future beers in this series, “you can expect tasty, refreshing beverages and great label artwork.”
“We have four releases planned, so far,” Budde explains. “I can tell you that the next beer (draft and 4-pack) will be dropping before the Barenaked Ladies show on July 5.”
That beer is Not A Real Fur Coat, an easy drinking 7% NEIPA was brewed to match the incessant good-vibe, kitschy, 90s nostalgia of Canada’s Barenaked Ladies.
Music makes beer taste better, plain and simple. It’s a scientific fact. In the world’s largest ever multi-sensory experiment, by matching the tastings, aromas and flavors to instruments, notes and soundscapes, Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, researched 3000 people’s reactions to taste, sound and light while drinking a selection of beer. The study found that changes in both color and sound can immediately change taste by nearly 10%.
For the study, Spence paired American wheat beers Goose Island 312 and Blue Moon with Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” concluding ‘both wheat beers suggested lazy summer evenings, the sun draining slowly over the distant skyline; and Blue Moon edged ahead through its, and the music’s, richly sweet timbre and notes of dreamy melancholia.’ He also paired Belgian blonde Duvel with The Pixies’ “Debaser.” ‘The grunge band’s hyper-ventilating guitar and surrealist lyrics set against Duvel’s frenetic blond bubbles and throat-grabbing, lip-wiring flavors.’
“This is a next level moment for me, one of the coolest things to have happened yet in the history of B&B and for me as a beer lover,” Budde says. “High five to the Thin Man crew for being awesome to us.”
“Why do they go together?” Watkins asks of the beer and music pairing. “What’s better than watching a band while enjoying a frosty beverage? I’ve always tried to imbue beers with music I love. This is a great opportunity to work on that!”
Stay tuned to https://www.facebook.com/BrewedBottled for more details.
Brian Campbell is co-founder and Brand Manager of the Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at brian@buffalobeerleague.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).