Lots of bands have their own beer, or even make their own beer, as we saw last week from Within The Ruins. But launching both a beer AND a coffee brand? Expect nothing less from Brooklyn’s Tombs. They just released their new album, Savage Gold, and are launching a new beer this week with Ardmore, PA brewery Tired Hands.
The beer, with the same name as the record, is an lower-ABV (5.2%) IPA promising a variety of flavors. White grape, mango, and green pepper, all fairly common to some IPAs, and marijuana. Humulus lupulus (hops) is in the same family as cannabis, so that makes perfect sense. Nice of them to just come out and say it. Tired Hands calls all of their beers “strange and beautiful”, and Savage Gold in particular a “crushable” beer. It goes without saying that Tombs’ latest record is incredibly crushable as well.
The beer also uses some interesting hops, including Hallertau Blanc, which is a German hop varietal fairly new to the scene, and Nelson Sauvin, a New Zealand-developed hop that takes part of its name from the Sauvignon grape. New hops and new music? Sounds good.
Mike Hill gives a good description of the name.
“The name Savage Gold is inspired by the alchemical process of transmutation where a base material is turned into gold, where raw materials are transformed into a higher state. That is the entry point into the savage Gold mind set. We’re all trying to improve ourselves, physically, spiritually, emotionally or philosophically.”
If you’re going in the other direction, Hill has also launched his own coffee company. Also called Savage Gold. Might as well run with a good name, right? Enough Savage Gold IPA and you might need a couple cups of Savage Gold coffee the next morning. But seriously, the nuances of flavors in good coffee and good beer can be similar so it makes sense to branch out in both directions
Sounds like Tombs is doing the beer and music pairing for me on this one, but you can check out other beer and record reviews at Now Beer This.
