Nine Circles

Receiving the Evcharist is our weekly feature where we pair choice albums with our favorite libations. Drink from the cup of heresy. This week’s offering: Sentient Divide’s Haunted by Cruelty and Los Angeles Ale Works’ Palmera Pils.  

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The Tunes: Sentient Divide’s Haunted by Cruelty

We’re going back in time this session to the far off land of February, 2020 (which at this point seems like at least ten years ago) to cover an album I’ve been waiting to get the chance to gush about.  Eastern Washington’s Sentient Divide have been a favorite of this column for a long time, and their newest EP Haunted by Cruelty ups the ante for the band’s sound considerably.  Beefed up by a new additional guitarist and experimenting with longer song structures, Haunted by Cruelty is a vast step up from the band’s already pristine beginnings, managing to capture the punk-by-way-of-death-metal of bands like Acephalix and bringing in the melodicism of black metal to create a half hour of neck-snapping goodness.  I’m very glad to hear more from this act, and if this EP is only a taste of what’s to come, the next full-length is gonna be even better.

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The Booze: Los Angeles Ale Works’ Palmera Pils

We’re continuing our exploration of lighter beers with Los Angeles Ale Works’ Palmera Pils.  Palmera is a Jasmine rice pilsner, simply meaning that rice is the grain used in brewing instead of, or in addition to, the standard brewing grains, in this case a mix of Munich malts and Jasmine rice.  I’ve never had a rice ale before, so I can’t say how this stacks up to others of its kind, but Palmera sure is a tasty Pilsner.  LA Ale Works have managed to blend something that hits classic citrusy floral notes with a clean, rounded finish provided by the Jasmine rice.  Not overly sweet, not overly funky, not overly anything really; Palmera is a solid beer that reflects the diverse culture and joyful eagerness to experiment what is decidedly Los Angeles.

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Cheers, and be good to each other,

– Vincent