Hi! It’s me. Remember me? I know it’s been awhile since I’ve graced these corners of our site, but I’ve been desperately trying to motivate myself to finally check out some of the stuff that’s come out in the new year, and alcohol seemed as motivating as anything. Is that an issue? Yes. Well, probably. Anyway, here we are. For one reason or another I’ve been on a bit of a sludgy stonery desert rock kick lately, so I’ve opted to grab something of that variety from the promo pile and pair it with an offering from one of the better breweries in the region… but not a style they are necessarily known for. Today we have Sundrifter’s An Earlier Time and Lawson’s Finest Liquids Nitro Stout.

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The Tunes: Sundrifter — An Earlier Time

Well, I said I wanted a certain thing. And I am most definitely getting that thing. I’ve barely made it to the second track, “Space Exploration”, and I already have my head buried in those deliciously fuzzy riffs. The vocals are soaring, and the overall echoing tone creates a super expansive atmosphere around it all. Yeah. I am all about this. There’s nothing abundantly complex or technical about it, but the end product just comes together so damn well. I guess certain tracks might linger a bit longer than they need to given how deliberately some of these passages march on, for example the second track noted above, but whatever. Even in that particular instance the very next track, “Nuclear Sacrifice”, which happens to be my favorite in the bunch, introduces just enough of a shift at just the right time, locking that attention right back in. And after five tracks, fully grasping what’s going on here, the transition to “Want You Home” is, frankly, perfect. There’s an airier expressiveness with a chorus that is simply chilling. This feels like a “post” version of whatever it was they were doing before and I love it. As a result, I settle through the later stages and eventually out of An Earlier Time altogether just as engaged as I was flying into it. It checks all the boxes I was looking for this week. Oh, and it’s out today through Small Stone Records. And now for the beverage I paired it with…

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The Booze: Lawson’s Finest Liquids — Nitro Stout

Based in Vermont, Lawson’s Finest has been making some of the best beer in the region for awhile now. Despite specializing mostly in IPAs, from my perspective at least (and if you haven’t gotten your hands on a Sip of Sunshine yet, you should), I wanted to branch out a bit for this pairing. And frankly an Irish-style dry stout just fit the vibe better. Not to mention the whole nitro thing. I mean come on, it just makes sense given the tunes I just spelled out above. This particular beer is one of their seasonal limited releases that only make it to nine states. So that’s pretty cool. The nitro pour is silky smooth, really rounding out the sweeter notes it has to offer up front. But as it lingers the drier, subtle bitterness emerges, making for something super well balanced. It’s definitely something you want to take your time enjoying given how the complexities of the taste shift from the sip all the way to lingering aftertaste. And wouldn’t you know it, I still haven’t found a Lawson’s beer I don’t like.

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The fireplace is cooking, Sundrifter is blaring, and this my friends is quite the awesome evening. Sometimes my pairings of music and beverage here are completely random. This, however, lines up so dang well, and I’ve enjoyed both offerings quite a bit. In fact, I think it’s time for round two of both…

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb