Halloween Double Feature: Lord Hobo Brewing Company – Doom Sauce

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Beer, Beer Review, Halloween, Lord Hobo Brewing Company, October

Hello and welcome to the after dark edition of my annual Halloween double feature!  Hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable night so far.  Let’s take a quick look at my featured beverage this evening!

Beer Name: Doom Sauce

Brewery: Lord Hobo Brewing Company (Woburn, MA)

Style: Black Double IPA

ABV: 7.8%

Description: A darker take on the brewery’s popular Boom Sauce NEIPA, 

Appearance: It poured to a deep black body topped by a bubbly light tan foam.

Smell: Light roasted malt with hints of citrusy bitterness.

Taste: Creamy, smooth dark mark swirled with citrus and tropical notes upfront.  Keeps the malt backbone through mid-sip and ends with a lightly toasty and moderately hoppy finish

Mouthfeel: Medium, pleasantly smooth body with moderate carbonation

Hype: None.  I didn’t even know this existed until a friend brought it over a few days ago.  Talk about a pleasant surprise!

Overall: I really liked this one.  It is everything one could want from the style and super smooth to drink.  Black IPAs were kind of my thing when I first got into beer years ago and since the style has been out of favor for some time now, finding a really good one is a nice treat indeed.  Grab this if you can!

Halloween Double Feature: Book Review: The Barrow Will Send What it May, Margaret Killjoy (Book Two in the Danielle Cain Series)

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Anarchists, Book, Book Review, Halloween, Margaret Killjoy, October, Reading

Good morning and Happy Halloween!  It’s time again for my annual double feature pairing a spooky story with a Halloween-themed beverage.  Tradition has the book going first and I see no reason to change that now.  Getting the honors this year is Margaret Killjoy’s The Barrow Will Send What it May, the second novella following the adventures of a young woman named Danielle Cain and a group of anarchist drifters turned demon hunters.

We talked about friends in common who weren’t dead or missing. The state of the anarchist movement and its role in fighting the rise of fascism and nationalism globally. Then, more interesting to me, the state of magic.

The story picks up almost immediately after the end of book one, with our heroes on the road and looking to quickly put some distance between themselves and the multitude of dead law enforcement officers left behind by their encounter with the demon Uliksi back in Freedom, Iowa.  They are headed west and debating whether it’s best to lay low or look for ways to further their understanding of magic and the occult.  That decision, however, soon gets made for them when they hitch a ride with a woman who claims to have been returned from the dead.  She drops them off in the town of Pendleton, Montana where they learn a bit more of her story from some like-minded folks squatting in/running the town library.  From that point on, it’s only a matter of time until they cross paths with the local necromancer and find themselves once again involved with some very powerful magic.

Coming in at a crisp 104 pages, I flew through this story completely entertained throughout.  It had a lot of great energy, mixing in elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and politics (in particular examinations of power and gender) into a bundle of eerie fun.  While the story was perhaps a bit episodic, it successfully provided some much anticipated character development and world expansion.  While in retrospect the supernatural elements were a bit cliche this time around, I didn’t so much mind as the strength of these stories so far is really in the characters.  The cast is quite diverse, with a variety of races and orientations well represented and welcomed throughout the story.  My favorite characters at this point are probably the white female lead Danielle, for her witty and honest internal monologues and Vulture, a black trans man with a slight obsession with Instagram an anarchist exploits.  Overall, though, I enjoyed them all individually and collectively and liked seeing how the various companions, friends, lovers, and those somewhere in between get along with each other and react to the unusual direction their lives have gone.  They just seem like good people and are now officially in the running as one of my top literary crews.

My only regret about this story is that the series hasn’t continued on yet.  Given some of the possibilities left open by certain developments there needs to be at least another novella of two!  I absolutely love my time with these characters and am eagerly awaiting another chance to go on an adventure with them.

Allagash Brewing Company – Haunted House

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Allagash Brewing Company, Beer, Beer Review, Fall, Halloween, Maine, New England, October

With Halloween right around the corner, at last the time is right to unveil my final pickup from Allagash Brewing Company last month!

Beer Name: Haunted House

Brewery: Allagash Brewing Company

Style: Hoppy Dark Ale

ABV: 6.66%

Description: Inspired by the brewers’ love of porters and their own House beer, a low-ABV Belgian pale ale.

Appearance: Black body with about a finger’s worth of tan head

Smell: Not entirely unlike a Belgian pale ale mixed with a toasty porter.

Taste: It opened with notes of light roast coffee, dark chocolate and creamy dark malt upfront.  Midsip it took on some more grainy, pale malt tastes.  It closed with a well balanced blend of Belgian yeast, earthy hops, and roast coffee.

Mouthfeel: Smooth medium body with slightly below moderate carbonation.

Hype: I had some higher than usual excitement about this one.  It had eluded me in years past so I was happy to finally track it down.

Overall: Smooth and easy drinking despite the rather interesting blend of tastes.  An excellent Halloween treat!

Random Tag Tuesday: Hallotober Tag

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Fall, Halloween, October, Random Tag Tuesday

Dusting off another one of my favorite prompts, it is time to welcome back Random Tag Tuesday!  For those that don’t remember, the name of this series is a throwback to my college days when Tuesdays were the day for, well, random adventures.  It should come as no surprise that this week I am taking on a very timely tag about one of my favorite times of year.

What’s your favorite thing about October?

It’s a combination of the weather and outdoor activities.  Between the cooling temperatures and beautiful foliage how could you not want to go outside this time of year?  Walks in the woods and visits to farms are particular favorites.

Are you a big celebrator of Halloween?

Yes!  Pre-child my wife and I would meet up with friends in Salem, MA to wander about town (in costume of course) and attend various events.  Post-child things have calmed down a little bit, but we do still decorate and find family activities to take part in.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

So I’ll let you all in on a not so well kept secret: I don’t really like horror movies!

Would you rather a cozy night in watching horrors or a big night out in a costume?

In case you couldn’t figure it out from the last two questions: a big night out!  Halloween is probably the one night out of the year I’d pick that.

Which has been your most favorite costume to date?

I have a particular affinity towards my Mega Man hoodie, but I think my steampunk ensemble is probably the best overall.

Bobbing for apples or pin the hat on the witch?

I’m not sure I’ve actually ever bobbed for apples, so maybe that.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

These days it’s all about showing the kid a good time.  Be it children’s party, trick or treating, or dressing up as Rainbow Dash I’m in it for him.

What’s your least favorite horror?

Gore.  It’s not for me and probably why I’m not that into horror movies.

Do you have a favorite trick or treating memory?

I have so many good memories of this that’s hard to really choose one.  My vivid memory of being terrified of my neighbors house as a small child is up there, as is the time as a teenager I almost got a police wagon ride.  (That latter story is much more innocent than it sounds – my friends and I were playing football in a park when someone drove by and set off a whole lot of fireworks.  Neighbors must have called the cops, but luckily they realized it wasn’t us pretty quickly.  “Cancel the wagon” was a popular refrain for a few weeks after that.)

What’s your favorite thing about Halloween?

The feeling of fun and adventure.  If you’re in the right spot with the right people there’s just an awesome energy about the evening.  It’s something I’ve just felt at every age, though not always in the same way.

Scary costume or Silly costume?

I suppose my costumes are more on the silly end of that spectrum, but I don’t think I’d necessarily call them that.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

Peanut butter cups, in whatever shape they may come in.  Basically whatever delivers chocolate and peanut butter to my face.

What is your favorite haunted attraction or location?

It has long been the downtown area of Salem, MA (which I am pretty fond of at other times too) so I am kind of bummed out we won’t be visiting it at all this season.  I just don’t want anything to do with crowds, especially with a young child to keep track of.  I am looking forward to attending the Jack-o’-lantern Spectacular at the Rhode Island Zoo which is becoming a new tradition.

Music Monday: Halloween Playlist, Part Four

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Halloween, Music Monday, October

Even though I haven’t been posting as much as usual lately, there was no way I was going to miss out on doing something festive for Halloween!  Since one of the things I love the most about Halloween is all the great music, let’s start the celebration with my first Music Monday post of the year.  Yup, it is time again to share some more tracks from my ever growing Halloween playlist.  While you’re at it, make sure you check out my previous entries as well:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

As always, a giant THANK YOU to the folks whose videos I link to.

Her Ghost and the Fog, Cradle of Filth

I’ve had some mixed feelings about selecting bands like Cradle of Filth in the past since pretty much every song by them fits the theme but I wanted to make the list a bit heavier this year.  It was the music video that gave this song the edge over other tracks like Cthulhu Dawn and Dusk and Her Embrace.

I Reject, Bile

Let’s keep things loud.  Here’s a track from the much better than it had any right to be (and previous Music Monday topic) Mortal Kombat Soundtrack.

Apple of Sodom, Marilyn Manson

Honestly I’m not sure what to say about this one other than it’s both strange and creepy AF.

Strange, REM

And now for something completely different.  This song is from the band’s 1987 album Document which has a somewhat incongruous place in my all time top five.

Phantom of the Opera, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies

Now to pick up the energy a bit while still keeping things light-hearted.  I credit my wife with introducing me to this punk cover of a musical classic.

Knights of Shame, AWOL Nation

And I’ll close with a big finish.  It’s a long song, but definitely a good one.  Just hang in there for a little bit and you’ll see why it made the list.

Great Marsh Brewing Company – Peach Hard Seltzer

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Great Marsh Brewing, Massachusetts, New England, Seltzer

Hi folks! Just posting a little something from my summer backlog. Taking advantage of another beautiful late Summer afternoon, the family and I took a Sunday out to Appleton Farm in Ipswich, MA a couple of weeks ago. While there, we took in some beautiful scenery and enjoyed a couple of beverages from the folks at Great Marsh Brewing and their line of hard seltzers.

Beer Name: Peach

Brewery: Great Marsh Brewing Company (Essex, MA)

Style: Hard Seltzer

ABV: 4.5%

Description: For their line of seltzers, the brewers wanted to distinguish themselves from a crowded field of similar products. To do so they made efforts to capture the water profile of Selters, Germany and took the additional, and somewhat novel, step of not adding any additional sugar.

Appearance: I drank this one from the can, but I have sufficient reason to believe it was clear and bubbly.

Smell: Faint sweet notes of peach.

Taste: Light notes of ripe peach throughout. The finish was pulpy with faint alcohol notes.

Mouthfeel: Lightly carbonated and light-medium bodied.

Hype: None. I’m not exactly up on developments in the world of hard seltzer.

Overall: I really enjoyed this as an outdoor, warm weather beverage. Standout for me was the refreshing, light, and natural taste and (most importantly) the fact that it wasn’t as aggressively carbonated as a lot of other hard seltzer options I’ve come across.

 

 

Maine Trip – Part Three: Bissell Brothers Brewing Company, Portland, ME

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Beer, Beer Review, Bissell Brothers Brewing, Maine, New England

The final installment of our Maine brewery adventure happened on our return home with a quick pit stop at Bissell …

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