Box Set Track 1
A Fresh Track inspired by Van Halen’s 1978 epic “Runnin’ With The Devil”
At a Glance
The Beer:
From the Fresh Track series, this is a brown beer base aged in three red wine barrels, spiked with 30 pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and house-raised Brettanomyces cultures.
ABV: 7.66%
Released: January 21, 2012
Liner Notes
Inspired by Van Halen’s smash hit, “Runnin with the Devil”, we’ve anointed Brettanomyces as an agent of the Devil (but only for this one release).
Starting with a malty brown ale base beer we fermented the brew in stainless steel tanks for two weeks with our house ale yeast. Once the beer had reached near terminal gravity it was racked into 3 French Oak Wine barrels that previously held red wine and were new to our brewery.
We topped off the barrels and spiked them with some “Tiny Bubbles” cultures courtesy of our good friends Eric Rose and Hollister Brewing Company.
We then cellared the barrels for 10 months before we added 30 lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes provided for us by Frangipani Winery just up the road from us in Temecula, Ca. The beer also received a healthy dose of fresh Brettanomyces raised in our lab.
The brew then fermented for three months on the grapes before we bottled it in late December.
Track 1′s flavor expresses both a huge Brettanomyces presence as well as a moderate level of grape character resulting in a winey oak laced brown ale with exceptional depth for such a low ABV beer.
While not our first time “Runnin’ with the Devil”, we think this one was hell of a roll down memory lane…
The Album Art and Text
C’mon, everyone knows you’re not supposed to run with the devil. But every sinner does. Why, because we can.
We all need that feeling of fear wrapped in danger and the excitement of being shot from the adrenaline canon. Maybe you too love that feeling of living on the edge hanging precipitously close to never coming back. Because only the Devil can take you there, he’s your favorite wing-man capable of simultaneously killing and saving you without ever offering redemption.
Good thing he can drive like moonshiner evading the law or you’d both be in trouble. Full throttle on the highway to hell is where you’re headed tonight. That is, if the Devil wants your soul. Hopefully he’s only flirting with your mind.
After tempting your spirit and temporarily inhabiting your soul, he’ll just kick you to the curb. Then, you’ll be left to decide if you ever want to take a ride with the Prince of Darkness again.
So ask yourself… Am I feeling lucky?
