- Contains less than 1 percent Buddha juice by volume
Every so often in Beer and Metal, I review something that’s clearly not a craft beer, either because I’m having a snit about an evasive press release from a macrobrewer or because I’m hoping to stumble across a bargain in an unlikely place. (The less said about the Super Brew 15 fiasco, the better.) I’ve accomplished little in the effort, but it has produced some ridiculous columns.
No, wait. His eyes. He has blank, dead eyes, with no pupils. The eyes of an abomination.
Jokes aside, the most common comparison is to Heineken, which has been hot garbage for years. Folks also frequently complain of skunking, or of a metallic flavor in the finish.
Otherwise, not much. A hint of copper penny? Boiled carrot? I’m really reaching here. Though I will say that this beer gets less palatable in a hurry as it warms. The theatrical expressions of disgust I found online appear to be from beer assholes attempting to demonstrate their superior palates by recoiling in horror at a harmless, mediocre Asian lager.
The album covers a fair amount of ground, but here Li Chao surrounds his demented vocals (he rasps, howls, gargles, and mutters) with sinister drones, layers of ghostly strings (some synthetic, some likely real), and mantralike patterns on what I’m guessing are hand drums and gongs. I hope you don’t think less of me for saying this, but if I were exploring a lightless ancient temple of uncertain denomination and heard this stuff coming through a door, I might not knock.
