Killsner (Cigar City Brewing)

For the second year in a row, Cigar City has brewed a beer for an annual metal barbecue at hadad's lake in Richmond, Va. It would be a somber event this year, due to the passing of Gwar lead singer, Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie). Fans gathered to rock harder than ever before and to lean on each other in the wake of the loss. The viking funeral for the Oderus suit was quite the sight that would have made Dave proud. The smoke was so black it blocked out the sun, so metal.

I am a fan of what gwar means to Richmond, and when brockie past away, a friend of mine made me 2 cds. I did not go to this event, although it seems like my crowd. I did however get bombarded with pictures and messages on social media about the event. It seemed that beer sales were at an all time high. The beer that was made last year for the event was not well received. It did however trade well. Metal heads from across the United States reached out in search for it. It worked out well for me as a trading beer. The beer was a lot more bitter, which probably appealed to a narrow audience. This year, I found out the name was Killsner well before I tasted the beer. I even originally thought it was going to be a pilsner. To my surprise it was a fresh bright session IPA. It was actually very good. No wonder I had such a hard time getting my hands on some. I only had 2 kegs and 2 cases to sell. The can is definitely one that I will keep. It marks a little piece of RVA brewing history, although brewed in FLA.  

Yin & Yang (Evil Twin Brewing)

The Yin and Yang had been released earlier this year but I only saw it on draft. It is a reaction to dig through whatever evil twin cases I see in stores. Nick, the buyer at Arrowine had already out these beauties on the shelf. The 4 pack cost almost $16, so double that for the experience. I paid it forward to my beer partner in crime and gave him a pair, the other two I took to Lake Monticello to drink with a friend.

Bought these at Arrowine in Arlington Va. the beer manager was kind enough to do mixed 4pks. 

I highly advise against taking beer that cost this much to a destination that was sold as relaxing but became quite a bit of work. Although the sleepy gated community would have been the ideal place in the fall to sit and sip these two, I chose to work and sweat. This IPA pictured below was huge malt and high in ABV. We started with that in goblets, an homage to our beer beginnings. Instantly my pores exploded with piney and grape fruit residue. My teeth were instantly coated with sugary sweet yang.

The yin was as opposite as you could get, except for the high ABV. The stout was thick black, and not penetrated by light. I believe I poured that beer in the master bathroom as we assembled night stands and laid carpet. No picture was taken. We saved half of each to do the most cloying black and tan ever to exist. Every variation of this experience was phenomenal, and I will keep an eye out for these on draft. Stouts are something that evil twin has down. They also make even more Jesus, some variants of Jesus, and I heart you with all my stout. The session beer theory kicked my ass on this particular day. I am ready for cold weather and campfires.