BEER NO EVIL VALEDICTION
Share an honest convo over these GorBEERchevs rather than denying and diverting and offering excuses until we're all thoroughly cooked, and only the cockroaches survive!
Origin – Adelaide, South Australia
ABV- 8.8%
Size- 375mL can
Style- Double Indian Pale Ale
One of my clearest childhood memories was the final episode of M*A*S*H, the television series about the Korean War that famously lasted longer than the war itself. To celebrate, my parents threw a party where they all wore army fatigues bought from disposal stores. To the grown-ups, the farewell of Hawkeye, Hot Lips and the good people of the 4077 seemed crushing. A decade later, as I became old enough to go to the pub myself, Sam Malone closed the bar where everyone knew your name, Cheers - for the last time. I understood their heartache. As Norm headed home and Sam shut the door behind him, it dawned on me that it was we who would be left behind. Call me a softie, but my eyes welled up, knowing that something just wouldn't be the same again.
Saying farewell is never easy, as Paul Sparkes, the founder of death metal-inspired Beer No Evil, knows too well. Despite well over a decade of relentless gigs, he had no option but to say goodbye to a full-time music career and to fall back onto his old information technology job to pay the bills. Having broken up the band, Sparkes turned his interest to homebrewing. As luck would have it, his new passion was to become more fruitful than the former.
Despite taking a combined 10 years of studying brewing, work experience at Mismatch and Pirate Life, and gypsy brewing batch upon batch, he achieved in beer what he never managed to win in his ensemble - an award. 14 in fact, including silvers from the recent Royal Adelaide Beer Awards for Beer No Evil Words of Wisdom NEIPA and Eye of Horus RIPA. To celebrate those wins and finally say goodbye to a full-time music journey, Beer No Evil released this big and bold DIPA. The Valediction is surprisingly drinkable for a supercharged 8.8% abv with a touch of sweetness and a balanced hop profile. The pine and the sweetness hold each other in check, while the citrus and tropical fruits remain firm friends with the stern bitterness. As is the case of each of his beers, the naming is inspired by a melodic death metal band. Valediction is a song title by Finland’s Insomnium. Fittingly, it also means the action of saying farewell.
I’ll be sure to save a few empties to catch my tears when saying adios to Keeping of the Kardashians when its final episode airs in March 2021!
