• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Greater Boston's Alternative News Source

BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU: CZARFACE DOUBLE IPA + FLUME DOUBLE IPA

Written by CHRIS FARAONE Posted September 25, 2019 Filed Under: Better Boston Beer Bureau, COLUMNS, LIFESTYLE

 

Not all heroes drink grapes

 

Before rapping about the new Czarface IPA, Don the Armor by Bent Water Brewing Co. in Lynn, it’s important to catch everybody up on the super hero for whom it’s named. Czarface is an all-star hip-hop amalgamation of the Boston duo 7L & Esoteric with Inspectah Deck from Wu-Tang Clan. If you’re late to this fantastic revelation, then oh boy, you just wait, there’s a whole lot more for you in store. Rhymed and designed by comic book heads for comic book heads, Czarface is a multimedia machine, cranking out memes, books, limited edition vinyl, T-shirts and, yes, now its very own India Pale Ale.

 

Like most of the beers in Bent Water’s arsenal and the Czarface musical catalogue to date, Don the Armor is the best kind of punch to the jaw. There’s lots of bite but still plenty of sweetness (red berries, oranges, and mangos, to be exact) to help the medicine go down. Remarkably, the knuckle sandwich lingers, with heavy hops stomping down hard enough on your taste buds to leave a deep impression. Like the gorgeous armor that it comes in, this 8-percenter is unflappable, impenetrable. Something you will want to savor—on your tongue, and then as a collectible after you rinse the remnant.

 

A lot of hip-hop acts don’t scream craft brew out loud. Come to think of it, the marriage of rap music and booze has largely been an obnoxious affair; what started with a noble early focus on 40-ounce varieties that consumed the culture in the ’90s devolved into so much dance floor bottle popping. That was fresh and all when Biggie was teaching us about France’s finer champagnes, but now it’s tired, and so a bulletproof on-brand offering such as Don the Armor is especially welcome. I’ll be buying four-packs until stores run dry; after that, the stickers I am peeling off the cans will feature prominently on my wall for many years. As for the brew itself though, it truly is downright delicious. I even like it warm.

 

In other news, since we’re talking about beer and super heroes, I want to sub-highlight Battery Steele Brewing in Portland. I got my hands on some of its cans this month, specifically the Flume Double IPA, and as I’ve said before, the crew up there cooks extra special suds. While I’m hardly inclined to hand out props to beers for not tasting like what they are supposed to be—I also hate it when food critics commend fish dishes for not tasting like seafood—that’s nonetheless exactly how I feel about Flume, a massive double-slam of a specimen that basically rolls down the tongue like hop candy. I drank my first one straight out of the can. For my second, I went with a pint glass to let it breathe and in order to ogle its clouds. I’d love to start imbibing Flume on tap, but honestly I would be nervous. I’d chug my way through the first three in a matter of minutes, and at 8% ABV, these spell out a recipe for the kind of injury one might endure on the wrong end of Czarface’s iron fist clutching a cold one.

CHRIS FARAONE
+ posts

A Queens, NY native who came to New England in 2004 to earn his MA in journalism at Boston University, Chris Faraone is the editor and co-publisher of DigBoston and a co-founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. He has published several books including 99 Nights with the 99 Percent, and has written liner notes for hip-hop gods including Cypress Hill, Pete Rock, Nas, and various members of the Wu-Tang Clan.

  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    The Mass Dispensary With A Registered Nurse On Staff
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    The Dispensary That Shovels Out Neighbors In Need
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    STL GLD Still Needs (and Deserves) Your Undivided Attention 
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    Real Isolates Wants Your Burnt Roaches—For Research

Filed Under: Better Boston Beer Bureau, COLUMNS, LIFESTYLE Tagged With: 7L, Beer, Bent Water, Boston better Beer Bureau, Czarface, Don the Armor, Esoteric, Inspectah Deck, IPA, Wu-Tang

WHAT’S NEW

Mass Higher Ed Advocates Urge More Investment In Students 

Mass Higher Ed Advocates Urge More Investment In Students 

Guest Opinion: Promoting Metal Detectors In BPS Perpetuates Dangerous Narrative

Guest Opinion: Promoting Metal Detectors In BPS Perpetuates Dangerous Narrative

State Wire: Mass Leads Nation In 'Green' Building Development

State Wire: Mass Leads Nation In ‘Green’ Building Development

State Wire: Mass Advocates Of Higher Ed Set Goals For Fair Share Revenue

State Wire: Mass Advocates Of Higher Ed Set Goals For Fair Share Revenue

Does Massachusetts Underestimate Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Does Massachusetts Underestimate Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

State Wire: The Legacy Of MLK’s Dream Of Economic Justice In Mass

State Wire: The Legacy Of MLK’s Dream Of Economic Justice In Mass

Primary Sidebar

LOCAL EVENTS

AAN Wire


Most Popular

  • 20 Great Tracks To Come Out Of Greater Boston In 2022
  • Think Massachusetts Cannabis Prices Are Low Now? Just Wait Six Months!
  • Why Are Cannabis Prices Really Crashing?
  • A New Beginning For Formerly Incarcerated Women
  • Jerrod Carmichael Has First Show After Coming Out—At the Wilbur In Boston

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: sales@digboston.com To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): editorial@digboston.com