Beer Thirty with Lords of the Trident's Fang VonWraithenstein

Lords of the Trident

Have you ever seen any of those Robin Hood movies?

I mean, you have right? Hollywood has made at least 27 different Robin Hood movies over the past forever right?
Well, what did all of those Robin Hood flicks have in common besides the ultimate power of the hood?

Oh yeah, they drank, beer, wine, and beer. Mostly beer. Friar Tuck and Little John in those movies surely enjoyed himself some beer.

You know who else enjoys beer? Fang Von Wraithenstein of the mighty power metal band, Lords of the Trident.

If you're still on the fence, go get Shadows from the Past now. It can be had on DIGITAL or on god's own format...VINYL.

Anyhoo...let's get to the beer.

1. My personal favorite beer style is the might Double India Pale Ale. The best DIPA in the world is STLIPA by Urban Chestnut. Tell me about your favorite style.

I mostly like anything “brown & down” - stouts, porters, browns...also anything “chewy”, like strong belgians, heffes, and barleywine. 

The only beers I tend to avoid are SUPER bitter IPAs and boring, boring pilsners.

2. Many international people have laughed at me for this, but American Beer is the best in the world. Not American Lagers that piss water is best used for drinking 15 of them while you're at the karaoke bar, but American Craft Beer. Which nation is pumping out the best beer?

I agree! But to play devil’s advocate, I’d say Belgium. 

That place has some of the finest brews I’ve ever had. That being said - you’re 100% correct. The US craft market is really pushing boundaries and coming out with some WILD brews.

3. Even though I'm a giant beer snob, I'll drink beers that break the Bavarian Purity Laws. My personal favorite is Schalfly's Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout. It's a might 22oz of 10% ABV Stout aged in bourbon barrels. It'll warm your heart and soul.

What beers do you love that break Reinheitsgebot?

My favorite beer of all time is the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. It’s so good that people line up across the block for the chance to even get their hands on one. 

They only release it on Black Friday, and it’s gone almost instantly. Since you can age them, I’ve got a stash of the last 5 year’s worth of releases in my basement. 

We break them open only for special occasions.

4. Right now, you couldn't pin me down and get me to give my favorite St. Louis Brewery, though Urban Chestnut's STLIPA does put them in the lead...but if you put a gun to my head, it’s Schlafly Brewing. 

What do you think of your local brewers?

There’s a newer brewery called Urban Artifact out of Waunakee, WI that’s absolutely CRUSHING it lately. 

Every beer I’ve had from them, whether it’s a style I like or not, has been at the LOWEST an 8/10. Some of their stouts are closer to 9.5/10 for me.

5. Hops or Malt? Personally, I feel like a jerk for asking the question. Give me a malty Scottish/Scotch Ale or a hoppy DIPA...and I'm happy...but you gotta pick one.

Malt all the way. Too much hops and you ruin the beer. Too much malt and you don’t have to eat dinner because you’ve basically just ingested a bread loaf. 

I don’t see a problem there!

6. Whenever I'm road tripping. I'm always bringing back beers. Ohio, Great Lakes Brewing. East Coast, Yuengling. Western New York. Genessee. 

What do you bring home?

We travel all over the US, so we always try to sample the local selection and bring something home when we can. 

That being said, Wisconsin is the land of the craft brew, so we’ve got beers from all over the country flooding into our supermarkets. We’re lucky. 

We were just down in Florida and the selection was about 1/16th of our “average” beer selection in a Wisconsin supermarket. We’re definitely spoiled.