On Saturday, six local bands get to some shine in the form of suds as Tampa Bay Brew Co. stages its first-ever Friends Fest 2017.
The Ybor City brewery's head brewer, Tim Ogden, is a local musician and scene supporter, and he explained the mission of the one-day mini music festival quite simply in a recent interview with CL.
READ MORE
Tampa Bay Brewing Co.'s Friends Fest celebrates Bay area bands with signature craft beers
“So many awesome folks around here inspire and encourage me every day whether it’s the beer industry, the music scene, or bar scene. We're all just people, and we got each others’ backs,” Ogden said. “I need that. I owe it to myself, and to everyone who's ever encouraged me, to always seek new highs. That's the nutshell description of Friends Fest — it celebrates community, friendship and collaboration. So come get a spark and pass it on.”
That spark manifests itself in seven new beers brewed in part, and inspired wholly by, Bay area bands that run the gamut from post-rock to folk, Americana and punk.
You can read more about the origins of the shindig here, look for some more details and explanations about the beers, and even hear the music that inspired them, below. Get more information on Friends Fest 2017 via local.cltampa.com.
Set and Setting's Ephemerality Red IPL — Red India Pale Lager. Smooth, heavy and aggressive. Clean and crisp. The first beer brewed for Friends Fest, intentionally early to allow ephemerality to take place in the beer. Ogden and the St. Pete post-rock band (fresh off a national tour) added late hops to ensure big noticeable changes from day one on tap to the friends fest event.
Old Vices Lager — Old Vices Lager is a slightly aggressive, floral and earthy helles. It's pretty self explanatory. Ogden says, "We all have our old vices." A straightforward, highly drinkable lager goes together with punk rock like bacon and anything else, including more bacon. "I can't imagine a life without either (punk rock or light lager). any time, any day, or all day every day," he added.
" Tim is a good friend of ours. I can't quite remember how this all came about. I think it might've been sweet sweet drunk talk that actually came to fruition," Old Vices' Jeff Brawer told CL. "I think the beer surpasses the band. It's a tasty, easy drinker. Fancy folks would probably steer clear of the beer and the band. It kind of resembles us with it being all upright and having alcohol in it. Never really imagined we'd get our own beer. It's quite an accomplishment. All thanks to Tim Ogden."
Check out Old Vice's Best of the Bay award here.
Flat Stanley's Seahag Salted Lemon Lager — Ogden says that once again, punk rock and lagers just go together. "But in this case, we added a touch of the sea, and a bit of lemon to prevent the scurvy. Follow the song of a siren, and you'll likely shipwreck. But sometimes the shipwreck is a fair price to pay for damn good times."
"I never really thought of combing my songs with a beer, but once the idea was brought up, me and the boys put our heads together to try and think of a song and how to put that into a beer," Flat Stanley's Buck Sands told CL. "We have a song 'Sea Hag' that we've played forever that seemed to be a perfect fit. We did a salted Lemon Lager and it just really works. You can taste a song." (Notice the tattoo of Tim Ogden as a merman on the label.)
Radarmen? Belgian Tripel — Ogden says "a 30 minute set from these guys is more than enough to inspire you to be better at whatever it is you’re doing. It also shouldn't take many of the beers to have your cheeks a little rosy."
“We are doing a Belgian triple which is traditionally a monk beer. I think we are pretty much the monks of the post punk scene here in Tampa, especially Mr. David Kibby," Radarmen's Rodney Smith told CL. "Tripels are also normally high in alcohol and we sound better with the more alcohol you have! I never thought we would have a beer named after us but it is cool as all heck."
Navin. Ave.'s “A Little Warming” American Wheat Beer — American wheat beer brewed with mango, cayenne and cinnamon. "Listen to the song and read the lyrics. The beer attempts to provide additional ambiance while paying homage to insightfulsong writing, and hopefully the smallest spark," Ogden says.
Navin Ave. frontwoman Shae Krispinsky is a little more straightforward. "It's going to be a little sweet, with a kick," she told CL. "'A Little Warming' (the song) is about burning down your childhood home, so 'A Little Warming' (the beer) is going to have some cayenne and cinnamon to symbolize that burn."
Band of Sorrows' I Like The Whiskey Sour Florida Weisse — "Sean, Anson and Jack previously played together in a Lakeland based Southern sludge metal Sabbath-worshiping band Black Tides Roll, which they had brought me in on to play second bass in for a show at Crowbar opening for Nasty Savage. It was the jolt I needed in remembering who I am in my deepest parts," Ogden told CL. "Rock and roll has saved me so many times. I don't thrive well without it."
The beer, takes its name from a lyric in the song “Whiskey Hates Me” and is a whiskey sour inspired Florida Weisse, brewed with lemon and lime peel, aged in bourbon barrels.
Band of Sorrows x Navin. Ave.'s Navin’s Sorrow — Whiskey barrel aged imperial stout Brewed with salted caramel and raspberry, this one is probably the crown jewel of the whole party. Seriously, treat yourself to one of these.
This article appears in Oct 19-26, 2017.