Thirsty Thursdays: Halloween Edition with Dominion City Galloping Hessian Pumpkin Brown Ale
By Daniel Bordage
Beer: Dominion City Galloping Hessian Pumpkin Brown Ale
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 5%
Pairing: A “Halloween” beer with music that either has a spooky feel , words in the title, or band name that conjures up Halloween themes.
About the Beer: This beer is made in Ottawa, Ontario, by Dominion City and the commercial description goes as follows:
“Named for the headless horseman who would crawl from his grave and strike fear into the hearts of the townspeople of Sleepy Hollow, this beer pours a dark reddish brown and features rich nutty flavours balanced against notes of dried fruit, roasted local pumpkin and baking spice. DCBC Terroir Series L 02”
I tried it for the first time at the Hintontoberfest. I met Josh and I could tell he was very proud of his Pumpkin Brown Ale. I must say I don’t blame him. It was my favourite of the day. It also turned out to be my favourite pumpkin beer of this season. It’s inspired my Halloween playlist this year and the logo won me over with its Scooby-Dooesque design. I love it!
The Music: We had a contest this week via Twitter for someone to send me an Ottawa band that has a song or music that would pair well with a Halloween beer. We had a few great submissions and it gave me insight on a few Ottawa bands I didn’t know existed. After hours of listening, the winner is Geoff Cass who suggested Bearshark’s “Devil’s Knockin'”. He wins a free craft beer delivery from Brew Donkey! I thank all that participated in our first contest.
I find making Halloween playlists to be my favourite to do. I open up my music library and search for ghost, haunted, or any other common words associated with Halloween. It becomes apparent that many songwriters have ghosts in their past or are haunted by something. I could do a full jazz, indie, or hip hop playlists alone. And in Metal, well, the list would never end. So I decided to do a mix of it all. Taking you on a musical haunting as if my head was cut off like our headless horseman… The full playlist can be found here.
Nouvelle Vague – Bela Lugosi’s Dead
Halloween is my second Christmas after Beau’s Oktoberfest and just before real Christmas. Bela Lugosi is my Santa… Here’s the original Bauhaus version of this song here.
Radiohead – We Suck Young Blood, A Wolf at the Door, I Will, or Bodysnatchers
Take your pick out of those four. Radiohead seems to be a perfect band for Halloween. I went with “A Wolf at the Door.” “I Will” almost made it as it’s so haunting and beautiful.
This is a great band from Ottawa with one of my favourite tracks on this list.
Sufjan Stevens – They Are Night Zombies
The backing vocals sound like the famous shower scene in Psycho.
Witches brew beer in those cauldrons, right? At that point of the brewing process, is it called a monster mash?
It’s a great song for a beer and music pairing. Bottles… Bones… come on. It writes itself.
The Growlers – Graveyards Full
Growlers… Graveyards… come on… It writes itself (part 2).
Ottawa’s own The Creeps. Everything they do would do well on any Halloween playlist.
Off their Metal Moon LP.
Royal Bangs – My Car is Haunted
If you’ve seen the movie Christine, then you know what I’m talking about.
This song should be on all Halloween playlists…
Danger Doom (Danger Mouse & MF Doom) – The Mask
MF Doom is famous for always wearing a metal face mask. He lives Halloween and collaborates with Ghostface Killah in this song. How could it not make the list?
Gravediggaz – Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide
The entire 6 Feet Under record from the Gravediggaz would make this list.
If Dracula had a band, this would be the first single. It sounds like he’s singing in a castle and the creepy butler is playing keys next to him.
The Horrors… enough said…
Happy Halloween and keep drinking great beer!
Honorable mentions
Contact me on Twitter @danielbordage or at dropthatspills@gmail.com for suggestions, comments or just to say hi.