Many blues songs have been inspired (or at least influenced) by alcohol, but it’s rare that a libation has been inspired by a blues band. In honor of The Whiskey Shambles' win at the Northeast Ohio Blues Association (NEOBA) Blues Challenge, which qualifies them to compete at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January 2015, the band has worked with Cincinnati's Rivertown Brewing Company to create "Shambling Southward - Dubbel Barrel Blues," a Belgian Dubbel fermented with brandy-infused wood chips.
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The beer will be tapped at a special event on January 16, 2015, at the Rivertown Brewery Taproom, with a performance by The Whiskey Shambles starting at 7:00pm. EVENT DETAILS: Rivertown Brewing Company, which has recently begun a transition to focusing on wilder varieties of beer (with an emphasis on Belgian and sour styles). Rivertown's owner, Jason Roeper, encourages employees to brew smaller batches for the taproom. This allows the brewery to tap the creativity and imagination of all their employees and gives customers new beers to experience when they visit. The recipe for Shambling Southward was developed by pilot brewer Rob Westendorf -- the mind behind Rivertown's very popular Jenneke Belgian Blond Ale, which has moved from a seasonal release to a year-round offering. Rob and his wife Roxanne (Rivertown's Beer Evangelist) collaborated with The Shambles' Brother James -- the band's resident beer geek -- for several months to come up with the idea for a brew that could represent The Shambles and their music.
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Roxanne explains this unique beer: "We took the genius of the Belgian Trappist Monks' Dubbel and added brandy-soaked wood chips to the secondary fermentation stage, to make a beer that is inviting, but as bold as The Whiskey Shambles." "We've always described The Shambles sound as a loud, belligerent style of demonic hill-stomp blues that almost . . . but not quite . . . betrays an air of subtle sophistication lingering just around the edges," Brother James clarifies. "This brew combines an exciting wallop from the brandy with the gentler refinement of the Belgian style, making it a perfect pairing with the band: a blast of what we're calling, 'Dubbel Barrel Blues'."
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About THE WHISKEY SHAMBLES: The Shambles are currently working their way through the dive bars and juke joints of the Midwest and Rustbelt, with occasional trips to more exotic locales, like Nashville or Buffalo, New Orleans or Asheville, Atlanta or NYC. They won the 2014 Northeast Ohio Blues Challenge, and have been chosen to represent Northeast Ohio Blues Association at the 2015 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN. They have also been invited to showcase at the 2015 Millennium Music Conference. The Shambles have been nominated for a 2014 and a 2015 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for best Blues act, and several of their songs have earned critical acclaim. In 2012 The Whiskey Shambles released the EP, "ONE LAST BLAST: Live at Mad Frog." September 2014 saw the release of a second live EP, "Stumbling Toward Beale Street." Their first LP "Loose Change for a Broken Man" was released in November 2014, was named #23 of the Top 89 Albums of 2014 by WNKU, and several songs from it receive regular airplay on many college and AAA radio stations. The Shambles are already working on their second full-length album, with plans to head into the studio in spring of 2015. |
