Brewery: Solemn Oath Brewery
Beer: Tickle Fight
Style: American Barleywine
ABV: 11.5%
Character: Brewed with massive caramel malt, and citrus, tropical fruit hops
Ratings at the time of Review: BA: n/a | RB: 84
Metal Connection: FIGHT – Into the Pit
BeerMetalDude Rating: 4/5
My hunt for Metal related breweries and beers is always on. I search many beer sites for these types of beers, so they will fit right into this website. My pursuit to gather these beers led me right to Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville, IL. Almost every beer they release has a Punk Rock or Metal theme to them, making them a perfect find for BeerMetalDude.com I want to once again thank my good friend, Jorge Espinoza for helping me get this bottle. Now, let’s get right into the description of Solemn Oath’s Barleywine, Tickle Fight.
As I said, their labels just scream Metal. Tickle Fight is represented by a warthog beast, and a zombie looking monster guy tangled in a fight scene, which, I am assuming, will be a brutal round of a good tickle fight. Maybe they’re just in a good mosh pit. The zombie guy is fully equipped with some nice spiked gauntlets, ready for battle. One thing I really enjoy about Solemn Oath’s labels are the use of minimal colors. This one is a black label with dark gray being used for the artwork. There are very small highlights of silver used in the art, only on the gauntlet spikes, the big bull ring in the nose of the warthog guy, the eyes, the teeth on both characters, and finally in the name and style text. Simple, brutal, and fuckin’ awesome!
I used my Satan Red logo snifter glass for this drinking session. Tickle Fight poured a dark ruby red/amber color which was hazy at first, but quickly became a very clear looking beer. The beer was topped with a 1/2 inch eggshell colored head. The foamy head quickly disappeared, leaving no lacing, whatsoever, down the glass.
The aroma was big and bold. The nose was full of caramel, dark fruits, like figs, and raisins. There as a musty, wet wood aroma, as well as brown sugar/molasses, some citrus orange, and fruit, like, pear, apple, mango, and papaya. There is a slight burn from the booze in his 11.5% Barleywine.
The taste of Tickle Fight is sweet up front with a big hit of sweet brown sugar/molasses, caramel, and toffee. There is a taste of musty, wet wood, dark fruits, like, figs, and raisins. There is a citrus and tropical fruit undertone behind all the big heavy flavors already mentioned. Flavors of orange, apple, pear, mango, and papaya are present. There is a strong booze lingering aftertaste mixed with the mixture of different fruit flavors.
Surprisingly, the body is thinner than I thought it would be, as it was slightly under medium in thickness. The mouthfeel was oily and silky, with mild carbonation, and a moderate hot alcohol presence. The finish had a bitter bite to it.
Overall, I will say this is an impressive Solemn Oath Brewery introduction to this page. I have since picked up a few more bottles and look forward to drinking them, reviewing them and presenting them to you here on BeerMetalDude. Cheers, my metal brothers and sisters!
Metal Connection: After seeing the image drawn on the label of this beer, I wanted a song that would best represent a fight scene or a pretty violent pit. Well I got both here with this one. First of all this band is called Fight, which fits with the name of this beer. The song is called “Into the Pit,” which fits in with the artwork. Just listen to this song. I mean, it really does make you want to join in a pit with these monsters on the label of the beer. In 1992, Rob Halford left the Metal Icons, Judas Priest, and he formed this band, Fight. Judas Priest was more traditional Heavy Metal, as Fight was more of a Groove Metal band similar to that of Exhorder, Pantera, Machine Head, or Prong. Fight put out their debut full length album, War of Words in 1993 through the Sony label, Epic Records. The song, “Into the Pit” comes from this album. It is the first track on this album, and it really introduces the world to a much heavier, violent style of music, which was introduced in Judas Priest’s 1990 album, Painkiller. He kept this heavy style of music going with Fight until 1995. After releasing a few more albums with his bands, Two (or 2wo) and Halford, Rob Halford returned to Judas Priest in 2003, and is currently still leading the charge with one of Metal’s most iconic bands. For now, let’s time travel back to 1993, and let’s get into the pit, shall we!
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