Brewery: NoCoast Beer Company (Oskaloosa, IA)
Beer: Yoga Poser
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.0%
Character: Dry-hopped with Cascade and Citra hops
Ratings: BeerAdvocate: 3.79/5 | Untappd: 3.66/5
Metal Connection: HAEMORRHAGE – Decom-Posers
BeerMetal Rating: 4/5
Well shit! This beer was actually supposed to be on episode 18 of our podcast, but for some reason,t he audio we recorded last weekend was a ll fucked up, so we didn’t get to release the episode after all. It really sucks because it was a fun filled day, and would have been an amazing episode. Luckily, I took notes so I am at least able to post up a full review here on the site. It’s the least I can do, especially because NoCoast was actually looking forward to the episode according to their comment on Instagram. I will have to include one of their other beers on a future episode.
Yoga Poser Pale Ale comes to us in a 16 oz can with a very cool can design. The best way to describe this label is to call it hippy-like, I guess. First of all, I love that it is a full can wrap, and not just some stupid fucking sticker slapped on the empty can. This one wraps all the way around from top to bottom. So the design is all trippy and weird. The main art is like a sunburst design in circles, having rings of bright orange, pink, yellow, and similar variants of those colors. The beer name is written right in the middle of the circles in a wavy font. Below the circles are these blue shapes, best described by The Craft Brewja as coral reef looking shapes. Besides just being random art, this can is pretty eye catching.
I poured this beer into a glass by Acopon Brewing Company, which by the way, has the one of the coolest logos for a brewery. Yoga Poser was a bright, light tangerine orange color. There was a bit of chill haze to the glass, but the beer itself appeared clear as it warmed up. The initial pour gave this beer a large 2 1/2 inch white foamy head. Excellent sheet of lacing down the glass as I drank this beer.
The aroma was as promised, full of citrus, tropical fruit, and some pine. Imagine the smell of oranges, pineapple and a hint of pine thrown in. That was the dominant aroma, but there was also a faint aroma of the light malts with hints of cracker and white bread. It is what it is, an American Pale Ale.
The taste was just like the nose, but a bit stronger. Completely full of oranges, pineapple, light grains, malts, white bread, cracker, and a hint of pine. For me, the citrus and fruit flavors were dominant, with the pine and bread following. The aftertaste was back to the fruit flavors, and bread combination.
The body was a medium thickness, with a smooth mouthfeel. There was moderate carbonation, nothing overpowering. The fruit and bready aftertaste result in a semi-dry finish, while still holding on to that smoothness.
Overall, this is a pretty damn good Pale Ale. So happy to see a brewery like NoCoast here in San Antonio. I just really hope the local scene supports this brewery enough for them to want to stay here in San Antonio.
Again, I am sorry this beer did not end up on the podcast as originally planned, but at least I was able to post this review here on the website. I still have a couple of other beers from them, that I will add to the podcast arsenal.
Metal Connection: First of all, sorry foe the long Metal Connection here. This was the actual script that I read for the podcast, and I just copied and pasted it here. I thought it was an informative read, so here ya go… Goregrind, a sub genre of Metal that is just one of those that you really either love or you really hate. Back in the early 1990s when I was getting into the Underground scene of Metal, I was introduced to a lot of Goregrind with a collection of compilation cassettes, CDs, demos, and just actual full length albums from some of these maniacs. To many listeners, this type of music is just considered just fucking noise, most of the time. To me, I find if interesting, if played correctly. Funny to say that, cause in all honestly, any beginning musician can probably play Goregrind. Especially once home studios became a thing, along with drum machines. Why am I talking about this genre? Well, because the Metal Connection I chose for NoCoast’s Yoga Poser is none other than HAEMORRHAGE from Spain with their song Decom-Poser. The title is written out as Decom-Poser. Easy choice for this one, as I fuckin love this God damned band.
Goregrind is usually identified by heavily pitch shifted vocals, making them sound distorted, gurgly, or watery and usually difficult to understand. Shit, even when the lyrics are found, reading along to some Goregrind songs is pretty fucking hard to pick out the words. Now Grindcore was already established by the likes of Napalm Death, Repulsion, Impetigo, Carcass, and such, But actually Carcass is considered by many as the godfathers of Goregrind, being one of the first bands to use the pitch shifted vocals, and a really muddy tornado of sound with their music. So if this is the case, Goregrind began in the late 1980s with Carcass’s demos and first two full length albums. OK, enough about those guys.
Let’s move onto Haemorrhage. First of all the band spells their name H-A-E-M-O-R-R-H-A-G-E, which is not too commonly used here in the US, as I know I have seen it mostly with just the E not the AE as they use. Well, the AE spelling is British English, and you know us here in the states, we simplify shit, so we just use the E. Whatever. Anyway, Haemorrhage began their career back in 1991 by guitarist, Luisma. Originally on their first demo in 1992, Grotesque Embryopathology he recorded guitars, bass, and vocals. Soon after, he brought in Lugubrious to handle the vocals, Ramon Checa on Bass, and Ana Belen de Lopez as second guitarist. These 4 members are all still active in this band. The drummer position is the only one that has changed through out their career, but their original drummer, Jose (that’s what he goes by on their albums) being the one who lasted the longest within the band. Right now they are on their 4th drummer, Erik Raya who has played on the band’s latest 2 full length albums. Alright, well there’s a brief history lesson of Goregrind, and the origins of our band, Haemorrhage. So, the song, Decom-Poser first appeared on a demo cassette in 1996 called Scalpel, Scissors, and Other Forensic Instruments. It was later re-recorded on the band’s sophomore full length album, Grume, which was released in 1997 on Morbid Records. This is the album I actually first heard from them, then I went back and got their debut album, Emetic Cult, and have since collected all their full lengths.
Actually, now that I think about it, Grume, and then their 3rd full length, Anatomical Inferno from 1998 was actually sent to me by Morbid Records in promo cardboard sleeve formats, cause that’s when I was doing my fanzine, Beyond the Grave then Underground Brutality. I used to get music sent to me so I could review it within my pages. Pretty cool, huh? Well, Decom-Poser is an awesome track and is a great representation of both the Goregrind genre, and the sick sound of Haemhorrage. This song will pretty much tell you exactly what you are in for when digging through this band’s whole discography. It’s got some head banging groovy punky riffs, then just sheer speed, distorted vocals, and just fucking sick and beautiful. In case this does peak your interest at all into Goregrind, I highly recommend searching for the bands Regurgitate, Cock & Ball Torture, and Last Days of Humanity. OK sickos. Here is Decom-Posers. FUCK YEAH!!!!
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