Soulslinger Black Ale

So the recently bottled, but then unnamed black ale, is now named. This tasted pretty good going into the bottle when it was still flat and warm, so I think it should taste good enough to get it's own label (when it's cold and carbonated). So, over Christmas break beers at Taco Mac with my brother-in-law, we discussed some possibilities. The then working title was First Name Smith Black Ale, as I wanted to get this one named after Smith (Yes, it really is his first name) and this is what he goes by - at least on PS3.

Anyway, I thought it should have something more dramatic, and since Smith is a climber, I thought we should brainstorm in that direction. Not being a very good rock-climber myself (I struggle to do 5.9s), but knowing how cool some of the rock route names are, I asked Smith if perhaps there were some epic routes he had climbed and if they should be immortalized on beer bottles. Turns out there were a few with names suitable for a dark black ale.


Soulslinger.

That's what we decided on. It's a current favorite climb of Smith's in Bishop, CA where he boulders a lot. It's also a V9, which is a pretty frigin hard route up the boulder.

Yep. That's Smith on Soulslinger. Errr, thanks to ? for the shot of Smith (I'll get that credit in there). And yes, of course I did some work in Photoshop. I thought of slinging one's soul, which could be considered a bit dark, though I suppose it depends where your slinging it. So, I gave the label a bit a mystical quality, added the idea of duality (the two sides of Smith) and kept the basic slice of rock and climber.

Note to self: Change the lower landscape drawing to a more dramatic charcoal drawing of a distant mountain range.

Note to self:  Tweek the recipe a bit the next batch to get the ABV up to 9% (matching the V9 climb).