Days of the Beer, February 19

The beer for today is Left Hand Brewing Company Fade to Black Volume 2 (Smoked Baltic Porter).

On February 19, 1948, Francis Anthony Melby "Tony" Iommi was born in Aston, Birmingham, England.

In 1969, along with Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, Iommi founded Black Sabbath. Sabbath is considered one of the first and most influential heavy metal bands of all time.

Prior to being a full time musician, at age 17, Iommi lost the tips of his middle and ring finger on his right hand. He was working in a sheet metal factory at the time. This forced him to play guitar left handed. Because of the incident, he detuned his guitar from E to C# to ease tension on his fingers. This helped create the darker, lower sound familiar with heavy metal. Odd, how a metal accident helped create the metal sound.

As to the beer:

Fade to Black, that time of year when the light seems to fade away.

We drift further into the darkness with each passing day. Volume 2- Smoked Baltic Porter is inspired by our collaboration with Nørrebro in Denmark. This mischievous cousin to Smoke Jumper has a penchant for pillaging and burning everywhere he goes. Smoked malts redolent of the burned thatched roofs in villages and towns all over Northern Europe impart flavors to warm the spirit of invading hordes far from home. You finally have something in your hand darker than the winter night sky.

The beer is 7.8% alcohol and has 35 IBUs.

So, for the left hand guitar playing co-founder of Black Sabbath, have a Left Hand Fade to Black.