This Beer Is Being Aged With Wu-Tang Music Because Life Is Weird And Everything Is ‘Portlandia’

Everyone’s always yelling about craft beer these days. Is it a ridiculous fad that should be passed over in favour of whatever true blue VB dregs you can wring out from the beer mats at your local RSL? Or is it a blossoming industry that too often suffers the fate of hipster-bashing?

i was denied affection as a child and that's why i make fun of u for liking craft beer

— git romney (@someofmybest) May 22, 2015

Of course, there are a bunch of totally valid arguments you can use to defend it. Wanky beer stimulates rural farming communities, it gives much-needed competition to the big brewing companies that try to monopolise pub taps with dodgy contracts, and it’s also way more delicious.

And yet, every so often a ridiculous new brew will come along to completely eclipse even the best logic and reason. In 2009, Sapporo released a beer made from barley stored on the International Space Station. In 2010, a UK microbrewery released a refreshing treat that was exclusively served in small animal carcasses. In 2013, a Japanese company came up with a limited release that was made with literal elephant shit.

They fed the elephant coffee beans. Waited for it to do defecate. Then sifted through enormous piles of crap for something to mix in their stout.

Today, we have a new heir to the throne of cringe. Philadelphia microbrewery Dock Street Beer have this week announced they’re ageing their new golden saison (that already has a weird spicy pineapple and orange-tart flavour) with the music of Wu Tang Clan. For six months, the barrel will be sitting in their brewery — which is, by the way, a converted fire station — with an iPod strapped to the side blasting the full oeuvre of the seminal East Coast rappers via Spotify.

So, it's official. We are aging a beer with Wu Tang. @zoowithroy @meechone @cranekicker spotify playing 24/7 pic.twitter.com/4Crj0K1QV4

— vincethebrewer (@vincethebrewer) May 21, 2015

Head brewer Vince Desrosiers recently explained the idea to Philly Mag saying, “I listen to music every day in the brewery and I’ve wanted to do a series of beers based on the music I like … It started as a joke, and then we wondered if the bass would cause enough vibration to move the yeast around and create some different flavours during fermentation.”

For context, this is the same place that released a beer made with goat brains last year that was disturbingly marketed as having a “creamy mouthfeel”. This new beer is set to be released later this year, and it will be called ‘Ain’t Nuthin’ To Funk With’ because of course it will.

Upside: Australia officially has no right to complain about the local craft beer market ever again. We’re fine. Everything is A-OK.