The song

Golden Age of Bloodshed comes from the 2009 album Pop Crimes by Roland S Howard. The performer is best known for his time in the band The Boys Next Door, which became The Birthday Party. Howard was responsible for perhaps The Boys Next Door’s most well-known song, Shivers, which he wrote when he was 16. The song would be covered by a number of acts including The Screaming Jets.

Given Golden Age of Bloodshed was the last track on the Pop Crimes album, it was also technically the last thing Howard released. The musician died of liver cancer on December 30, 2009, just over two months  after the release of Pop Crimes.

The Beer
The Yeastie Boys made this beer for the 2013 Great Australasian Beer Spectapular. The interesting ingredient? Beetroot, making a “beetrooted  Belgian Strong Golden Ale” weighing in at 6.5 per cent. As expected it took on a red colour in the glass. I was there at GABS in 2013 and I’m sure I would have tried this beer (how could you not want to try a beer with beetroot?) but I can’t recall what I thought of it. My defence? There are a lot of beers to be drunk at GABS.

The Reason, from Yeastie Boys’ Stu McKinlay:

A beer we brewed for GABS and hence, the Australian themed musical reference.

The idea of beetroot was inspired by David Wood – Wellington homebrewer, manager of Hashigo Zake and the President of SOBA (Society of Beer Advocates). But, while David’s  Beetnik IPA is a hop bomb, I wanted to add to the earthiness off the beetroot with a saison yeast.

The blood red colour inspired the name, which I picked up from Rowland S Howard’s Pop Crimes. I think we get more requests to make this beer again than any other and, I’m sure, a big part of it is the name. People who’ve never tried it ask us to remake it.

And, a little twist on the craft beer link, is that a bottle of Little Creatures at the start of the video?