A couple of years ago, AC/DC made a deal with a winemaker to release a series of wines.
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These included Back in Black shiraz and Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon. I’d always thought wine and AC/DC wasn’t the best of matches, figuring the fan base was more likely to be drinking.
Spirits would perhaps be the perfect match, but beer wouldn’t be far off either.
Which brings me to the AC/DC beer released this week to promote the Rock or Bust album and tour. It comes in a 568ml can or a five-litre keg if you’re feeling particularly thirsty. Don’t bother looking for it in your local bottle shop - this beer is only available in Aldi supermarkets.
"We’re very excited to celebrate AC/DC’s legendary rock status with the launch of AC/DC Beer in Australia,’’ an Aldi spokesman apparently said.
‘‘The combination of great German beer and Aussie hard rock just seems like a match made in heaven.’’
A match made in heaven? Sorry, but I don’t see them being much of a match at all. Mention “Aussie hard rock” to me and my brain would make more than a million things before it got to “great German beer”. If it got there at all.
It’s a bit hard to work out exactly what style of beer this is. The can says it’s ‘‘German beer’’ and ‘‘Premium beer’’ and ‘‘Brewed in accordance with the German purity law’’.
All that ‘‘purity law’’ means is they used the same four ingredients as most beers made anywhere in the world. If you think it means this beer is somehow more ‘‘pure’’ than most other beers then the people in the marketing department will be very happy - because that’s exactly what they want you to think. But it’s rubbish.
After some research I was able to discover this is a lager. Which hardly came as a surprise to me - it’s what I had guessed it would be but, being a journalist and all, I had to make sure of things.
This isn’t the first beer put out by a rock band I’ve had. There was also Iron Maiden’s Trooper and Destroyer by KISS.
AC/DC’s beer isn’t as good as the passable Iron Maiden beer but it’s definitely better than KISS’s beer. But that’s not saying much - Destroyer is a super-bland beer.
AC/DC’s Rock or Bust beer does come with a hit of sweet malt in the mid-palate - but is preceded by very little. Oddly enough, the more I drank, the further back on the palate those malt characters appeared. Which also increased the emptiness at the front of the palate.
Not that any of this will matter to to AC/DC fans - they’ll buy this just because it’s an AC/DC beer. Which is what the marketing department wants them to do.