Life & Death ~ Football & Beer
Hello Hivians and all you beer lovers.
Saturday on Hive of course means it's time to write about the good old amber nectar or Beer and today's no exception for me.
Although the beer and story you will read are actually from last night.
Yesterday my beloved football team Rangers was finally taken over by an American led consortium including the San Francisco 49ers, who own the newly promoted English Premier League Leeds United.
Could I find an appropriate beer to celebrate with?
Answer ... I fluffing well did!
Life and Death it applies to football ⚽️ and beer 🍻
I grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles until we had to relocate to Scotland.
As a Protestant you knew where not to walk or visit and as a Roman Catholic you knew the same. I would never walk on the left side, being a left footer was a sure way to be identified as a Roman Catholic. Get trapped in the wrong area and you had a real chance of being killed for your religion. Traditionally protestants supported the red, white and blue of Rangers and Great Britain and Roman Catholics the green of Celtic and Ireland.
Yes football really was a matter of life and death..
So when I spied these Life and Death beers from Vocation brewery I knew I had the winner!
screenshot from Ibrox Insider
Talking of winners, the 49ers have won the Superbowl 5 times I believe.
Mrs T is American and a huge Denver Broncos fan, but there is no real rivalry between those two teams. Probably because they don't meet during the regular season.
The Los Angeles Raiders are a different story although they are the Las Vegas Raiders I think now!
So all good, Mrs T was happy too!
Life & Death beer from Vocation Brewery
This is a young brewery as you can see, established in MMXV, I do so love Roman numerals!
Right just before we sample the beer...
Down at the bottom left you will see the following...
Bold Beautiful Beer for The Many
Which is pretty spot on as Rangers fans consider themselves to be ..
We Are The People
sometimes you will see me use the #watp hashtag on various platforms!
Classic cans
Shout to Leeds United who are also owned byt the 49ers and who got promoted back into the big time of the English Premier League.
I love skulls and I love that logo!
It calls itself a Classic IPA ... but there's more and another reason why I choose to celebrate with this beer...
... and I quote
American IPA (India Pale Ale), often with West Coast IPA leanings
West Coast of America ... San Francisco ... yep that's another reason for me!
Fluffing heck, I am on a roll with the reasons!
The golden Amber look
Tall creamy head
Looking pretty golden to me
Caught in the act ...
of turning the can for a stats shot!
Vocation amongst the greenery
Full of Fluffing Frothy Foam
Yeah somehere I read about the foamy head that will leave a line on the glass. Well I can vouch for that!
Reminded me of my homebrewing days
Back in Uni I did make some home brew.
I was a Chemical Engineer and we did challenge the Brewing guys to a fewing brewing challenges and vice versa.
Some of them were quite hazy and this shot reminded me of those days.
Turns out I was a dab hand at making barley wine.
Ah memories!
Poker Time
You know there are lots of web3 projects that run poker tournaments. The prizes aren't generally that much, but you get members into your discord and onto your platform. That's a good thing generally for the ecosystem involved and for us we and can win some crypto tokens.
I wish Hive would have more some poker tournaments.
Surely that is a better way to spend some DHF funds that some of the half baked nonsense that gets taken from us in the name of DHF proposals....?
Pairing Life & Death with some extra hot peri peri chicken
I do love a Peri Peri treat and there is a takeaway here that consistently delivers a fluffing awesome meal.
It always comes hot and the rice is out of this world!
As usual it was fluffing tasty and the Life & Death went down a treat!
It might have been 6.5% but those four cans went down far too quickly!
So yes it is very smooth and very drinkable.
Life and Death IPA and Vocation Brewery
Life and Death IPA is a renowned English-brewed American-style India Pale Ale.
It is brewed by Vocation Brewery, which was founded in 2015 by John Hickling in Cragg Vale, near Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England.
Leeds United are in ... yes you guessed it West Yorkshire.
Oh the serendipity of it all!
After selling his first successful brewery, Blue Monkey, John decided he couldn't stay away from the industry he loved.
His Vocation was brewing, so the new brewery was born with a no brainer of a name for him!
The area around Hebden Bridge, nestled in the Pennines has a rich industrial heritage.
But it was more known for textiles than beer.
Vocation Brewery itself is situated in a rebuilt chicken shed, highlighting its journey from humble beginnings to a significant player in the craft beer scene.
Life and Death IPA was one of the original core beers launched when Vocation Brewery started.
The name reflects the brewery's commitment to creating a beer that is bursting with flavour, representing the life given by the generous quantities of hops and malt, and perhaps the death of bland uninspired beers.
I'll drink to the death of bland uninspired beers all fluffing day long!
Key Characteristics of Life & Death IPA
Thanks in part to Gemini AI for paraphrasing these:
- Flavour Profile: Life & Death IPA is known for its assertive and complex hop character. It delivers intense tropical fruit flavours (mango, pineapple, passion fruit), prominent citrus notes (grapefruit, orange, lemon), and a distinct piney resinous quality. This is balanced by a solid malt backbone that provides a touch of sweetness and body, leading to a satisfyingly bitter and dry finish.
- Ingredients: The beer is brewed with a significant hop bill, prominently featuring American hop varieties such as Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe (though the exact bill can evolve, these are commonly associated with it). The malt grist typically includes pale malts to provide a clean base for the hops to shine.
- Brewing Process: While specific proprietary details aren't always public, it's brewed to be a classic American IPA, meaning a strong emphasis on late hop additions and dry hopping to maximize aroma and flavour. The aim is a clean fermentation to allow the hop character to dominate.
- ABV (Alcohol by Volume): It typically has an ABV of 6.5%.
- Appearance: The ale generally pours a hazy golden to amber colour with a persistent white head. (Note: Vocation also produces different iterations, so clarity can vary, but the original is often bright with a slight haze).
- Aroma: Expect a powerful bouquet of tropical fruits, bright citrus zest, and dank pine, characteristic of the hop varieties used.
note screenshots from Vocation Brewery
My Verdict
First of all it was bloody delicious! As you could see it leaned more to the hazy golden colour as opposed to the amber colour. Not that I am complaining I like both.
It certainly had a persistent white head, so no complaints from me about that!
It really is a very smooth pint that flows down your throat. I agree with what Gemini says. Interestingly enough I never really thought about the fruit cake angle but yeah I can see that.
It was strong but not sweet and sickly like some can be. Citrus was there in the aroma and straight onto your tongue.
It was most drinkable I have to confess, it would have been better with bigger cans or bottles.
Our local Tesco supermarket had it on sale with a clubcard which is a loyalty scheme.
The pack of four 330 ml cans cost £5.75 down from £7.25 which I think is a win win and another result!
Posting about a beer on a Saturday on the Beer Community ....
Cheers to local beers and Happy Easter everyone
It's a whole bunch of fun, so check out The #BeerSaturday Challenge - Week 413 from the one and only @detlev.
This #BeerSaturday week I would like to invite @nancybriti1 to share a beer with us🍻
This is also my reply to her invitation that was outstanding!
Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless indicated otherwise ... All Photos taken with my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL smartphone.
@tengolotodo May 31st 2025
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Magic news, thank you and have a great weekend Buzzy :)
I think I may be going out to lunch today and get myself a nice IPA to go with it! That looks awesome, one of those great beers to stock up the fridge! The good looks pretty good too so it looks like a nice Saturday lunch you two had together!
Sweet well if you do go out, enjoy your lunch and yeah have an IPA too!
It was a good deal and I should really get some more to keep on hand.
🎉🎉🥳 Congratulations 🥳🎊🎊
Your post has just been curated and upvoted by Ecency
keep up the good work
Enjoy the beer and the food , and you soccer game i guess ?
Join us on the Ecency Discord
Thanks Mick. Well the season has ended so hopefully it means we will be in good shape for the new season when it starts in a couple of months.
Wow, I love that can!!! I would love to collect beer cans from all over the world. I would also love to learn how to make beer, Mr. Chemical Engineer. These days I was reading about the importance of drinking or eating fermented foods. I'm sure beer falls into that category. So let's drink beers if you want to live long and not die. Long live the good beers, death to the bad ones. A hug of life or death.🫂🍻
The explosion in craft breweries here has also meant an explosion in fun and fancy can art!
Hehe yes Mr Chemical Engineer had fun at university in more ways than one 🤣
Oh yes that is fermented foods and drinks, now that is a great reason to give a beer hug Nancy
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BEER.That's scary; I didn't know details about the hatred between Catholics and Protestants. I hope it's gone because if it smolders, it could happen again. It seems to me very similar to our Balkan conflicts when Yugoslavia broke up; too much blood was shed there...and nobody learned anything...
But the beer looks great! 🍻 Cheers!
Yeah we don't learn over history, look at how many wars have been in the name of religion the world over!
There still is the huge wall that divides Belfast the capital city, now it is called the peace wall. The animosity is still there, the paramilitary groups are banned but still exist and are an excuse to carve up cities into drug and crime areas.
The beer was great and yes when Tito was in power I thought that Yugoslavia was another powder keg waiting to explode.
Cheers Seck and enjoy the fruits of your garden🍻
The name is a little bit scary for me. Does it make you live, or dead after drinking it. But I guess it will make you more energetic and more alive, you are the living proof of it. hahaha
!LOLZ !PIZZA
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Hehe most definitely alive after drinking it Eka, you want more lol.
Happy June and I hope you are settling in at home.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
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Come get MOONed!
You've justified that beer on some many levels - impressive.
Hehe yeah I think got there.
A celebration is a sure reason to drink a good beer 🍺. Here where I live now it's very hot, what better than cooling off drinking beer. The dish you have chosen looks appetizing and with fries even better. Enjoy this Sunday and don't miss the beer. Greetings my friend.🤗🍺🥰
Hi @mamani and thank you. No beers for me today, but I hope you had one to relax in the sun. Have a great Sunday and a great June too :)
The name itself sounds scary with the skull😛. But for celebration I let it pass. I thought you're not having beers yesterday😬😁
It was Friday that I had them 🍻
Well, as a Leeds Utd fan, I'm more than happy to read this post! Leeds were guaranteed 1st or 2nd place going into the last game, but only became champions in the dying seconds of extra time. Sweet, or what!
I'll check out Vocation Brewery and see if any of their beers have made it to Japan - it would be a good bevvy to drink while watching Leeds trying to survive in the Premier League!
Good luck to Rangers! There could be worse investors than the 49ers.
!BBH
!ALIVE