Mixing beer and music is essential for living a good life, which is why collaborations between breweries and musicians or local record stores get us so excited. Dogfish Head is always leading the way in this category, taking advantage of Record Store Day (April 21) to do something cool. This year, Dogfish is teaming with the Flaming Lips for a first-of-its-kind beer and vinyl collaboration. It starts with a limited edition 7 in. called “The Story of Yum Yum and Dragon,” featuring two original Flaming Lips songs inspired by the new Dogfish beer, Dragons & YumYums, a lip-smacking tart pale ale. Composed by Wayne Coyne, frontman for The Flaming Lips, the lyrics pay tribute to the colorful array of off-centered ingredients in the beer.
“Wayne and I, and our Dogfish and Lips co-conspirators, shared a goal of making this collaboration an epic, sensory enveloping experience at the intersection of creative beer paired with creative music,” said Sam Calagione, CEO and founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. “There’ve been tons of iconic collaborations over the years, but we believe this is the first time a band has been so pivotal and deeply involved in the creation of the beer, the ingredients that were chosen, as well as authoring a song made specifically in tribute of the beer.”
The energy of the union inspired Coyne to use ingredients from the beer — dragonfruit and yumberries — as characters in the two songs on the record, “The Story of Yum Yum and Dragon” and “Pouring Beer in Your Ear.” Coyne used the dragonfruit and yumberry elements and transformed them into storyful lyrics in the song like, “Yum Yum and Dragon went out for a drive, but Yum Yum doesn’t have any eyes….Yum Yum and Dragon, they’re happy they’re friends…”
But here’s the best part: Along with the limited edition 7 in. release, Dogfish and The Flaming Lips will also unleash 100 translucent records filled with the actual Dragons & YumYums beer just before Record Store Day. The super collectible beer-filled vinyl will be available at special events nationwide leading up to and on April 21. Calagione shares, “As a raging beer geek with a music problem, I’m especially excited to enjoy a pint of Dragons & YumYums while spinning a beer-filled record from the Lips.”
Visit this link for more details on that delicious beer/vinyl mashup.
