It’s the talk of the town. Tomorrow, Virginia’s Ocelot Brewing releases Bottled Blonde, a dry-hopped American pilsner styled in collaboration with alt-rock gods Momma. This radiant-blonde lager arrives a week before the NY-via-LA quartet visits DC and almost two months after the release of their shimmering Welcome to My Blue Sky.
Welcome to My Blue Sky captures the whirlwind of a tempestuous summer past. Late nights, infatuation, infidelity, copious imbibement – across a dozen songs, Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten document the highs and the lows of their youthful indiscretion. And much of the time, it’s a total romp. After all, we usually make questionable choices because they feel so right in the moment. With Bottled Blonde, we sought to make a beer for warm summer evenings and sus decision-making. At 4.8%, it won’t immediately get anyone into trouble… but this quenching crusher may keep you reaching for another. We constructed the lager from a mix of premium Weyermann grains – mostly their floor-malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt – and flaked corn, which lightens the grist while imparting a kiss of malt sweetness. It’s a pristine beverage – a fitting nod, in our mind, to bassist/soundsmith Aron Kobayashi Ritch’s polished production on Momma’s fourth LP.
But across that clean expanse, Welcome to My Blue Sky is a record that pops. The hooks are predictably gargantuan – this is a Momma album after all, and anthems like “I Want You (Fever)” and “Ohio All The Time” practically demand road-trip sing-alongs – but unexpected flourishes populate every song. Drum machine. Cello and acoustic guitar. Synth and piano. Weingarten’s instantly iconic “owowowow.” Naturally, we wanted Bottled Blonde to surprise as well. So, following kettle additions of Noble-leaning Adeena hop, we gave the pilsner a not-insignificant dry hop of Elani. Commercially introduced in Momma’s fateful summer of 2022, Elani was discovered growing wild in Idaho’s St. Joe River Valley. Where did it come from? No one is quite sure. The varietal likely resulted from the open cross-pollination of hops planted and abandoned in the region a century ago. What we do know is that it imbues Bottled Blonde with bright, bold notes of guava, tangerine, white peach, and cantaloupe.
The collaboration’s name plays on single “Bottle Blonde,” Friedman and Weingarten’s affirmational open letter to their past selves, bleached roots and all. As envisioned by the band and executed by Ocelot Creative Director David Kammerdeiner, Bottled Bottle’s label evokes the kind of seemingly glamorous drugstore hair dye that’s enticed rebellious youngsters for time immemorial. Sooner or later, though, they’re gonna figure it out.
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Welcome to My Blue Sky is available now via Polyvinyl Records. Momma’s North American tour includes a sold-out show at The Atlantis on Thursday, May 29.
Bottled Blonde will be available at the brewery this Wednesday, May 21. Ocelot will celebrate its release on Thursday, May 29, with a Momma Pre-Game at Andy’s Pizza in Shaw, just across V Street from The Atlantis.
The hoppy lager follows Ocelot collaborations with Protomartyr, Sheer Mag, Superchunk, Palehound, Bon Iver, Lily Seabird, The Clientele, Mary Timony, of Montreal, Eleanor Friedberger, Bad Moves, Fucked Up, Slumberland Records, and Merge Records.
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