An Osees t-shirt, obsession and beer - ‘Metamorphosed’ was born

Three breweries from three different countries have joined forces to brew a 4.5% dry-hopped Vienna lager beer for the next Osees UK and European tour.

METAMORPHOSED, taken from the name of an Osees LP that graced us in lockdown, is the second beer Carnival Brewing Company has brewed and released with the blessing of the musical magician and Osees front-guy, John Dwyer.

The Then

This audacious, unique project originally started in 2020 when Ade Burke (co-founder of Carnival Brewing Company; self-proclaimed Osees enthusiast and obsessive) met up with Lukasz Wiacek (co-founder of Berlin brewery Fuerst Wiacek) at the Indy Man beer festival in Manchester.

During the festival the pair shared their obsession of Osees, a conversation sparked by Ade’s Osees T-shirt. From there Ade suggested joining forces to make an Osees inspired beer. Ade had become friends with the designer of the t-shirt Paul Higgins. Paul’s design had been used for an Osees tour T-shirt of South America. When Ade mentioned to Paul about the beer idea, Paul said: “what the hell, let’s ask John, he might be into it”.

Following from Ade’s proposal, John said: “Yeah, have it” and the beer was born. The first collaboration Osees beer Together Tomorrow Forever, a Cascadian Dark Ale, has been brewed a number of times in Liverpool and continues to be a favourite among craft beer and Osees fans alike.

The Now

You won’t be surprised to hear that METAMORPHOSED came about at another beer festival, this time the Craft Expo 2021 in Liverpool. Ade met Sam Dick from Pilot Brewery in Leith, and they talked all things beer and music – a true catalyst for collaboration at Carnival. Upon hearing about the beer idea the crew at Pilot loved the idea, Lukasz joined the team and we now had three breweries ready to make the next beer.

METAMORPHOSED continues the collaborative nature of the project, this time with Pilot joining the international brewery conga line. The resulting beer, brewed in Liverpool, is a juicy and refreshing 4.5% Vienna-style lager dry-hopped with Mandarina Bavaria and Amarillo hops. A truly collaborative beer, the brewers co-designed the recipe and came up with the name via What’s App.
The awesome label artwork is designed by one of Osees cover artists, Dylan Marcus McConnell of Tiny Little Hammers.

Working with charities

A key component of each project is figuring out how proceeds can help our communities. Profits from merchandise and can sales from Tomorrow Together Forever have been donated to a Merseyside-based charity Public Image Arts. They work with vulnerable people to provide them with safe spaces to create pieces of art, such as the themed mosaic workshops for people who wanted to remember relatives lost to covid through making a mosaic shrine.

Proceeds from the new beer will go to national charity, Stay Up Late, championed by Pilot Brewery. Stay Up Late work with disability groups to pair up music lovers with volunteers who take them to gigs, which are ordinarily out of their reach.

Paul Richards from Stay Up Late commented:

“I also love Osees and beer so this of course excited me immensely but that aside our charity is all about enabling people with learning disabilities to lead full and active social lives and enjoying live music. This has become hard for all of us over the past year but it’s also meant that there’s a risk that people with learning disabilities can really get left behind. Our work is all about making sure that doesn’t happen and this collaboration is just a fantastically practical way to combine our love of live music, great beer and social inclusion by reaching a wider audience and raising awareness of our work.”
www.stayuplate.org

Beer launch and availability

METAMORPHOSE is available in 440ml cans from ours and Pilot Brewery's webshops, as well as from good independent retailers. The beer is being launched in Liverpool at the Carnival Tasting Room on 10th November to coincide with the band’s appearance that night at the Invisible Wind Factory, with a Scottish release at the Dreadnought Pub in Leith on Sunday 14th November.

Pilot's very own Sam Dick commented: “We are delighted to be collaborating with our new friends in Europe and South of the border, it’s mad to think this all stemmed from one of the Carnival Brewing lads wearing an Osees T-shirt while trying to score free Pilot merch at the Liverpool Beer Expo.

“Stay Up Late provide amazing services across the UK, so we jumped at the chance to get them involved as the live music sector opens back up. Personally we can’t wait to have our eardrums tested at the Edinburgh leg of the upcoming Osees tour with a can of Metamorphosed in hand”

Lukasz Wiacek, commented: "Amazing how this project is evolving, having started from a music chat with Ade about the greatest band on earth. Already looking forward to future iterations!"