What does music taste like?
It's an odd question but one Denton singer Jessie Frye had to carefully consider when she arrived at Noble Rey Brewing Co. for a beer sampling several months ago. After all, she was working with the Dallas brewery to create an original craft beer.
"I'm really passionate about branding," says Frye, who's become known for wearing decorative face paint during performances. "I actually love blondes, but it didn't seem to seem to fit my image. We needed something darker."
That's why she and brewers Justin Krey and Chris Rigoulot settled on a pecan porter fermented with pureed raspberries and cherries, a style they felt adequately represents the band's breed of goth-pop-rock music.
The brew is called Boss Bitch, a term the musician uses to describe "a woman who takes charge of her life and calls the shots," Frye says.
[UPDATE Feb. 22 at 2:35 p.m.: The 7.2-percent alcohol beer makes it debut March 5 at Frye's show at Three Links in Deep Ellum.]
Frye is just the latest in a long-running trend of musicians getting in to the craft beer game. Locally, alt-rockers the Toadies have brewed and released two with Martin House Brewing Co. in Fort Worth. Others include the Grateful Dead, Robert Earl Keen, 311, Rebirth Brass Band, and the list goes on. There's even a brewery in Florida, Rock Brothers Brewing, dedicated solely to producing band-inspired brews.
This collaboration was more a product of spontaneity than anything, says Krey. He randomly messaged Frye to see if she'd be interested, half-expecting not to receive a response.
"When I think of Denton, I think of where a lot of D-FW people grow up, figure out who they are; the art community, the music community here," he says. So collaborating with a local in the creative community seemed like a no-brainer.
Boss Bitch, which Krey calls roasty and sweet but not quite a dessert beer, will be available on draft beginning this spring. Though a solid date has yet to be announced, Noble Rey hopes to host a launch party and concert at the brewery, which means outfitting their space to accommodate more than acoustic acts (for future use too!). Krey and Rigoulot also plan to make the limited-release beer available wherever Frye's band is playing locally.
In 2015, Frye signed with local label Metaledge and released an EP titled Boys' Club. This year she plans to tour regionally with her band and drink a lot of beer. Stay tuned for Boss Bitch launch details.
