"The original idea was to be in a band and tour the world, and that didn't quite work, so we decided to bring the bands to us," says Harry Smith of Black Sky Brewery, a Denver collective where different brewers come together to make a variety of styles of beer with "artistic freedom."

The brewery is also a supporter of local music, particularly metal, and recently teamed up with new black-metal band Helleborus to create a craft beer called Ritual, a spruce-tip saison. The beer has been described as an "easy-drinking brew," "slightly floral," and "accentuated by the addition of fresh spruce tips picked by the band in the mountains of Colorado" — not necessarily what you'd think from a hard-hitting metal band. Helleborus celebrated its first headlining show and album release at the Bluebird Theater on Friday, July 15 — along with a keg, of course. 

Here's Dale DiMassi's video of Smith at his brewery, along with a little head-banging action at the Bluebird.

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Harry Smith of Black Sky Brewery samples a new beer brewed in conjunction with metal band Helleborus.

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