Mary Timony and Ocelot Brewing Transmit an IPA from the High Frequency Zone

On Wednesday, Ocelot Brewing will release High Frequency Zone, a 6.3% IPA made in collaboration with rock royalty Mary Timony. A tropical storm of sweet fruit and citrus, this hoppy brew makes landfall the day before Timony’s hometown performance at DC’s Black Cat to celebrate the release of Untame the Tiger, the guitar hero’s latest for Merge Records and her first solo LP in 15 years.

Untame the Tiger is a child of two coasts. Supported by a rotating cast of musicians and engineers, Timony recorded the album’s nine richly textured and thoughtfully embellished songs both at Los Angeles’s Studio 606 and in spaces across Baltimore, Falls Church, and DC. High Frequency Zone channels that bicoastal spirit into a beer that melds the peachy esters and multi-grain grist of a New England IPA with the firm bitterness and dry finish of a West Coast IPA. When Timony reaches for a beer, it’s in an unapologetically assertive IPA – and, at 6.3%, this one can be enjoyed responsibly on stage, too.

The name High Frequency Zone is borrowed from the lyrics to joyriding lead single “Dominoes.” As Timony says, the high frequency zone is “a place we all inhabit sometimes.” Barren but buzzy. Our High Frequency Zone is the oasis in that desert. The IPA transmits immensely expressive signals from a pungent posse of New Zealand and Pacific Northwest hops. Added during whirlpool, Nelson Sauvin and Citra lay their classic foundation of melon, white grape, and lemon zest. Then, following primary fermentation, Riwaka and Azacca turn the volume up to 11 with a tune of pineapple, passionfruit, and grapefruit.

Timony’s tiger jean jacket – most recently seen walking into the sunset on the back of Ex Hex’s 2019 interstellar ripper It’s Real – adorns the can label. But the patch itself has a much longer history. Timony originally procured it in the late ’90s for the coveralls she sports in Helium’s “Leon’s Space Song” video. Almost three decades later, Timony shares she can’t quite explain her thing for tigers, untamed or otherwise. To us, it’s the perfect symbol for a beer that toasts not only a stunningly sprawling record but also the many moons of mystical dream parades preceding its arrival.

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Untame the Tiger is available now via Merge, Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and wherever else music can be found.

High Frequency Zone will be available at the Black Cat on Thursday. Limited distribution around the DC area will follow.

The beer follows Ocelot’s 2023 collaborations with The Clientele, Protomartyr, Superchunk, Palehound, and Fucked Up. The brewery is located in Dulles, Virginia.