Scottish rock band Travis have collaborated with Signature Brew on Raze The Bar, a lager named after their tour, which kicked off in Leeds this week.
It’s also the name of a track by Fran Healy, a bittersweet story about the closure of Black & White Bar, a muc-loved New York haunt for Travis and scores of local creatives.
It tells of a fictional last night in the Greenwich Village bar, with all of the frequent characters, before it closed forever. In-keeping with the theme of the track, Raze The Bar sees Travis joined by friends. Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Brandon Flowers, of The Killers, join the party, supplying additional vocals on the track.
“Back in the mid-90s, we rehearsed in a small room above the legendary Horseshoe Bar, in Glasgow,” said Travis bassist Dougie Payne.
“After rehearsals, being on the dole, we could just about scrape together the price of a pint. Sometimes we even managed one each. And that precious, delicious, and much needed pint was always a classic lager.
“So, who could have imagined that one day we would have the opportunity to create our very own beer? We are honoured and delighted to, in collaboration with the master brewers at Signature Brew, pay homage to the Horseshoe Bar, to the joy of a good lager, and to Glasgow with a can of our Raze The Bar.”
A crisp, refreshing Helles with a soft malt backbone, Raze the Bar is complemented by delicate spice and lemon zest flavours from Bavarian hops. It comes in at 4.8% ABV.