Nothingness x 56 Brewing: Hopslaughter
Hopslaughter is a limited-release collaboration beer between Minneapolis death metal band Nothingness and 56 Brewing, poured to celebrate the band's third full-length album, Godslaughter. It debuted at a release party in 56 Brewing's Barrel Room on Friday, October 2, 2026
The brewery billed the night as one built on blast beats, breakdowns and beer. Local acts Worn Mantle and SHRIVE joined the bill, with tickets at $15 in advance and $20 at the door. The album itself had already been out for two months, released July 31, so the party worked as a hometown victory lap rather than a launch.
The pairing is a natural one. Both the band and the brewery are Minneapolis outfits, and the beer's name is a direct play on the album title.
Nothingness: Minneapolis "Digressive Death"
Nothingness formed in Minneapolis in 2018 and calls its sound "Digressive Death": death metal written with no preset ideas about structure (Everlasting Spew Records). The label pitches the band to fans of Gorguts, Nightmarer, Morbid Angel and Aeviterne.
The catalog is three full-lengths deep:
Year | Album | Label |
2026 | Everlasting Spew Records | |
2023 | Supraliminal | Everlasting Spew Records |
2019 | The Hollow Gaze of Death | Independent |
Godslaughter came out July 31, 2026, through Everlasting Spew, an Italian death, grind and doom label based in Brescia. It runs nine tracks, from the 1:39 opener "Incinerated Immediately" to the near-seven-minute closer "Novus Hegemonikon." The band framed it as a turn outward: where Supraliminal looked inward, the new record "is a glare out into the world."
The album credits list Barclay Olson (vocals, lyrics), Alex Lewandowski (guitars, synth, additional vocals, and all music), Jon Grandel (bass) and Jason Hirt (drums). Adam Tucker of Signaturetone Recording, the band's longtime engineer, recorded, mixed and mastered it. Gabriele Gramaglia of Cosmic Putrefaction plays a guest solo on "Umbral Spear," and Brendan Sloan of Altars and Convulsing adds vocals on "Divine Irresponsibility." Adam Yates painted the cover.
Early reviews were strong. Noob Heavy placed it among the year's best death metal records, The Razor's Edge said the band had arrived on the world stage, and Mystification Zine called it the band's most focused full-length.
56 Brewing: a Northeast Minneapolis community brewery
56 Brewing is a microbrewery and taproom at 3055 Columbia Ave NE in Northeast Minneapolis (56 Brewing). It was founded by two University of Minnesota engineering alumni, president Kale Johnson and CTO Joe Wirth (University of Minnesota).
It started small. When Heavy Table visited in June 2015, about a month after opening, 56 sold growlers only from a brewhouse roughly the size of a two-car garage, in a former Northgate Brewing space near the old rail yard. It ran as a "community supported brewery," selling CSA-style memberships, and named its beers after neighborhood landmarks. Early lineup staples included Dark Territory, a chocolate coconut stout, and NE Nectar, a honey Kölsch.
Today the brewery describes its mission as brewing to strengthen community. That shows in the calendar: the Barrel Room hosts live music, roller-skate classes, pinball tournaments, a bad-movie club and the annual Brewgrass festival (56 Brewing events). Heavy music is part of that mix; the October 2 party sat on the same calendar as a stoner and groove rock bill in mid-October.
The beer: a five-hop hazy IPA
Hopslaughter is a hazy IPA at 5.9% ABV and 26 IBU, released October 2, 2026. The brewery describes it as super fruity and tropical.
Spec | Hopslaughter |
Style | Hazy IPA |
ABV | 5.9% |
IBU | 26 |
Hops | Amarillo, Azacca, Erebus, Mosaic, Vic Secret |
Released | October 2, 2026 |
Run | Limited |
The five-hop bill is the beer's concept. 56 Brewing ties it directly to the band: Nothingness blends several styles of metal, and the beer blends five distinct hops. The menu entry signs off with "Eternal Hails!"
For regulars, the useful reference point is 56's own year-round hazy, 'Ssippi Squeeze, at 6% ABV and 25 IBU with Citra and Mosaic. Hopslaughter sits at almost the same strength and bitterness, but keeps only Mosaic from that pairing and stacks four other varieties around it. The result is pitched as a fruit-forward, low-bitterness hazy rather than a punishing one, which is a deliberate counterpoint to the record it celebrates.
The beer launched on tap at the release party. 56 Brewing lists it among its special releases with a link to its retail beer locator, but no source confirms whether Hopslaughter is canned or sold off-site.
A collab that is local
Most metal beers people know are licensing deals: an arena band, a regional brewery, and a label built for export, like Iron Maiden's Trooper with Robinsons. Hopslaughter is the opposite model. It is a neighborhood brewery and a neighborhood band making one limited batch for one hometown night.
That scale suits Nothingness. The band is on an Italian underground label and its press runs through zines and specialist blogs, so a pint on tap in Northeast Minneapolis is a direct line to the local crowd. For 56 Brewing, which built its identity on community memberships and a packed events calendar, a death metal record release is a natural extension of what the Barrel Room already does.
Last call
Hopslaughter is a small beer with a clear purpose: one five-hop hazy, one album, one night in the Barrel Room. If any is left on tap at 3055 Columbia Ave NE, it is the most direct way to drink to one of 2026's most talked-about underground death metal records.
56 Brewing in Minneapolis at 3055 Columbia Ave NE, the current taproom hours are:
Monday–Tuesday: 4:00 PM–9:00 PM
Wednesday–Thursday: 4:00 PM–10:00 PM
Friday: 2:00 PM–10:00 PM
Saturday: 12:00 PM–10:00 PM
Sunday: 12:00 PM–8:00 PM
Their official site also lists $5 pints before 6 PM Monday–Friday.
Comments