Movie Tagline: A New-England Folktale
Mephistopheles, named after a demon from German folklore, is an Imperial Stout from Avery's The Demons of Ale series. According to their website, "Mephistopheles is the crafty shapeshifter, the second fallen angel; he who does not love light. Herein he patiently lies, waiting and willing to do your bidding, but for a price. Enter into his darkness, a tangled and intricate labyrinth of bittersweet rapture." That is a solid description of Mephistopheles, but it is also a decent enough description of The Witch. The directorial debut of Robert Eggers, The Witch tells the story of an exiled family of Puritans in 1630s New England. They are isolated at the edge of a foreboding, impassable wilderness. Their day-to-day is full of hard work that yields little benefit, and soon things go from bad to worse. With winter approaching, their crops wither and their animal traps remain empty. Throw in the unspeakable evil that hovers all around them and the family soon starts to unravel. Lies are told, trust is questioned, and loved ones are lost. For Thomasin, the family's eldest daughter, all of this could lead to her being sent away to live with another family. And that's really the best case scenario for her. We, the viewers, see the events of the movie largely through her young eyes, and it is difficult to watch as her family slowly turns on her. Even harder to watch are the short bursts of horror that punctuate scenes of building dread. This is the kind of movie that will have you squirming in your seat as you watch it through your fingers. One way to make the terror on your screen easier to handle is to get good and buzzed while you watch it. Thankfully, Mephistopheles is somewhere in the neighborhood of 16% ABV (it varies from year to year). Even sold as a 12oz single, that's plenty for one person. It pours like motor oil and smells like roasted coffee and molasses with a potent boozy aroma that comes through in the taste. Indeed, this is a demon of a beer. It is sweet, but never cloyingly so. It is bold and boozy, intense and aggressive, but also balanced and delicious. Its nature is to seduce and eventually overcome you, making it the perfect beer to drink while watching the provocatively evil The Witch.
0 Comments
Movie Tagline: Bombed out in space with a spaced-out bomb!
Dark Star is John Carpenter's first feature film. Some of it is adapted from Ray Bradbury, other bits are taken from Philip K. Dick, and the rest is thrown together as cheaply and quickly as possible. The special effects were cheap in 1974, and they have not aged well. This is largely due to the movie originally existing as a student film. As you might have inferred, this is not his best work. It is silly, and weird, and extremely dated. But it still bears the mark of John Carpenter, mostly in the score, and that makes it worth checking out. Carpenter rarely makes a perfect movie, but they are always unique and chock full of interesting ideas. Also unique is the beer style known as Kölsch. Now, a true Kölsch is a top-fermented beer (made with ale yeast) that has been lagered (cold-fermented) over a long period of time. It is the local brew of the city of Cologne. There are only about two dozen breweries located in and around Cologne that may legally call their beers Kölsch. Everyone else has to use the term "Kölsch-style" for their versions. And, in the case of Bur Oak's Dark Star, it is called a Black Kölsch-style Ale. Now that's all kinds of confusing, considering that Kölsch is not an ale, but a lager. It is simply brewed with ale yeast. And adding dark malt does somewhat overpower the classic estery, spicy Kölsch flavor. But that doesn't make it an unpleasant drinking experience. What it does is make it taste more like a Schwarzbier. Like the traditional Kölsch flavor gets lost a bit in Dark Star (the beer), John Carpenter's uniqueness gets lost a bit in Dark Star (the movie). It comes off as just another Hippies in Space movie (and believe me, there are more of them than you might think). And Dark Star, while not the first commercially released beer from this young brewery, is a good start for Bur Oak. Like Carpenter, they don't blow your mind right off the bat, but they have the potential to make a mark in craft beer the way he did in the movie business. So keep an eye out for them; their next beer could be their Halloween. Or, at the very least, their Big Trouble In Little China.
Movie Tagline: Nothing is Real
Yellow Submarine is a touchstone of psychedelic art. It features fantastic, surreal stories. It has bright, contrasting colors with kaleidoscopic fractal patterns and collages. Objects morph, patterns swirl, and repetition abounds. Psychedelic art in and of itself is informed by the notion that altered states of consciousness produced by psychedelic drugs are a source of artistic inspiration. This was embraced by the 60s counterculture movement, and psychedelic art is now synonymous with the 60s. Leading proponents of psychedelic art were San Francisco artists like Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, and Wes Wilson, who all made concert posters in this style. But Yellow Submarine takes psychedelic art to a whole other level. It is the magnum opus of psychedelia. German illustrator Heinz Edelmann is responsible for the art direction and character design, and the movie's tone bears a striking resemblance to the work of Friedrich Schröder Sonnenstern. But all of this makes the movie sound so much more serious than it is (I think it's all the German names). Yellow Submarine is an absolute delight to watch. The colors pop, there are goofy puns throughout, and it is full of whimsy and love. The tagline is "Nothing is Real", but it could very well have been "All You Need is Love", because that's the message here, and it's not very subtle about that message. Whether you're a small child who has no concept of The Beatles, or a college kid looking for something to watch while doing a little mind-expansion, or a former hippie taking a trip down memory lane, this movie will command your full, rapt attention. Forget logic, or plot, or character development; that's not why you watch this movie. You watch it to experience pure, silly delight; a feeling this movie delivers in spades. Another delight is New Belgium's Citradelic Tangerine IPA, a fruity, tropical flavor sensation that is sure to be a hit in its own right. If psychedelics are all about mind expansion, then Citradelic is for flavor expansion. Big, citrus aroma, with just enough bitter hops to hold it all together, this bright, refreshing IPA is made for springtime. All you need is love, sure, but a few Citradelics couldn't hurt.
Movie Tagline: The most precious things are lighter than the air
First, a word about Smoked Beers. The original smoke beer, or Rauchbier, came from the Bavarian city of Bamberg, and was a beechwood-smoked Märzen. Its smoky flavor came from drying the malted barley over an open flame. Two breweries, Schlenkerla and Spezial, still make a version of this beer. Indeed, they are largely responsible for keeping this unique style alive through the years. But, more recently, brewers have sought to revive and update the smoked beer. From pilsners to stouts to sours, every style seems to be getting the smoked malt treatment. And as much as we would like to talk about each and every one of them, we are going to limit ourselves to one: a special smoked beer from Schlenkerla called Eiche. Also called Schlenkerla Oak Smoke, Eiche is only released during the Christmas season. It was never produced on a large scale because oak was always deemed too valuable a timber to simply burn. Beech was always the timber of choice because of its abundance in German forests. But the Oak Smoke was and is a special treat. This makes it go well with Smoke, a 1995 movie featuring Harvey Keitel as Auggie, the owner of a New York smoke shop frequented by a cast of accomplished character actors, including William Hurt, Stockard Channing, Jared Harris, Ashley Judd, and more. It is fairly unconventional for a slice-of-life 90s movie. It is delicately assembled, and dialogue-driven, with no big scenes to punctuate the small ones. Even the most memorable, telling lines are delivered so casually they can get lost in the shuffle if you are not listening closely. It is revelatory, but quiet; epic in a very small, personal way. Harvey Keitel is the glue that holds the movie together. He helps these frantic New Yorkers slow down and pay attention to the little things in life. He is a philosopher who draws stories out of people, and makes them look at their lives in different ways. And when it's his turn to tell a story to cap off the movie, Keitel nails it. This came out during a weird stretch in his career. Maybe not weird, but weirdly varied. He was a crook with a code of ethics in Reservoir Dogs (1992); a vile, tortured soul in Bad Lieutenant (1992); an outcast neighbor in The Piano (1993); a con man and loving father in Imaginary Crimes (1994); cool and collected as The Wolf in Pulp Fiction (1994); and a priest who's lost his faith in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). For a guy who could easily make a career out of playing tough guys and gangsters, Harvey Keitel sure does like to keep you guessing as to what he will do next. But Smoke has more in its arsenal than just Keitel. Everyone turns in a solid performance here. And director Wayne Wang does a fantastic job of weaving the stories together so they don't seem too forced or rushed. In other hands, this movie could have easily devolved into contrivance and cliche. But it is well crafted and subtle, hitting all the right notes. Just like Schlenkerla Oak Smoke.
Movie Tagline: In the cutthroat world of Donkey Kong, only one can rule.
Who knew watching grown men play Donkey Kong could be so entertaining? It helps that the two combatants in this quest for supremacy are made to look like archetypes of good and evil. Steve Wiebe is an earnest teacher who got into the game while unemployed. He is a family man who is down on his luck that somehow turns playing Donkey Kong into a way of getting back on track, both professionally and spiritually. Being successful at Donkey Kong gives him the confidence to achieve his goals in other aspects of his life. He is easy to root for. Not like Billy Mitchell, the former record-holder from the 80s with a comical amount of swagger. Billy is so easy to dislike, he somehow comes back around to being weirdly likeable again. Not very much, but likeable in the way unrepentant bad guys are in movies. Their commitment to being as bad as they can be is admirable. Also admirable is the way The King of Kong is edited. It takes this silly competition between two middle-aged dudes and turns it into an epic tale. It also, like documentaries tend to do, plays fast and loose with actual events and timelines. Wiebe and Mitchell claim to be on much friendlier terms than depicted in the movie. Seth Gordon, the director, concedes to this, but also states that his version of things is much more entertaining. And it's hard to argue with him, as his movie is way more fun and complex than one might think possible from a documentary about playing arcade games from the 80s. Speaking of something more complex than its package would indicate, 8-Bit Pale Ale from Tallgrass Brewing Company is a delightful little beer that packs a Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!-sized wallop. Using a "Hop Rocket" to infuse this APA with a blast of Australian Galaxy hops makes 8-Bit taste truly unique, with a tropical, almost melon-like aroma with hints of stone fruit and apricot. It's hoppy, but not over the top. It's a Pale Ale, after all, not an IPA. The hops hit you right up front, but then they mellow out to reveal some sweetness. There is so much flavor in this 5.2% ABV American Pale Ale, you have to try it to believe it. Outside of the beer, the can is the real reason to pair 8-Bit with The King of Kong. This thing lives up to its name, with a version of a classic arcade icon on the label and everything done in 8-Bit style. It is a masterwork of pixelated art. It even shows off the Galaxy Hop Rocket. It is the best, if not the only, beer to drink while watching a Donkey Kong competition. |
AboutThis is the page where the pairings live. They are over there, to the left of what you are currently reading. I don't know how you missed them. Archives
August 2016
Categories
All
|