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.
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Movie Tagline: You have to believe it to see it
The Man Who Fell to Earth has Bowie playing an alien from a drought-stricken planet who journeys to Earth in search of water. He plans to get together enough wealth to build a spaceship that can transport the water back to his home planet, an arid, desolate place whose inhabitants have to wear plastic suits to conserve their precious bodily fluids. Bowie is able to amass a fortune by patenting various alien technologies and selling them via his World Enterprises Corporation. But his plan hits a few bumps along the way. He meets a woman named Mary Lou, and she introduces him to (among other things) television and gin. He gets way too into both, which threatens to derail his mission. Then the CIA gets involved, and things go downhill even faster from there on out. The movie is science fiction, to be sure, but it's such lo-fi sci-fi that some people might not be able to get into it. It is slow and meditative, with more focus on character than spectacle. It's one of those movies that could only have come out of the 70s (like Foxy Brown or lawn darts). But it is worth watching for Bowie's performance alone. He is so otherworldly in nature that he doesn't really have to do much to make you believe he is from another planet. That was kind of his thing for years. But he brings some real pathos to his character, especially when things start to unravel. It is a role tailor-made for him that no one else could have done. There's really only one beer to pair with The Man Who Fell to Earth, and that's Ninkasi Brewing Company's Ground Control, the only beer whose ingredients have been to space. This is The Beer That Fell to Earth. Bonus points because Ground Control can also be interpreted as a Space Oddity reference. It is an imperial stout brewed with hazelnuts, star anise, cocoa nibs, and, of course, ale yeast sent into space. While sending yeast to space does nothing to the composition of the beer, and can be seen as nothing more than an expensive gimmick, it's the idea behind the gimmick that is intriguing. It is more about pushing boundaries, about seeing how far you can take things in regards to brewing, that is compelling about Ground Control. The more weirdness brewers inject into their craft, the more we, the beer-lover, will get out of it. Who knows what strange alchemy will be born of this venture. We may one day have yeast that is cultivated on the moon. Moon beer! Whatever, I just love that there are brewers out there who are willing to do strange things to their beer in the hopes of creating something mythical. Some new thing that will change the game forever. It's the David Bowie approach to brewing beer, and I love it. |
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