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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