Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Beer Company, has had a rough go of it for the past couple of years. At least, as rough a go as a white, male billionaire can have. You see, his Sam Adams beers no longer get the respect they deserve (in his opinion). Many craft bars don't carry them, mostly because many serious craft beer lovers don't drink them. Sam Adams has an image problem. Yes, they were one of the pioneers of the craft movement in the early 80s. And yes, they remain the second-largest craft brewery in the US. But here's the thing: their beer isn't that great. It isn't bad by any stretch, but it takes more than that to survive in the current beer market. At this point, Sam Adams is getting by on ubiquity alone. They don't have a big event beer, like a Dark Lord or a Hunahpu (unless you count Utopias, which you really shouldn't). They don't have a seasonal beer that people wait all year for. And they don't have a solid year-round lineup. Their year-round lineup is mediocre at best, with their flagship being the tried and true Boston Lager.
Which brings us to our pairing beer: Sam Adams Rebel IPA. Now, I don't have a problem with this beer per se. It is well-balanced, easy-drinking, hop-forward; everything an IPA should be. It was also a long time coming, as IPAs have been the beer style of choice for craft drinkers for years now, and Sam Adams never had one in their rotation. The reason for this is simple: Jim Koch doesn't like IPAs. Fair enough. But after years of refusing to make a wildly popular style of beer because he personally didn't like it, and years of his people telling him that IPAs were in high demand, Jim Koch finally caved in to popular demand and kicked out a line of IPAs he (unironically) called Rebel IPAs. And therein lies my problem. A rebel is someone who stands up against the establishment, who goes against the tide to fight for what they believe in. A Rebel IPA is a cash-grab in which Jim Koch forgoes his principles and does something for purely financial gain. He is a late-comer to the IPA trend, but he insists on making it seem like he is at the forefront. The only thing Rebel IPA is rebelling against is Jim Koch's taste. Which brings us to Frozen, which is the highest-grossing animated film of all time and is largely regarded as one of the best Disney movies ever. Maybe you have heard of it before. A big part of its success (the part that isn't "Let It Go") is due to the supposedly progressive storylines of the two leads, Elsa and Anna. But, unfortunately, Frozen is about as progressive as Sam Adams is rebellious. Take, for example, Anna. She is beautiful in that homogeneous Disney princess way. But she is also clumsy, because she isn't fully developed enough as a character to have any real flaws. And she doesn't really have any other defining characteristics. Her main goal seems to be finding true love. She isn't far removed from being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Elsa, on the other hand, is a repressed sociopath who can't deal with the abuse she suffered as a child, so she refuses any help and runs away from her problems. She isn't an empowered individual who owns her sexuality; she is a dangerous social outcast who, once she "lets it go", dresses like a horny cosplayer with stiletto heels made of ice. I don't think progressive is the right word for that. Anyway, that's a lot of ranting for two things that I really don't mind. There's no reason you can't enjoy a cold Rebel IPA while singing along with a pathologically antisocial ice queen. It's not the movie or the beer that I have issues with; it's the surrounding storylines they are a part of that make me cringe. But, if you can look past the hype and the spin and enjoy these two for what they are, I think you will find a lot to like with them.
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