Short's Tap Takeover at Churchkey, part 2

Well guys, I totally forgot to follow up on my first part... until now.

Short's Bloody Beer. If you’re not a fan of a Bloody Mary, avoid. Roma tomatoes, dill, peppercorn both on the aroma and taste. This was fantastic. I never thought I would enjoy a beer as savory as this one, as odd as this one, one with ingredients that are strange. Who knew?

The Magician arrived with a cloudy red body and a small white head. Aroma was pretty unremarkable, caramel notes, grain. Flavor was about the same. Grain, nuts, malts.

Mama’s Strawberry Milk poured a dark brown color, darker than I had expected for a beer which includes the words "strawberry" and "milk." Aroma was mellow strawberries, sugar, cream. Flavor was more mellow than I had hoped for, sugar notes, creamy strawberries.

Shorts Anniversary Ale was another highlight of the night. It poured a ruby orange color with a small white head. Aroma was a touch citrus, with mellow spice notes, and something familiar that I still can’t quite put my finger on while writing this - probably the blood oranges. Beer was certainly not as hot as I would have imagined based on the ABV - 10%.

I took a gamble on the next one with, The Gambler, a tobacco "inspired" brew. The aromas I got off this one were tea and "tobacco" notes. The flavor was a touch citrus, dominated by herbal teas, tobacco-like notes and other various spices.

Samaritan Ale poured a golden color with a small white head. Aroma was cider, sweet, touch of tartness. Flavor was tart apples, touch of spice - clove maybe? Certainly a change of pace.

The Black Licorice Lager poured a dark brown color, tan head. Aroma was mostly mint, though some licorice shown through. The beer was, as my friends described, like mint chocolate chip ice cream. A very unique brew to be sure and certainly one I'm looking forward to try again.

I finished that night with a few more, less remarkable beers from them, and then rounded it off with the Belgian IPA, which was awesome. Slightly hazy golden color with a perfect small foamy head was only bettered by the wonderful mild, Belgian yeast strain in an IPA, mild citrus and pine note aroma.

The night finished with the fantastic, non-Short's, Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Life & Limb. OH MY... Brown sugar notes, caramel, chocolate notes and bourbon. Near perfection.

SAVOR was up next. And it blew my mind.

Short's Tap Takeover at Churchkey

Well, I got the weekend started off right. On a Thursday, as it should be. Last week was SAVOR week, the premiere beer event in the DC area, so all week bars and pubs all across the DC area were celebrating.

On Thursday, Short's Brewing Company came to Churchkey, their first time in the DC marketplace in an event dubbed "Short's Brewing Monster Tap Takeover." As reported, no beers from Short's had ever been in DC before and so debuting 30 beers all at once was pretty phenomenal. While I didn't get a chance to meet them or even confirm if they had arrived from their flight into the city, the brewery's Founder Joe Short along with CFO Scott Newman-Bale, Tony Hansen (Head of Brewing Productions) and Jon Wojtowicz (Beer Liberator & Field Representative) were all set to be at the bar that night.

I got there promptly at 2:40, worried that there would be a long line like when I went to 2010's Stone Total Tap Takeover. Meeting my friend Chris, we entered the bar at 3:00 and grabbed seats at the bar. The list was overwhelming.

The Bier Baron: A Vast Improvement Over The Brick

Guys and gals, when The Brickskeller closed I had mixed emotions. The place was one of my first big eye-opening experiences with Beer. It also was a dump that rarely had the beers I was hoping to order from its menu.

Yesterday was the first time I had been to this establishment since just before "The Brick" closed its doors in December. The place was falling apart for years. The beer list was *willfully* neglected, and it was a well known "joke" that a patron would need 3-4 backup choices in case their first, second or third choices were unavailable. Once even a 5th choice had to be offered before I simply told them to get me *anything* they could find.

Well, I finally returned and I to my surprise, I was greeted with taps downstairs! Finally! No "smart alec" responses from the staff that you'll have to go upstairs to get a draft beer. They can pour it right in front of you.

Their beer menu is about as honest as any beer establishment can get. The specials were a bit out of date, but the rest of the offerings were available upon my ordering. Far better to only list 400 instead of saying "GUINNESS RECORD!!!" and having +500-600 beers "permanently unavailable." I’ve been spoiled by places like Rustico and Churchkey that both have very unique offerings, served the way that most of the beers presumably should be served.

I have to say that the changes from the Brick to the Baron have only improved the place. New men’s bathroom! Honest beer list! Food is a vast improvement over the previous owner’s food! I can now say that I want to return, and will tell all the people I know to do so.

So join me, won't you?

The Brickskeller: Closed

The Brickseller was a DC institution for beer lovers. I say was for two reasons. One, it's closed now. Two, it hasn't been an “institution” for DC beer lovers for what I'd wager is nearly 5 years. Like many, The Brick was my first “real” introduction to a bar that catered to craft beer, at least until I thought about all my fond memories in Norfolk Virginia going to the Taphouse at Ghent and Cogan’s Instant Art Bar, two places with much smaller beer menus, but much better experiences in terms of service and food. I had never seen as many beers at one time in a bar as when I first entered the basement of The Brickskeller. When the sale was first announced a few months ago, I wasn’t sure if a purchase by anyone would be a good idea. My first thoughts were that the name made the place, and without it there would be absolutely no point if the name didn’t come with the purchase.

Well, after making such a statement, I weighed my thoughts about this place. Should we only remember the good times? Should we just put aside the bad times or even the truth?

The Brick has “history,” but like most things they have their time and at some point, it is past. This most certainly needed to be acknowledged with The Brick. Whatever The Brickskeller was even just 15 years ago was long gone by the time I started to frequent it by 2007. The bathrooms were nauseous. The service was pitiful almost every night. The food wasn’t that great, but if you knew what to choose off the menu, you could usually scrape by. Now, before I get too nostalgic, the beer list was not just a joke, it was an outright sham. The cellar was always touted as having over a thousand beers, but can you really make that claim if they're always out of hundreds of beers? Their beer menu was at best a list of items they had at one point and hadn't carried for 6 to 8 months (or a few years prior), at worst, beers they may never had carried. A friend of mine joked they may have just picked up one six pack of a particular beer at some point. While The Brick painfully clung to their Guinness World Record, other people in town were innovating.

While people may think back now and remember that The Brickskeller introduced them to craft beer, I'd wager that the name "Brickskeller" means very little in today's DC beer culture beyond the simple nostalgia factor. The sad part is that The Brickskeller could have easily kept up with the times. Rustico and Pizzeria Paradiso opened years ago, Churchkey not long after that – I actually feel like those places care about the beer they’re serving as well as the food and overall service they provide each customer. The Alexanders (or whoever was running the show the last decade) should have been taking notes. The once unique establishment became a dinosaur, frequented mostly by loyal patrons who were likely blissfully unaware of these better establishments or decided to remain ignorant and by those who went there once simply to say they did. The latter would include my parents, who I went with on my birthday the week before it closed.

That last experience wasn't awful - I sat at the same exact table two nights in a row. The beers, as you'd expect were few and far between. We had partial menus Saturday night, but were greeted on Sunday with beer stained menus, but menus that were intact. We are after all, talking about The Brickskeller, where if are ordering a beer and get the first one you order you're doing something wrong. You might as well not order from the menu at all! "Surprise me with something special" sometimes worked if you had a competent waiter. After a few frustrating attempts, you just ask for whatever they had of a particular brand. That last night I was there I saw they had a bottle of Stone Lucky Bastard on another person's table, but apparently that was the last bottle. Bummer. That would have been a way to go out.

After spending over a year away from the place and entering it right before it closed, part of me is sad to see it go but after a nice short chat with one of the new owners, I’m hopeful that these people can breath life into this fading establishment as soon as possible. Clean bathrooms (one of their top priorities) and an up-to-date beer menu is really all it would need to surpass the existing Brickskeller’s current conditions. You know you're probably in for a good experience when the new owners say "What's on the menu will be here. If we run out, we'll grab every menu and cross it out." Here's hoping.

Epic Beer Weekend!

Okay, wow. What a weekend. A testament to the strength of my liver. I'm still not sure I survived.

Friday night was relatively mellow, with the only brewski consumed being the Great Divide's Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. This one is ranks up there. The beer, in retrospect may not have been as good as the other Yeti offerings that Great Divide offers, but it was damn close. The aroma was roasty, with heavy notes of coffee (espresso beans) and certainly a good dose of chocolate. Alcohol presence was not too overpowering, but it was certainly there. The flavor was equally rich, with chocolates, coffee, and a touch of vanilla. The beer warmed quite well as it was consumed. After consuming this I went promptly to sleep and woke up to find it was morning already.

Saturday night was a different matter. A test of wills, you might say.

It all started off with Rogue's Dead Guy Ale. As always, a fantastic beer. Nice label on the front of the bottle. Taste of hops, but more malty than hoppy.

Boulevard Double Wide IPA vsmr in a 750ml bottle. The beer poured a hazy orange color with a big, fluffy just-barely off-white head. Aroma is citrus, with notes of pine, floral bouquet. Flavor is citrus with a touch of caramel malts, slight citrus, but not overpowering in the hops department.

Next up was Dogfish's Wrath of Pecant. This beer came in a 750 ml bottle. A very interesting and unique beer, still not sure exactly how I'd describe it. Touch of unidentifiable aromas (probably the plantains, other fruits). Flavor is certainly a bit smokey. Until reading the bottle I had just naturally expected this beer to be 10% or more, so I was pleasantly surprised that this clocked in at just over 6%. Drinkable, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to have it unless it happened to be at one of the alehouses.

Chris' home brew was fantastic. Good notes of vanilla, creamy. Good! After this, we got into the Zywiec which was a pretty by-the-numbers European lager. Aroma is grassy, flavor has a grassy, almost bready taste. Immediately after the Polish beer the Stella was passed along. I passed on it as well.

Bear Republic's Big Bear Stout 22 oz bottle. Pours black with a good tan head. Aroma is heavy on rich, creamy sweet malt notes, with a nice touch of chocolates. Flavor is a nice, rich malty one with an almost toffee character with heavy notes of coffee and chocolate. A pretty decent stout, and a good one to break from the beers that we had been consuming prior to this one. Our first stout of the night.

Following Bear Republic's offering was Rogue's Chipotle ale. Aroma was a bit, well unremarkable, but with a certain malty character, so it wasn't too displeasing. I had this beer before, and it was a lot more smokey than I remembered it. As discussed, the beer would probably be good pared off with a meal instead of just consuming it on it's own.

And we finally got to Seth's beer of the night (or life?), Red Oak Amber Lager. I had previously had this on tap almost two years ago, so I was happy to try this again in bottles. I'm not that big of a fan of Amber ales either, so it's a surprise that I enjoy this one so much. This beer is a quite nice, refreshing beer and a good one to follow up a stout and the chipotle ale.

This one was followed up with Ryan's Dunkel homebrew, which was pretty fantastic. After that it was Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA, which I'm still surprised is called the "20th Anniversary" since I think I had this about a year ago. This came in a 22oz bottle. A hoppy beer, but is pretty heavy on the malts. It was time to pass on the Delerium Tremens, a good beer, but I needed a break by this time.

Up next was the Heavy Seas Siren Noire which came in a 22 oz bottle. It poured a dark, opaque black with a small tan head. Aroma was chocolate malts, with touches of bitter dark chocolate. Flavor was bitter, with dark chocolates, touches of heavy malts, touch of coffee. Alcohol wasn’t too noticeable, which was nice for this imperial stout.

And on to the Rogue John John Ale, Dead Guy Ale aged in Dead Guy whiskey barrels. This one was sampled from a 22oz bottle. It poured a dark amber color with a white head. Aroma was pale malts and caramel, with a good deal of vanilla. The flavor was pretty smooth, not too alcoholic, which was a nice surprise considering the "whiskey aging" which usually correlates with very high alcohol content.

Ah, the night was moving on at this point, beer #14 for me, the next up to bat was Flying Fish Exit 4, a Abbey Tripel. This beer poured a clear amber color, with a fluffy white head. Aroma was pretty strong on the citrus hops, pretty clean, floral. Flavor was very hoppy for a tripel, quite a nice beer!

Unfortunately Seth didn't get the memo as the beers kept pouring faster than we could drink them. The Shipyard Summer Ale was next as the night began to slow down for most of us. The beer poured an light orange color and had a sweet aroma of fruits. This beer was relatively inoffensive, and cleansed the palate pretty well.

We were finally approaching the final inning. König Ludwig Weissbier was FANTASTIC. A great, smooth, creamy hefeweizen which was refreshing and had a fantastic balance of wheat, bananas, and a mild amount of spices. Great lacing on the glass. At this point I was able to avoid any Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, which may be a crime against humanity, but I just had to do it because what was coming next needed to be savored as the last of the three beers I brought to the party was up next.

Lost Abbey Lost and Found was up next. This beer poured a rich brown color with a thick, dark tan. This beer contained a lot of lacing. Aroma was malty, with raisins and other dried fruits, and a pretty yeasty character. Flavor was heavy on the raisins as well as the sweet, almost candy like sugars. Probably not my most favorite beers, but decent none-the-less.

And with that beer, I was done.

Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager

This 22 oz bottle was fantastic! I was not expecting that from this beer. I've had Rogue beers before, but WOW.

The beer poured a motor oil black with a small dark tan head. Aroma is heavy on the roasted malts, touches of chocolate, oatmeal, touch of spice. Flavor is full of chocolate, tons of malty notes. One of the better schwarzbiers I’ve ever had, and one of the best lagers I've had.

What a weekend for Beer!

Well the weekend was quite an epic experience.

Friday night was kicked off at 9:00 with me headed off to my friend Seth's place for a large scale beer tasting. At least 15 people were there off and on throughout the night, and everyone appeared to bring beer, none the same if I recall (aside from my 2004 Old Guardian).

The night went on, and sure enough the next thing we knew 7 hours had passed and it was 4 am. Highlights of that night were the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, a wonderful beer which currently ranks my favorite new beer I've consumed in 2009. Comparing the 2009 and 2004 versions of the Stone Old Guardian was a treat. The 2004 had mellowed and the 2009 had a strong, sharp hop kick to it as well as more notable alcohol characteristics. By consensus of the group, the Breckenridge 471 Small Batch Mighty Brown was the worst beer of the night, however it may have been an infected bottle.


Saturday night started itself off at 6:00 when I arrived at the wonderful, but always crowded, Churchkey in Washington DC. I'm not normally a fan of going to bars alone with the intent to drink, but I had to, I just had to.

The new Dogfish Head beer,Black Thai, was there. And the man himself, Sam Calagione was going to be there to tap it. I couldn't pass that up. Aside from the Black Thai, I consumed the oh-so wonderful, Olivers Merry Ole Ale, from Baltimore's Pratt Street Ale House and the quite interesting sour Magic Hat Odd Notion.

Beer Pioneers film

On vacation, but can't stop me from writing.

Coming in summer 2010 is a documentary that is about the history craft beer in America. Should be interesting.

Beer Pioneers website.

The Weekend

Weekends. The time to relax, and what better way to relax than during a nice cool Virginia summer's evening.

Rustico, how I love thee. For those unfamiliar, Rustico is a wonderful restaurant in Alexandria Virginia that serves up a wonderful gourmet menu and one of the best and most extensive selections of beer in the greater Washington DC area. The place is wonderful. Hidden away at the edge of Alexandria, the place is out of this world. It's large, the seating is comfortable, though during the dinner rush it is quite busy. The best beer selection I could compare it to (from memory) is RFD's, which I have last been to over 2 years ago, so the comparison may not be apt anymore. 30 taps, some great finds in there. Bottle selection is very good, and quite a few of them can be viewed from the bar area. The real nice touch is the pre-created beer samplers.

This past Friday I went there with my buddy Seth. We were able to sit at the chef's counter and watch all the pizza be prepared. Cool. Surprisingly I only had one beer while there - Stone Levitation. Levitation pours a copper color with a small white head. Aroma is a nice amount of malts, sweet fruits, and hops. Flavor is a well balanced beer of malts and hops, but contains an unexpected hop kick, which I was not expecting considering that this is a "light" beer. One of the best session beers I've had this year.

I was able to crack into one of the beers made by my co-worker's husband - a wonderful winter brew that I would liken to Anchor's Our Christmas Ale. If they sold their beer commercially I would purchase it. All the time.

Saturday I cracked into a collaboration beer, Alesmith Mikkeller Stone Belgian Style Tripel Ale which I found to be nice, mellow and quite approachable. Not over-the-top like so many "special" beers out there - that try to include mass quantities of alcohol in them to push some kind of envelope.

My weekend rounded itself out with a trip to Nationals Park, to see the Cubbies decimate the Nationals. Since there were more Cubs fans there it probably felt like a "home" game for them.

I've spent a LOT of time on Hulu lately, watching a lot of shows I've been missing and catching quite a few interesting things I've missed over the years. It certainly doesn't have the same quantity of instant view films that Netflix delivers, but it's entirely free - and quite nice.

A Good Pale Ale and a Really Bad Movie

There’s nothing quite like a nice, cool late spring night. The weather is perfect, the temperature is warm but not hot, and it’s the perfect temperature to crack into a nice, cool micro brew. Thankfully, today was the day for the release of Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest 2nd release. Phew, what a wait.

The beer itself pours a clear dark orange color which is followed by a large white fluffy head of foam. The aroma has an extremely hoppy, grassy, floral aroma. This beer is brewed with hops harvested in the Southern Hemisphere, which would be the right time to do so considering the “season” they would be having. They use fantastic New Zealand hops which bring that hoppy, grassy, floral aroma that I mentioned earlier.

The Mad Monster

The Mad Monster is a 1942 horror film, in which a rejected scientist plans to wreak revenge against fellow colleagues who had rejected his scientific views on blood transfusions.

Dr. Cameron feels that since he has been ostracized that he must kill off his former colleagues. His method of killing is creating a mindless (at least as presented) beast using his gardener using transfused blood from wolves. This beast that will apparently follow his orders (unknown why or how – since it appears pretty unwilling or unable to accept any orders most of the film) to kill them off one by one – after which the creature returns home and becomes the simple gardener again.

And when I say simple I mean “I will Hug him and squeeze him and call him George” simple. And I mean that this guy (Petro) makes Lennie Small appear to be a genius.

His ultimate goal after killing off his contemporaries? Using the newly discovered werewolf serum to kill Nazis.

Right.

A Cigar, American Pale Ale, and a Goose Island India Pale Ale walk into a bar...

After a wonderful evening sitting around, relaxing, and finally catching a break from the hassles at work, I’ve decided that life is good.

As I sat back, enjoyed the end of a nice cigar and an average micro brew, I took in the nice abnormally cool May air in. Let me just say that I’m going to try something new here, this is an attempt to meld the two of the many things I love most, movies and beer together on this blog. Let’s see if this works.

The American Bud Ale is Budweiser’s attempt at cracking into the ever growing, and wonderful micro-brew world. I found this quite humorous since the company did an ad campaign with Rob Riggle as the pitchman. It’s also interesting that while I can find a Schlitz ad from 1960, I’m unable to find any signs of these “Lager Lesson” beer commercials. Where they that embarrassed with the response that they literally *don’t* exist on the web now?

In these ads Riggle goes on about how much better Bud is. How “darker beers” can hide their flaws easier. Of course they can. The flaws are hidden with something called “flavor.” You can’t mess up the brewing of macro pale lagers because you’ll notice every flaw in that beer. That’s why they tell you to drink the beer ice cold. If you drink nearly anything ice cold you will not be able to really capture a tenth of what it actually tastes like. The "Warm beer" problem - which is pretty much what people consider any beer over the 40 degree mark, is because the beer isn't that good.

They point out that it’s not “some import or trendy microbrew,” all while brewing beers such as Winter Bourbon Cask, Stone Mill Pale Ale, Beach Bum Blonde Ale, and Landshark Lager. Nope, no attempts at trendy microbrews here.

I’m currently sitting here drinking a real beer. A good beer. Goose Island India Pale Ale. Definitely a great brew to consume, smooth, silky, hoppy – but not overly so. About what a beer should taste like. It's a beer that as it approaches and passes that "40 degree" mark, it actually gets better. Imagine that.

Goose Island describes their beer as such:

Our IPA recalls a time when ales shipped from England to India were highly hopped to preserve their distinct taste during the long journey. The result, quite simply a hop lover's dream. And this classic ale adds a fruity aroma, set off by a dry malt middle, to ensure that the long hop finish is one you'll remember.

The weather could not be better for this one. And neither can life.

Alcohol and Movie Parings #7: Fellowship of the Ring and Mead

Mead, the sweet nectar of the gods... or at least a sweet, alcoholic honey concoction that has been drunk for over a millenia. They drink it in Beowulf so I feel it quite fitting that it would be a fantastic paring with the best Lord of the Rings film made, Fellowship of the Ring.

I'm a snob, and a huge snob when it comes to the Lord of the Rings books. The film series is just about the best you can get from what most considered "unfilmable" books just a decade ago before the series came out. I was even slightly skeptical when I saw the teaser the very first time. Oh how wrong I was.

While the other two films don't do the book justice, as both The Two Towers and Return of the King are butchered in their theatrical versions and ROTK only patches some of the more glaring issues in the EE, Fellowship is just about the best they could have done.

The scenery is presented exactly how my mind's eye expected it to (though the stairs in Moria are far too steep for Dwarves with such tiny legs and the ring is far too powerful than even the book had it).

The major downside is the slapstick nature of some of the "comedy". It's over the top but they treat Merry and Pippin as complete and utter fools, which you'd think would be a blessing as it would show their characters grow as the films progress, but you'd be wrong - they're just about as clumsy and stupid at the end (a fault of the writers). The biggest change is that 17 years don't pass between Bilbo's party and when Frodo sets out on the quest. They've also made Frodo pretty much a complete loser - a kind, polite Hobbit, but still a loser. Aside from that they get the characters pretty much right (Daniel Day Lewis would have done a better job as Aragorn though).

When the films were green-lit New Line was taking a huge chance. Personally it would have been really really nice if they could have just done 6 films. Heck, they filmed enough footage - much of which has yet to be seen in any form - as to allow for each film to be at least 110 minutes long, but heck that would be a daunting task for most people in our attention-deficit culture (not ADD because that's a real medical condition that most people don't have which is mocked quite regularly). Book one could have ended when Frodo collapses at Rivendell (FRODO LIVES!) or after the "Council of Elrond". The rest of the films could be split up in some other manner which I won't discuss at this time.

What we get in the end is a film that's worthy of the title "Lord of the Rings" - but could either benefit from a triple dip (erm, I mean quadruple-dip due to the TE/EE DVD edition that was released). With New Line releasing the films in HD DVD, I really can't wait till they're up.

**** 1/2 out of *****

Alcohol and Movie Parings #6: Martini and James Bond

Does it look like I give a damn that the martini is stirred or shaken?

Personally I don't. Then again I'm not a huge liquor guy, though as I write this I'm having some Jack Daniels on the rocks, so I guess you've found the one time out of 10 that when I'm drinking alcohol I'm not drinking a beer.

Casino Royale is another film in a short line of recent productions that have "reset" a original series, and not suprisingly most of them have been able to breath new life into the series ("Herbie Fully Loaded" not withstanding). Like Batman Begins, they've reinvented the franchise for the better.

I just purchased the James Bond box set so I'll be reviewing more Bond films in the coming weeks but I figured I'd start with the newest first.

Four acts instead of three? How many films can pull that off nowadays?

On and for the love of God please avoid the "spoof" with every inch of your life. The film was directed by no less than 5 people and it's utter sh*t.

****/*****

"Vesper" martini:

* Six parts Gordon's Gin
* Two parts vodka
* One part Kina Lillet

Shake over ice until well chilled, then strain into a deep goblet and garnish with a thin slice of lemon peel.

Guaranteed heart stopper! Err... maybe not.

Alcohol and Movie Parings #4: Indiana Jones and the quest for the best India Pale Ale

In a recent viewing of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I go to thinking of exotic but accessible beers that would go good with the theme of Indiana Jones films. Sure a good German Dopplebock or Hefeweizen could go well - but that'd be cliche, and I've already done cliche a few times. India Pale Ale might seem a little cliche as well, considering the setting of the second film, but trust me on this one. And no, it's also not because his name is Indiana.

India Pale Ale drums up the old days of European exploring of the unknown. While Indiana Jones is set in the 30s and 40s, it drums up a distinct reminder of the days that exploration was actually exploration - setting out with a map and a backpack filled with what you need. IPAs are a nice, crisp alternative to the normal pale beers that people drink.

Pare up the films with Two Hearted Ale, Stone India Pale Ale, or if you're in Virginia: Legend Hopfest when it's in season. Heck, grab a Dogfish head 60 Minute or Sierra Nevada while you're at it.

If you don't care if you make it through the film try a Imperial/Double IPA. Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA, Rogue Imperial India Pale Ale (I²PA) or Stone Ruination IPA will get you buzzed long before Indy can shoot the guy with the machete.

Alcohol and Movie Parings #3: ---- Any Michael Bay film and a Pale Lager

There's a simple reason why I pared these two up. Neither are very good, and it's doubtful you'll find many people claiming that either of these are in it for the quality of the product. They're both designed for a quick buck and are both far more popular than they should be.

To put it mildly they both suck. Badly.

Sit down and turn on Armageddon, Bad Boys, The Rock, The Island, or Pearl Harbor with a cold Miller Lite, Bud Light, Budweiser, Budweiser Select, Keystone, Busch Beer, Michelob Ultra, Natural Light, or Milwaukees Best.

Remember COLD, because the reason why bad beer is served ice cold is to mask the terrible taste.

Enjoy!

*/**** (for both the films and beer)

Alcohol and Movie Parings #2: The Godfather and Betta Moretti

This second entry was a bit harder, more inventive, and less cliche.

The Godfather is a brilliant film for which will require a much more appropriate place for me to review it. Different time, different day. Since I'm trying to make these more concise then a normal review, it'll just have to wait.

Film: *****/*****

The selection for this film are Italian brews (surprise!) which actually hails from Italy. It makes for a perfect match for the Gangsters who hail from Italy.

-Birra Moretti: It's a relatively easy to drink, slightly bitter, but not that good compared to the La Rossa that the same company makes, which brings me to...
-Birra Moretti La Rossa: To be honest I wasn't sure about this beer the first time I bought it. Soon after finishing my first one I was sold. It has a very hoppy and very malty flavor to it, and finishes quite nicely. Unfortunately, at 7.2% you might not be making it to the finale if you're drinking a 6-pack.

Alcohol and Movie Parings #1: Halloween and Pumpkin Ale

I'm going to try something new. Have you ever gotten bored of drinking the same uninspired beers or alcohol while watching your favorite film? Want to mix it up? Well sit on down and read on!

Halloween may have passed but that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy a good pumpkin beer since Thanksgiving is right around the corner. What better film to have a pumpkin beer than say, Halloween?

Again, Halloween has passed but who gives a damn!?! Go for it.

Halloween is in many respect the first real modern slasher film (that and Black Christmas but that might have to wait for a few weeks). It spurred multiple films and gave rise to many other franchises which would not have existed without these films.

Movie: *** 1/2 /*****

Beers to pair:
- Dogfish Head Punkin: Yes, I spelled that correctly. Not as overpowering as other pumpkin beers. Nutmeg and clove flavors. Sweet flavors, and all together good. At 7% you probably won't make it through to the end if you keep a steady flow of these into your body.
- Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale: Wonderful blend of all ingredients, presented in a wonderful, powerful blend. Strong pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg aroma. Flavor is the same with a slight alcohol presence which is absent from so many other pumpkin beers. Coming in 22 oz bottles and coming in at 8%, don't expect to make it to the final act if you finish two.
-Blue Moon Harvest Moon - Pumpkin beer for the "regular" Joe. Coming in at 5% you'll get sick of the taste before you hit the floor.

RIP Michael Jackson

While not directly related to films or television, I want to convey my deepest regard to Michael Jackson, probably the best beer critic that has ever lived. You will be missed. I will have a Belgian brew in your honor this evening.