Zombie Apocalypse and Dogfish Head's Nobel Rot

 So I’m trapped in Yorktown, Virginia for a week long class I’m taking.  So in addition to catching up on some school work, I’m also catching up on some zombie movie watching.  I’m giving this particular movie its second chance.  I watched fifteen minutes of it on Netflix but the quality was lacking and I just couldn’t muscle through it.  But this time I can.  This time I have a secret weapon.  I have Dogfish Head’s Nobel Rot!!!  This is supposed to be a wild blend of beer and wine.  Now while I am fairly well read with beer art and science but I am a simpleton in the world of wine.  So I am going to limit my description of the beer to what the Dogfish Head website says and what my taste buds tell me.

The film is much better on DVD than on Netflix.  The black colors are blacker and everything is sharper.  Maybe it’s just my computer.  I have no idea.  Another reason for watching the DVD instead of streaming is the intro comic inside the DVD case.  I found it after I watched the movie and while unnecessary, it’s helpful in really understanding the movie.  There’s a certain raw badassness that reminds me of Ninjas vs. Zombies or Dead Moon Rising with better picture and audio quality.  It’s not Shawn of the Dead….but few things are.  The movie centers around an ex US Special Agent Dwight Miller (some sort of super dude position) who falls in love and marries a government scientist that is developing the ultimate biological weapon…ZOMBIES!!!!  His understudy, a powerful and quick agent codenamed “Net” turned the couple in for their prohibited relationship.  She was moved and he was on the run…until….Net lets the zombies out to kill Miller.  Miller escapes but so do the zombies.  What happens next is the end of the world.

I pull out the giant 750ml bottle and uncap it.  I have my special Belgian tulip glass just for beers like this.  Dogfish.com says that the beer is a Saison base with viognier grape must added.  The must (unfermented juice) has been infected with a fungus called botrytis.  This is supposed to reduce water content and magnify sweetness and complexity (as well as alcohol potential…POW!!!).  As if that’s not enough pinot gris grapes are added.  And not any pinot gris grapes these are special dropped fruit grapes.  As an expert (I watched the movie and read the book “A Good Year”) I can tell you that some of the grapes are clipped so that more juice and nutrients can get to the remaining grapes.  The result is a 9%abv 18IBU beer that just aches to be drunk.  Once again Dogfish Head does something creative and inspiring.  But, how does it taste?

It pours a effervescent crystal clear deep gold.  It reminds me of Duvell without that signature marshmallow mouse head.  Immediately I can smell the grapes.  There’s a tart and musty aroma with earthy and wine like finish.  I actually think I’m smelling a wine.  I can sense a bit of that Belgian yeast character but I actually wish there was a little more.  I am a little worried because I see a similar body and color to the Festina Peche, one of my least favorite beers ever.  If this has as much tart as that beer it will be a big and expensive drain pour.  First sip…..AWESOME!  It’s got a big white wine punch up front and it fades to a tart twist of grapes and tannic bitterness.  Its light bodied and pretty highly carbonated.  It dances on your tongue and leaves you with a smack.  You could feed this beer to your snobby wine friends that look down there nose at you and look them right in the eye as they shake in fear and nod with respect.  You will know you’ve won.  And life is all about winning.

Back to the movie.  Acting seemed to take a vacation for parts of this film.  To say that some of the acting was forced is like saying that Glen Beck isn’t particularly fond of liberals.  But actually works.  There is some cool camera work (think the getting ready for work montage in Shawn of the Dead).  And the resident badass, Miller, has a better tough guy voice then Christian Bale and Rorschach.  Some of the special effects were pretty terrible, like the several times where machetes are obviously being pinned between the zombie’s stomach and arm.  Or punches that are thrown way in front of people and zombies.  But despite some bad special effects and some spotty acting there are still several compelling parts of the movie and in the end it’s just plain fun.  The movie is part of this “kick ass and have fun” era of budget zombie movies that is still churning out new and interesting films every year.  Do you need to see this movie…NO.  Should you see this movie…..yea I guess….if you want…..shit I don’t care.   Was it good?  Yea?  I think so?  I think I’ll have to leave this post with more question marks????????

The Beer:

Aroma – 11/12

Appearance – 3/3

Taste – 18/20

Palate – 4/5 

   Overall – 9/10

Total = 45/50

The Movie:

Production – 3/5

Plot – 3/5

Gore –3/5

 Zombies – 3/5

  Overall – 3/5

The Walking Dead (Season 1) and Russian River Pliny The Elder

I was hoping to have this one out before the premier of season 2 but I went and had a second kid.  That has slowed down the whole blogging thing.  I found out about the walking dead about two years ago when a friend of my father told him about the comic (ahem....graphic novel).  It was so good that some of volumes actually made me lose sleep.  That's impressive.  So I was a little annoyed when AMC picked up the series.  I know I'm not alone.  I was hoping that HBO would throw down and give it all the uncensored carnage that we all would like to see.  It could have been worse I guess.  It could have went to USA in that time slot right after Monk.  AMC has some pretty great shows out right now with Breaking Bad and Mad Men so I gave it a chance.  I decided the best beer to pair with this series (yes six hours and one beer...well one beer six times) would be Russian River's Pliny the Elder.  Much to my amazement I found a couple bottles at my local supermarket.  I bought all they had!  I had never seen it in bottles before and thought it might be the last time.  For those of you who have never heard of Pliny the Elder it's the famous IIPA that has won TONS of awards!  I read a zymurgy in 2009 that had Pliny the Elder trading off with Dogfish Head's 90 min for best bear in the US for 3 year running.  Pliny the Elder (not to be confused with Pliny the Younger) also won Bronze at the Great American Beer Fest in 2004 and a Gold in 2005.  Pliny also won gold at the World Beer Cup in 2005.  All of these in the Double IPA catagory.  It's supposed to be epic.

So I started off with the first episode and was immediately impressed.  They weren't rushing things as I had thought they might.  And it stayed fairly close to the comic.  I'm not sure why it's so important to me that it follows the comic so closely.  Perhaps it's because the comic was so well done.  The character development in the the comic was so amazing that you actually felt like you knew each character.  You shared their joys, disappointments, and fears.  Each time they deviate from the comic or change any of the characters relationships or mannerisms I take offense.  "That's not how Sean would react!" or "That's not how Andrea is!"  Those are my friends!!!!  The opening sequence in the Walking Dead was spot on and almost frame for frame from the comic.  Except that with the magic of TV everything was even more frightening.  The initial scene where Rick awakens in the hospital and is trying to figure out what's going on captured hopelessness and horror even better than 28 Days Later!!!  And that's saying something.

The Walking Dead is instantly a classic in my collection.  It fills a gap between a gory raw classic and an easily accessible show even my wife will watch.  In that sense it's the perfect show for pulling a large audience into the world of zombie mania.  More people than ever will start coming up with their own zombie survival plans and wearing I (heart) zombie t-shirts.  This will inevitably lead (if it already hasn't) to a slew of watered down zombie flicks looking to cash in on the craze.  The same reasons i love The Walking Dead are the reasons I hate it.  It's beginning to take away something that for a while (at least it seemed) was deeply personal.

 I was lucky enough to be able to try Pliny the Elder once before.  When my wife and I were traveling from Boston to Anchorage we stopped in Santa Rosa to do some wine tasting.  I had heard of the mystique that surrounded Russian River beers but because they didn't distribute to Massachusetts so I didn't have a chance to actually try them.  We were just walking through downtown Santa Rosa when I saw it.  It was like a shinning star!  Russian River was right there in front of me.  I fell to my knees in amazement.  Was it fate?  I had they're amazing jalapeno pizza bites and a pint of Pliny the Elder.  It was a day I'll never forget.  If you ever go there you'll understand what I mean.

The Beer!  So my notes on this review became less and less coherent as the films went on.  Perhaps it was because by the end it was getting really late, or maybe it was the 5 Plinys that went with Season 1?  Go to BeerAdvocate.com (bastards) link for Pliny the Elder or the Ratebeer.com site and you will see that this beer......is a standard setter.  It gets a score of 100 across the board in 4 different categories (including a professional rating).  The beer pours a dark gold with hues of orange topped with a thick cream colored head.  The aroma is overwhelmingly awesome.  There is tons of citrus.  It's like pounds and pounds of grapefruit, apricot, orange peel and lemon.  There's also a bit or resiny bitter hops that push through the barrage of citrus.  With the first sip after sip of this beer continue to push fruit on fruit into your tongue.  There's a certain level of balance with the caramel malt backbone but don't be fooled, this beer is all hops.  The malt is simply there to sweeten your tongue and get you drunk.  The hops are the driving force here.  The hops are much like Robert De Niro in Ronin.

The first season was breathtakingly original.  And that's difficult for a zombie series.  The actors (and actresses) are talented and realistic and the plot is thrilling but believable.  Greg Nicotero is the head special FX guy and his work is inspiring.  He did Planet Terror, Diary of the Dead, and even Army of Darkness just to name a few.  He also did Transformers, Public Enemies, Minority Report, Book of Eli and like 1,000 other awesome movies.  He not only does that bang up job in makeup but he also stars as several zombies along the way.  He's the guy that bites Amy and the guy that kills the deer.  It's one of the reasons this show is so great.  the death just seems so real.

That's Greg!!

For those that live under a rock or in North Korea "The Walking Dead" stars Rick Grimes, a cop who awakens from a coma to find himself in a world of zombies.  I know i know "that's 28 Days Later"!!!  It is but i'm going to give them a pass because they do it differently enough as to not be considered cinematic plagiarism.  He finds his family who have set up camp in a band of survivors just outside of Atlanta.  The biggest problem I had with season one was the rapid deterioration of human decency that was somewhat more drawn out and deliberate in the comic. This was a bit rectified in the second season where things just drag for a couple episodes.  I guess they needed some balance.  The characters they cast in the show bear an incredible likeness both in appearance and demeanure to their comic book counterparts.  It's almost eery actually.  Glenn is the most obvious, but Dale is spot on as well.  This show is so well produced that my wife (who hates TV and horror specifically) gets so excited for Walking Dead that she won't let me watch an episode without her.  It's the real deal.  I can't say any more about  it.  You need to watch it and you need to read it.

The Beer:

Aroma – 12/12

Appearance – 3/3

Taste – 20/20

Palate – 5/5 

   Overall – 10/10

Total = 50/50

  

The Movie:

Production – 5/5

Plot – 5/5

Gore – 5/5

 Zombies – 5/5

  Overall – 5/5

Resident Evil: Extinction and Deschutes Jubelale

So I move on to the third Resident Evil movie with a sigh of relief.  It's not that the other two are that bad, because they're not.  I just have seen them SOOOOOO many times.  And the Resident Evils are not a re-watch and re-watch type of movie like Dawn of the Dead.  I know earlier in prior posts I claimed my favorite as the original, but after watching them again in order, I have changed my mind, the third one is!  It wasn't always this way.  The first time I saw Extinction I hated it.  Zombie birds was a huge turn off, as were the super mutant zombies, and the remote control Alice.  But this movie had a certain likability to it.  I decided to pair it with another new favorite of mine...JUBELALE!!!!  Not to be confused with Jubel the 10% abv bomb that just kicks ass.  This is a more toned down seasonal perfect for when the weather gets a bit chilly and you need a little something to warm you up.

So this film starts out with Alice on the road alone.  She goes to save a woman and her baby that she hears on her radio only to find herself in a trap with a ganged of strange inbred street people!  But it's Alice, so ass kicking ensues and everyone is dead....except Alice of course.  Great start to the movie.  This is also where the idea is planted that Alaska is infection free.   I know I'm a bit biased after living there for three years, but it really would be a great place to be in a Zombie Apocalypse.  The first movie starred Alice the normal woman who transformed into Alice the highly trained killer.  The second movie is Alice the highly trained killer transforming into Alice the semi mutant bad-ass.  In this movie Alice goes from semi mutant bad-ass to full faced super-motherfucking-mutant-bad-ass!!!!  She actually gets all telepathic in this movie.  It gets weird.  That's your heads up.

Deschutes puts out quality beer after quality beer.  This is no exception.  It's their winter ale and it's awesome.  It pours a deep cloudy opaque brown with dark red hues and a nice light brown head.  The aroma is strong toasted malts with some high alcohol fumes.  It's very rich with grassy hops, spice, and clove.  The flavor is similar to aroma but stronger.  It's boozy and slick, full of malt that fades to an earthy bitterness.  It's strong at 6.7% abv and plenty  bitter at 60 IBUs.  There's a hint of coffee under all that rich toasted malt.  It's unique in a way that few beers are.  This is the winter ale that other winter ales wished they were but they don't have the balls.  If a hefeweizen is your idea of extreme then don't buy this beer.  It will leave you naked and crying on the bathroom floor.  Me.....I have two cases of it.  So I can take it.

The zombie birds i think took up more of this  movie than they needed to.  In fact if they had left them completely out it would have been better.  At least it wasn't as bad as "The Rage" or whichever Zombi movie was the "Killing Birds" one.  I think it was four or five.

I do like those curvy blades that Alice has.  Those are pretty sweet.  I originally hated the idea that Alice had super mental powers but it was pretty sweet.  They (Umbrella Co.) actually shut her off (she stands frozen) and they can see things through her eyes for some reason.  This is actually sweeter every time i see it.  It was a really cool effect.  She is able to break satellites thousands of miles away with her mind.  Despite the fact that this movie relies on non traditional zombies to try and set this film apart it still works.  The "Boss" zombie is the research scientist that gets bit with a mutated virus and becomes some kind of mutated super zombie.  He's even stronger than ROBOZOMBIE and rabid hairless lion zombie.  I think by the end of this film you'll be glad I'm done with my descriptions of the various Resident Evil zombies.   This movie also had a lot of very likable characters.  Otto (Simpsons reference) the bus driver, Carlos (the S.T.A.R guy from Apocalypse), Claire, and the cowboy guy all grab at your heart.  It's entertaining and though it doesn't fit the mold of what I think a zombie movie should be I still think it deserves it's due credit.

The Beer:

Aroma – 9/12

Appearance – 2/3

Taste – 17/20

Palate – 3/5 

   Overall – 7/10

Total = 38/50

  

The Movie:

Production – 5/5

Plot – 4/5

Gore – 4/5

 Zombies – 4/5

  Overall – 4/5

Dead Snow and Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout (First Post)

Welcome to my blog.  If you’re here you share the same passion about these hobbies that I do.  I do take requests for reviews of beer and movies.  I hope you all get inspired and have your own drunken zombie movie nights.  First a little about myself.

The night I turned 21 I set out on a journey or sorts.  I stood at the bar looking over a spread of taps all offering beverages I’ve never heard of except by their general term, “beer”.  There were so many options and possibilities it was hard to choose.  So I did what any new beer drinker would do…I chose based on the name.  The Rusty Griswold was to be my first legal drink.  It was ironically named after the son from the National Lampoon’s film who when sharing his first beer with his father drinks the entire thing.  I hope I didn’t ruin the movie for anyone.  The beer may have been a fizzy pilsner but it wasn’t a bad one by the style’s standards.  It just didn’t make sense to me to drink one mass produced beer when there were so many thousands beers in dozens of styles.  Within a year I decided to brew my own beer.  The hobby soon became an addiction.  At home I found the that I could blend science and art to create something unique and wonderful.

That was around the same I discovered my love for zombie movies.  I had heard of zombies before.  Zombies were a goofy Halloween joke.  Zack Snyder in 2004 changed all that.  The remake of Dawn of the Dead was the first movie to truly scare me.  It was the movie that left me sleepless as an adult and had me question my plans for the future.  If zombies were real then what was the point of saving money or going on a diet.  They symbolized the end.  I began to amass a collection of every zombie movie I could find.  The result was a melding of melding of hobbies that borders on obsession.  I need to drink every beer brewed and watch every zombie movie filmed.  Here is where I share those things with you.

Night one of my blog begins with a plan.  Four friends are going to sit down and watch Dead Snow with a couple 22 oz bombers of some fine Imperial Stout.  Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout weighs in at a hefty 9,2% abv (don't believe the above lable).  And with snow still on the ground here in Alaska it’s still a welcome warmer.  The movie is blue ray and boasted as the finest Norwegian zombie film of all time (pun intended).  I crack open the first bottle and pour it into my Great Divide tulip glass (a souvenir from last year’s Telluride Blues and Brews festival).  It’s dark but not opaque and thick but not too viscous.  It foamed in the glass with a grey brown fizzle that shook me with excitement.  I had been almost 18 months since I saw my last bottle of this beautiful beverage.  The wait has made this moment even more exciting.

The playful banter of med school students on a skiing spring break vacation at some secluded cabin draws me in.  The all too familiar foreshadowing of no cell phone signal, and creepy World War 2 horror stories starts this movie in the common teeny horror movie fashion.  The movie progresses at the speed of smell with the only eye lifting moment being the outhouse sex scene.  That was a first.  I take my first sip of the sweet black liquid.  It’s more carbonated than I expected for a high alcohol stout.  The coffee flavor is strong but not overly astringent like some coffee stouts are.  It’s much more drinkable than I expected from this big of a beer.  There is a definite roasted character, deep and chocolaty with loads of malt.  It’s a big stout that doesn’t fill like an imperial stout.  I think that’s good.  It makes it easy to put away 2 bombers before half of the characters are killed off.

These Nazi Zombies are not my type of zombies.  They are fast and calculated instead of my preferred slow and thoughtless ones.  The zombies don’t eat flesh and at one point the leader actually calls other zombies to rise from the earth.  The frustration I felt at the director for breaking the zombie mold was held at bay by the extreme gore and surprisingly good special effects.   In this movie a girl is pulled into an outhouse but manages to climb out covered in poop.  There were a lot of firsts in this film.

There were numerous nods to zombie movies of the past.  The Brain Dead t shirt being the most obvious, the Evil Dead cut your own hand off with a chainsaw reference being my favorite.  In the end if you’re looking for Dawn of the Dead you will be disappointed but if you’re in the mood for a movie in the style of Black Sheep (not the Chris Farley one), well then you might like this one. 

The Beer:

Aroma – 7/10

Appearance – 4/5

Taste – 8/10

Palate – 3/5

Overall – 15/20

Total = 37/50

Ratebeer.com gives it a score of 96 overall and 95 in style.  After this tasting I give it a 90.  This is a great beer and for $4 a bomber I’ll fill my fridge guilt free.  But it’s not in my desert island cooler.

The Movie:

Production – 4/5

Plot – 3.5/5

Gore – 4.5/5

Zombies – 3/5

Overall – 4/5

Rottentomatoes.com gave this movie a 67 on the tomatometer but I would put it at an 85.  Respectable.

Best Scene:  My favorite scene was when the one fat colege kid gets too close to a window (rookie mistake).  He is grabbed by the head, a few seconds of struggling....BOOM....head ripped apart.  The scene was complete with brains falling out onto the floor.

Worste Scene:  One guy who had set off by himself to find his missing girlfriend found himself having to perform first aid on himself for wounds inflicted by zombies.  Watching him do self stiching with a fish hook while blood squirts out everywhere is turning my stomach just typing it.

It was a great night and i would recommend both the beer and the movie to you!