Four Fantastic Things #5: Four wonderful Texas beers (2011)

Hello,

I hope that 2011 was a good year for everyone. For myself, it brought a lot of changes, including some for the better, and others not so much.

In celebration of change, and of my home state, I felt it would be interesting to look back at the new and unique beers that my relocation offered over the past year, and list some of my favorite Lone Star brews (which ironically does not include any beer from Lone Star Brewery).

For those unfamiliar with this series of posts, this is not a “best of,” but just a list of recommended consumables, and is not arranged in a particular order relative to my opinion of quality.

#1 Sailing Santa by Saint Arnold’s Brewery (Houston, TX)

This seasonal bomber from the “first Texas craft brewer” is probably a bit difficult, if not all together impossible, to obtain as I write this review in early February. Combining their also delicious Elisa IPA with their regular Christmas seasonal offering, St. Arnold has created a wonderful example of a complex hoppy beer without overpowering the beverage with hop bitterness.

I thought that I had previously reviewed this beer formally, but it appears I was mistaken. Perhaps, with a little luck, I will be able to get another bomber as 2012 comes to a close.

#2 (512) India Pale Ale (Austin, TX)

This was one of the first beers, upon my return to Texas, to really get me excited about the Texas Craft and Micro beer scene. First sampled at the Ft. Worth Gingerman, the beer is a wonder mélange of citrus hops with a nice, warm malt backend. Exhibiting a strong grapefruit body, it was love at first sip, and depressing to know I can’t find this in bottles as of yet.

#3 Pecker Wrecker by Rahr and Sons Brewery (Ft Worth, TX)

Although I feel that Rahr and Sons’ normal production line, while still quality beer, is not the most impressive to come out of the state, their big beers have been nothing but absolutely wonderful. Usually I bemoan spending 9 bucks on 22 ounces of beer, however Rahr’s offerings have always been worth the extra cost, and are examples of what joy and wonder can be created with excellent know how and quality ingredients.  Pecker Wrecker, an imperial pilsner, has been my favorite of these commitments to fine brewing.

You can read the full review of this hop forward beer here. 

#4 Real Ale Brewing Company’s Coffee Porter (Blanco, TX)

Diverging from the hop-forward beers of the previous three recommendations in this list, Real Ale Brewing Company’s collaborative effort with Katz Coffee Roasters produces a wonderfully complex and full bodied explosion of chocolate malts, coffee, and slight floral hop flavors on the palate.

This is another beer which, while I loved the hell out of it like the above-mentioned Sailing Santa, was consumed during a time that I was neck deep in a wading pool of my own self-doubt and loathing. Expect to see this beer reviewed in greater depth later in 2012. 

Four Fantastic Things #4: My Last Week As Illustrated By Monty Python Clips

So far this week has done its fair share of beating me into the ground, and while I have the desire to share this with the world, I will pass. No one wants to hear someone bitch and moan. We all have problems, we don’t need those of others.

So instead of going into details, I will just post four Monty Python clips that address my major complaints without additional commentary. Enjoy! 

Four Fantastic Things #3: Songs About Drinking!

Nothing like a good song about drinking when partaking of fermented intoxicants. Here are four of my favorite pieces of music referencing drinking. Prost!

Four Fantastic Things #2: Four Songs By The Pixies

Within the collection of musicians that have been a part of my life, next to the Beatles, The Pixies are the absolute pinnacle of music for me. Dirty, fuzzy guitar sounds, fat bass, and wonderful lyrics. Cant go wrong with these four selections of their catalog. Enjoy. 

Four Fantastic Things #1: Four Fantastic Four Creative Teams

While the objective of an author’s review of any consumable should be as objective as possible, but because we each have our own experiences and preferences, true objectivity is difficult to obtain. Due to this, whenever reading a review, it’ a good idea to know something about the individual who is pontificating on the consumable du jour.  The purpose of this new feature is twofold, one it gives me the opportunity to put my reviews in context with things I have established as enjoying, and second I get to discuss, in brief, items that might not need a full entries detail.

While I will often use a theme to bring the focus of these articles together, I do foresee breaking from that format on occasion.

For the first installment, from the source that inspired the title of this new feature, I will indulge in my first guilty pleasure, and discuss the best four writers/artists that made the Fantastic Four the “world’s greatest comic magazine.”

#1 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby 

Starting at the beginning of this group of hero’s mythology, it didn’t hurt that the creative team that gave them life was the team of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.  Covering the first 102 issues of the series, the duo laid the expansive groundwork that effectively made Marvel’s first family a successful narrative, combining larger than life adventure of a scientific/space bend with the dynamic of four people who had human issues with how they saw themselves, and how they would work together as individuals who have to rise above their individuality and work and live as a single entity.  Also, although not the first in the superhero world, the focus of the team was not crime fighting. Where popular titles from Superman, Batman to Spiderman spent a fair amount of time making the world a more decent place for the people in the cities they patrolled, the FF at their best is about exploration and defense of the galaxy.

#2 John Byrne, writer and artist. 

After the comic’s initial heyday, the popularity, and ultimately the quality of the writing and artistry of the pulp rag declined, and was often mired in comic book clichés, and only superficially touched on what the original run offered the reader. When Byrne took hold of the series though, the aspects that made the comic worth reading where brought back with a vengeance.  

#3 Walter Simonson, writer and artist.

My affinity with our #3 pick is perhaps the most superficial of the picks, but is still dear to myself because he was the writer artist for the first issue of any comic book that got me reading them regularly with his work on issue #337. While Simonson’s endeavors where of a great quality, they pale in comparison to many of this lauded writer and artist’s other endeavors (check out Simonson’s Sandman Mystery Theater for some of the best detective/vigilante writing I have read to date).  

#4  Jonathan Hickman, writer, and Steve Epting, artist

 

 After Simonson ended his run, Tom Defalco took over writing responsibilities for the Fantastic Four, and began the book’s decline. The art suffered, the character development ceased, and each issue seemed to always culminate in two teams of superhero’s fighting without much motive. This combined with the fact I was becoming more mature, and straying away from the pulp fiction, I took a hiatus from the comic book world for a good decade or so, until the announcement that a member of the FF would be killed off, for good this time.

While I was hesitant to be pulled into the comic book world again because of a gimmick, ultimately I bought the first issue, and realized what I was missing. Just like the prior writers and artists, Marvel had coupled talent that knew how to address the first family of comics with a scope that was fantastic, yet very human.

I hope you enjoyed this article, and are looking forward to more.  Please subscribe, comment, follow, or anything else to feed this narcissist.

Pope Crisco