Action Figures & Their Beers: Lightning Strikes

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2012-05-07, 10:57:23

SUMMER LIGHTNING

We have a multiple award winner this week: one I’ve been wanting to review for a while, but didn’t have a decent figure to match it up with. This is the second beer for which I’ve picked up an action figure especially so I can pair it up and get it reviewed. And again, as with last week’s Hopping Hare / Stampy combo, I wanted to wait until the figure went on sale. Do you know, if you have a nice Pile Of Loot at BBTS, and it doesn’t affect the shipping weight much, it actually costs less to tag a $3 clearanced action figure onto your order and have it shipped across the Atlantic Ocean than it does to buy the thing at full price in the shops here in England? Pathetic. Even more pathetic is that it costs less than the clearance price in many English shops, too. Anywho, let’s move onto this nice beer.

As it’s called Summer Lightning, it gets paired up with Thor, the thunder god. (Because Jazwares is completely mismanaging their Mortal Kombat licence, and I therefore can’t get a decent 4” Raiden.) This is the flagship brew for Hop Back Brewery, and according to the blurb on the label, it has won more than 70 awards, including multiple CAMRA (CAMpaign for Real Ale) gold medals. Understandable. This is Good Stuff. Pale golden in colour when you pour it out (another bottle-conditioned beer, so pour carefully), very lightly fizzy, and full of rich, satisfying beery aroma with a tinge of something tangy, it’s extremely crisp and refreshing. The logo apparently derives from a carving of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, who was begotten by one of Zeus’ thunderbolts. And I can’t believe I just used the word “begotten” without any sense of irony or without the prefix “mis-” in front of it. Anywho, this carving of Boozius Maximus* is found above the entrance of the Wyndham Arms in Salisbury, where this ale was first brewed. A solid standard-range 5% ABV, it is one of the perfect beers for slaking thirst and relaxing on a summer’s day.

* It’s late, I’ve had a pretty stressfully crap day at work, have done a lot of “research and reviewing” for this week’s article, [In other words, drinking. -Bill] and I can’t remember the “real” name of the Roman equivalent of Dionysus, if there even was one, nor could I even be bothered to look it up online. Tough noogies.

Drink this if you also like: Discovery, Beachcomber, Stroh’s, or any other tangy, hoppy, refreshing beers.