AF&TB's October Spectre-tacular - Die, Evil Zombies!

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2012-10-30, 04:21:03

BRAINS S.A. GOLD

Brains . . . . Brains . . . .

Yeah, I’ve used that gag before (as the title for the Brains S.A. review*), but this time, everything is falling into place for a zombie-ridden, video-enhanced finale to October’s creepy beer reviews!

* In which I mistakenly put an apostrophe in the name – but I think there honestly should be one, all things considered.

Well, it’s called Brains, so it needs some zombie figures to go with it. And for someone who doesn’t really like zombie films, I’ve sure got an eclectic collection of undead action figures. So to accompany this beer I present, clockwise from the top: Zombie Megator from MOTU Classics, SDCC Terrorcon Cliffjumper from TransFormers Prime, the Zombie Driver from Lego’s Monster Fighters line, and the Zombie Viper from the modern G.I. Joe line. (But no Undead Geonosians. Not only were they practically impossible to find, but zombies and Star Wars just don’t mix for me, anyway.)

The S.A. Brain & Co. Ltd. brewery in Cardiff (Est. 1882) has produced this 4.2% ABV “refreshingly hoppy ale.” The label says it’s good on its own, or “with light flavours such as white fish and cheese.” It receives a late hopping in the brewing process, so it gets more of the tongue-grabbing tangy hops tingle to its taste. Honestly, it’s not really my kind of thing in the beer department, but if you like hops, this is one of the more balanced hoppy beers on the market, allowing the other flavour components to peek out wihtout being completely overpowered. It’s citrus-y, crisp, and dry, without being too bitter. And I would say it would also go well with crunchy snacks whilst watching some form of entertainment in a widescreen format.

PERTINENT RARE HALLOWE’EN EPISODE ALERT! Take a spoilt pedigree dog, a stupid stray Persian cat, a metrosexual urban fox, and an evil but lazy pigeon mastermind, put them in the back garden of a pub in London, and you have the BBC series Mongrels. It’s what would happen if the teams behind Family Guy, Blackadder, and The Young Ones were put in charge of the Muppets. One of the main characters (a stuck-up Afghan hound bitch called Destiny) goes into heat, and all the dogs from miles around engage in "a zombie-style siege" of the pub where the show is set. Fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show will get the biggest kick out of the musical number, but the episode itself is definitely for Shaun of the Dead fans. Thanks to Tresob Yr, who helped with the code, below you will find the musical number which inspired the title of this week’s article, “Die, Evil Zombies!” Enjoy!

As a final side-note, I gotta say I’m not keen on these modern, turbo-charged, flesh-eating zombies the kids all seem to rave about these days. Because traditionally, a zombie is usually just a reanimated corpse: slow, shambling, and forced to do the bidding of the magician who resurrected it. As noted paranormal researcher Rupert Giles once said, zombies won’t eat your brains, “Not unless someone ordered them to.” Although, I gotta say, they were fun to hang out with at Susie’s Hallowe’en party, handled their drink fairly well (an area in which they show not just fortitude, but also good taste), and shared a close, almost brotherly bond, even though they’re dead.

Drink this if you also like Stroh’s, Shepherd Neame’s brews, any other srongly hopped ales or lagers.