Mike Loves Beer

With most movies and TV shows now and days you are sure to see a character or two relax with a nice beer every now and then.  But for the most part it will either be a completely unnamed beer or one made up just for the television show.  But a trend is starting to form where craft beers are being seen more often on the big and little screen.

In the television series Reno 911 and their movie Reno 911: Miami the Dogfish Head brand is seen quite often.  Whether it be actual beer or tacker signs the off centered brewers are present quite a good deal.  Now you are probably asking how a small independant brewery from Deleware got their product placed in such a recognizable media show.  Well it turns out that Thomas Lennon, who plays the ever hilarious Lt. Dangle, goes back to college days with DFH owner Sam Calagione.

A couple quick other movies I have spotted craft beer in include Kona Brewing in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Stone Arrogant Bastard in Cabin Fever.

And while on the topic of Stone they have made quite a presence on the small screen by their product making constant appearances on the Showtime hit show Weeds.  The show takes place in a fictional neighborhood somewhere in Southern California so having a SoCal brewer present in the show only makes sense.  The character Andy is seen on a few times drinking such Stone brews as Levitation, Oaked Arrogant Bastard and the original Arrogant Bastard.  In one episode he is even seen wearing a Stone t-shirt.  Great publicity for one of the countries leading craft breweries.

I tried looking all over the internet for some screen shots of any of these cameos but of course it is somewhat hard to do.  I was able to come across some pictures of Andy with Stone bottle around from Weeds.  So for your enjoyment here they are.

I can’t help but think that this is a great step for craft beer every where.  It is a form of advertising to where maybe someone that has never had one of these brews before will become curious.  They might think to themselves, “Hey I should look for that beer with the demon on it.”  Time will tell if this will help generate more attention to craft brew but I can’t think that it is anything but a plus.

Have you seen craft beer in a movie or on TV.  Please share!

Name – Wailua Wheat
Country – United States
Type – American Pale Wheat Ale

Appearance – Pours a pretty clear golden, almost orange, color with a very thin bubbly white head that was gone pretty quickly.

Smell – Really tough to pick up the scents.  There is a slight floral presence and very faint sweet fruit smell but didn’t remind me of passion fruit.

Taste – Slight bit of a fruit taste up front.  I can pick up some passion fruit in there and almost a slight raspberry taste as well as it was a little tart.  Tastes of yeast and wheat in there as expected and a slight spice to it.

My friend Ben asked that I review this as he has become a big fan of it.  I can definitely see that this is a good summer beer.  It is refreshing and light in body.  It reminds me a little bit of Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier.  Not the best wheat I’ve had but definitely not a bad choice for these hot, humid nights.

Overall Grade – C+