Beer and a Movie

Hark! A New BaaM Episode Appeareth  This week on Beer and a Movie, we are joined by Emily Suggs, our most learned and oft-returning guest, for a thoughtful dip into Hamnet—a most modern tale and fictionalized accounting of the writing of Hamlet, now strutting about the awards circuit in fine hose. But lo, Shakespeare hath been borrowed from before. Thus, we turn our gaze unto Shakespeare in Love, and discourse upon inspiration, grief, creation, and the eternal question: what if the bard was, in fact, very horny? Our cups run dry of alcohol this fortnight, yet not of flavor, as we quaff Brooklyn Brewery’s Special Effects Grapefruit IPA alongside Best Day Brewing’s Galaxy Ripple Imperial IPA—our first parley with Best Day. Same keen analysis. Same merry disputation. Just NA beers, gentlefolk. 🎧 Attend thee now, wherever podcasts be heard.

This week, we hit a double feature of Netflix’s latest mood-soaked meditations, Jay Kelly and Train Dreams, with guest Adam Beam. Both films lean hard into lush cinematography, sweeping landscapes, and the quiet poetry of a life unfolding… but they take those ingredients to two very different destinations. To pair with all that visual beauty, the guys crack open a couple of beers with complicated pasts. First up: Magnetic Disturbance from Roughtail Brewing—an IPA Joe grabbed last week without peeking at the bottom of the can: It's two and a half years old. (Whoops. Not all art ages gracefully.) Fortunately, redemption comes in the form of a 2024 Goose Island Bourbon County Macaroon Stout, a beer that absolutely benefits from a year of patience and barrel-kissed maturity. Thoughtful films, adventurous beers, and a blunt verdict from Dave and Joe: See Train Dreams NOW.

This week, we’re following the yellow brick road straight into an Oz double feature—Wicked: For Good and Return to Oz. Two films, decades apart, both proving that no matter how far you wander, you can’t escape those ruby-slippered roots. To keep our courage up, we crack open two high-octane potions from Lagunitas: the Maximus Colossal IPA and the Shugga Original Recipe—big, bold brews with enough ABV to make even the Cowardly Lion roar. Let’s just say there’s no place like foam. Joining us is returning guest Adam Beam, who chatted with us about the original Wicked: Part One. He’s back to help us untangle this Emerald-City-sized tapestry of witches, Wheelers, wizardry, claymation fever dreams, and questionable Kansas parenting. We ease on down the cinematic road, talk sequels that aren’t really sequels, prequels that might be sequels, and why Return to Oz still feels like the dark and stormy night Dorothy really needed a therapist for. If you’re into green girls, Gump gliders, and stories stitched together with a whole lot of heart, this episode is over the rainbow and then some. Grab a Maximus, click those heels, and join us—because this week, it’s Oz or nothing.

Guest Blake Trevino returns to Beer and a Movie for a two-lager, two-Edgar Wright film kind of episode. First up is The Running Man (2025), a fresh new take that still carries some of Wright’s kinetic fingerprints—though two of us liked it and one of us walked away a little underwhelmed. Then the trio dives into Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the purest expression of Wright’s comic-book pop energy, where smash-cuts become punchlines and the emotional core shines through all the visual fireworks. To keep the conversation crisp, we crack open a Sierra Nevada Premium Pils and  Tupps Beer Ease Side Lager, two clean, classic lagers that pair perfectly with Wright’s ability to make even the most chaotic scenes feel smooth, deliberate, and unmistakably his.

It’s a tale of two Frankensteins! After years of dreaming, Guillermo del Toro has finally unleashed his version of Frankenstein — deeply human, and visually stunning. Then we dig into Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein, a depraved, gleefully grotesque art experiment that feels like it was stitched together in a neon nightmare. Same story, two wildly different visions of creation and chaos. And, fittingly, we’ve got two very different IPAs to go with them — Lagunitas’ Beast of Both Worlds, a bold hybrid with bite, and Fast Friends Brewing’s Matamata New Zealand Hazy IPA, a smooth newcomer full of unexpected character. Two Frankensteins, two beers, and one electrified conversation about what it means to make a monster. #BeerAndAMovie #Frankenstein #DelToro #Warhol #FilmPodcast #CraftBeer #Cinema #Horror