Tag: The Ringer

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In the Tap Lines for December 2024

Well, 2024 was going along pretty well for 10 months. We will need to really enjoy the living hell out of what may be a final American holiday season. Sorry, not sorry for being so dark but do your best to truly live the sentiment of the season. Christmas is a time for EVERYONE to be happy. I am happy for the great Christmas beers and will be for each of these 31 days.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Best of issue of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine

~ special featured reviews of Christmas Ales

~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events

~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark

~ A Book & A Beer reads Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Shift Meal on the Ringer Food podcast

~ Sports & A Beer returns with what to do with the excess bowl games

~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month

~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

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A Podcast & A Beer – The Ringer-verse / Deadpool & Wolverine

The long anticipated and long hyped Deadpool 3 is in theaters now and for this month’s edition of A Podcast & A Beer, instead of focusing on an ongoing series or a podcast season, the featured podcast is just that, one podcast.

It is the Ringer-verse and the story of how Deadpool and Wolverine is the summer of 2024 blockbuster.  Ringer staff writer Daniel Chin does a deep dive on these two iconic (now fellow MCU) characters.

For an 1 1/2 podcast, the pacing is brisk with, thankfully, minimal commercial breaks for Mint Mobile.  The timeline is laid out well so that even a non comics fan can follow from point D to point W.  And there is also a good though discussion of why Marvel is at a low point and could really use that Deadpool mystique.

For beer, well you could skip beer and find bottles of red or yellow branded Aviation Gin but I would suggest looking to the year 2009 when X-Men Origins: Wolverine arrived and brought them together for the first time.  It might take a little sleuthing where you live and it might bring back memories of long lost breweries but the easy thing to look for is a brewery that just turned 15.

For Los Angeles that would have been Eagle Rock Brewery and Ladyface Brewing.  The former just called it quits but you might find some last remainig cans around.  So instead head to Agoura Hills and Ladyface to have a draft and a 4-pack.

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A Podcast & A Beer – Gene and Roger

It is true that I watched a lot of Siskel & Ebert growing up and that the famous duo and their thumbs are now the subjects of a “look back” at podcast, which is another stark reminder of my age and how things have changed in the movies and in movie reviewing.

Gene and Roger the podcast is bundled inside The Ringer’s The Big Picture overall podcast and it is a fascinating eight part journey from the origins of the show to the deaths of the main pair and to the death of TV criticism with it. The host, Brian Raftery, keeps it moving along while adding in asides and personal connections and each thirty minute plus episode just whizzes by which is a strong plus in my book.

Now if there was a brewery in Hollywood, I would say that would be the perfect choice, or if there was a readily available, not owned by a huge conglomerate brewery from Chicago, that would be good too.

Instead, let’s take a different direction. See how hard it would be to sum up your next beer in under two minutes and then, give that beer a thumbs up or down, even if that beer is in the middle.

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A Podcast & A Beer – Binge Mode: Star Wars

If you want to go deep into the Star Wars universe after seeing Rise of Skywalker, then Binge Mode: Star Wars will give you all the info you desire.

From the horrible prequels to the stand-alone films, to the original trilogy and finally, the final three movies of the Skywalker Saga. The laughter is infectious and even though I didn’t like some of the movies as much as they did, it does bring back some of the childhood vitality that I remember from A New Hope that has been somewhat lost in subsequent films where money seemed a little more important. Which thankfully was found in time for Rise of Skywalker, my favorite of the new trilogy.

There are so many star systems and so many themes that can be chosen for beers to drink alongside this podcast and there bad Star Wars named beers aplenty. But I would suggest that you alternate from blonde ales (the light side) to dark lagers (the Sith way) because these podcasts are long and you will need session beers otherwise you might not make it to the end where they reveal the hero of each movie.

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A Beer & A Podcast – The Dave Chang Show


I have already highlighted one Ringer podcast and now I am back with another. But this one delves (at first) into the opening of the Majordomo restaurant by Dave Chang of Momofuku fame.

The podcast starts with episodes before the restaurant opens and then into a few episodes after the initial start of service. Bill Simmons is around for these episodes to add in sports analogies and the voice from outside to the proceeding which really do shed light on the process of opening a brand new restaurant especially in a city that Chang has not opened a restaurant in before. Not to mention the location which is not Beverly Hills to say the least.

You will get hungry while listening even though there is some repetitious sections (enough about the Kimmel dinner already!) but buried in the discussion are some great realizations about how to manage and how to delegate and just how to be a boss which I think are even stronger than the restaurant topics.

The beer choice is easy. Grab a crowler or a 4-pack of cans from Highland Park Brewery. Their new Chinatown location is a two minute drive from Majordomo. Maybe you can get the Quinoa Cowboy Pale.

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A Podcast & A Beer – The Ringer

I listen to quite a few NBA podcasts during the regular season but recently the one that I go to the most is The Ringer. Now that name isn’t as catchy or cool as Grantland but the site has that DNA embedded flavor in it so the podcasts are fun and a deep dive into all things NBA.

No matter which team you root for, unless they are super irrelevant, this pod will keep you up to date. This year has been especially fun to listen to the endless dissections of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Since both the Blake-less Clippers and the Walton and LaVar show are both struggling, it would be appropriate to stop at the new Dankness Dojo and order up a flight of the most IBU heavy beers and savor the bitterness.