In honor of Comic-Con: comic-themed beer and breweries

Hey everybody, if you couldn't tell by the avatar, I love me some Bigfoot and comic books, so I figured why not make it complete and throw the third love in there as well. Beer. Comicon just kicked off in San Diego, so I was wondering what comic book themed (or "inspired by") beers and breweries were out there (and more importantly, are they worth it to track down?)

Relatively new Arcade Brewery out of Chicago was the first one that came to mind. On their website... "Arcade Brewery is also collaborating with amazing comic book artists and writers to bring label and packaging design to a whole new level of awesomeness. We are currently working with the talented Tony Moore (The Walking Dead), Eisner-nominated writer Jason Aaron (Scalped, Wolverine, PunisherMAX), and graphic artist Seibei."

 

Definitely seems to be a theme in the Chicago area.

And "Kidnapped by Vikings" sounds like an excellent graphic novel.

 

Ralph Steadman's art on Flying Dog's labels always gave me a cool Bill Sienkiewicz vibe (as a little comic book shaver I grew up knowing who Bill Sienkiewicz was before I had been introduced to Steadman's work.)

http://ralphsteadman.com/

http://www.billsienkiewiczart.com/

And as an aside, for some reason, I always hear Tom Waits in my head whenever I look at either of these artists' works.

 

I think the comic book scene in Portland is second only to beer (the two should have a joint con, IMO), so that makes perfect sense. Now if only we could get some Gigantic down here in L.A.! Axes of Evil!

 

Not to mention some of the names. "Thunder & Son" and "Lager Town" sound like something from an independent publisher. Even "Big Hugs"...

 

Black Tuesday and MotherFunker would make a nice crimefighting duo.

 

I hadn't even heard of this series, so I'll have to try to track some down. I want to say I've seen some Elysian stuff down in L.A. (I could be wrong,) but I doubt any of the Apocalypse will make it.

And the art is definitely badass.

http://www.elysianbrewing.com/beer/apocalypse.html

I grew up with the old Claremont stuff as well (including the New Mutants, bringing it back to Bill Sienkiewicz and the Great Bear Saga! Boom! ... Yeah, that's hardcore comic geek, right there.) Pairs rather nicely with Ballast Point's Black Marlin, IMO.

There were a couple of guys doing a Beer and Comics blog for awhile, but I think it's kind of gone off the radar.

 

Day 2 of Comicon and someone just sent me this link to Mikkeller's Doszt. A beer brewed especially for a comic shop.

http://mikkeller.dk/doszt/

"Sooner or later you’re going to mix up your great interests. I know for sure, because I’ve seen it happen lots of times.One of my good friends is a Double Geek, on one hand he’s a Beer Geek, he has a shop that sells a lot of beer, in my opinion, one of the best in Denmark. But in addition to his passion for beer, he’s also a comic book geek. And it is impossible for him to keep the two interests separate. The picture on this blog post is a good example of what I mean.

Mikkeller has brewed a very delicious Pilsner especially for his shop. Lovely and refreshing with lots of American hops. Pils the American way, as we know and love them. But my friend’s interest in comics has led him to give this beer a name only he can pronounce, and which only the most geeky comic nerds would know the reference for."

 

With a website like theirs, I wouldn't be surprised. Complete with a "heroes" and "villains" section (Carlos Javier aka The Mexican Logger!) It also reminds me of the Aquabats.

http://www.skabrewing.com/main.html