Aquaman was way cooler when he was a clean-cut ersatz Buster Crabbe who talked to flounder. He’s way less cool now that he’s a filthy, musclebound caricature of masculinity who is to lonely single women what feature strippers with 56GGG implants are to guys in raincoats. Still, James Wan’s giddy new epic Aquaman cannonballs into the pool, making a huge splash with razzle-dazzle imagination. Expect warriors of Atlantis straddling great white sharks and swimming into battle. Expect an ancient combat arena deep in the Atlantic where combatants face off above pulsing lava and a martial drumbeat is pounded out by (double-checks notes for confirmation) a giant octopus. Expect sea beasts straight from Homer and Lovecraft, a Tron Atlantis and an Attack of the Clones-style clash against an army of crustaceans. Aquaman screens at neighboring Blue Mouse Theatre at 7 p.m. Stop by Peaks and Pints for a flight of coastal breweries — Craft Beer Crosscut 1.3.19: A Flight of Coastal Breweries — before the flick.
Craft Beer Crosscut 1.3.19: A Flight of Coastal Breweries
Dogfish Head Midas Touch
9% ABV, 12 IBU
Dogfish Head began brewing in 1995, when craft beer was first taking off on the East Coast, and it became one of the first microbreweries to gain a national following. Its home base is a landmark along the main drag in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Midas Touch is the first beer in the brewery’s Ancient Ales series. It’s a concoction of beer meets mead brewed with barley, white Muscat grapes, honey and saffron. This smooth, dry ale will please with Chardonnay or IPA drinker alike.
Pelican Peached On Deck
6% ABV, 15 IBU
Pelican Brewing serves craft beer at three beaches along the Oregon Coast — the flagship brewery in Pacific City, as well as Tillamook and Cannon Beach. Capturing the tart and sweet side of peaches, Peached on Deck pale lager delivers aromatic notes of sweet succulent peaches with a surprising champagne-like finish. The soft yellow hue hints at the velvety texture, the delicate flavors of toasty malt and sweet fruit. Lager yeast delivers a clean and crisp finish.
Buoy Dunkel
5.5% ABV, 20 IBU
Astoria, Oregon, arborist Luke Colvin coaxed client, longtime homebrewer and lager specialist Dan Hamilton to open Buoy Beer Co. with his brother-in-law David Kroening, business advisor Jerry Kasinger and businessman Andrew Bornstein, who had a 90-year-old cannery building in Astoria. The rest, as they say, is history. Inspired by the original beer style of Bavarian villages, Buoy Dunkel yields flavors of chocolate, toffee, caramel, and fresh baked bread. A gentle kiss of hops brings a nice, crisp finish to this smooth, complex lager.
Fort George Waves of Silence: Allison
9% ABV
In 2006, Chris Nemlowill and Jack Harris flew to Virginia Beach, Virginia to salvage an 8.5-barrel Saaz brewing system and drive it across the country to install it in their soon-to-open Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon. They went on to specialized in seasonal IPAs and stouts, including the new Waves of Silence imperial stout series. The first Silence, Allison, is brewed with dates, brown sugar, and plenty of oats. Each wave will be a unique experience.
Rogue Straight Outta Newport IPA
8.7% ABV, 73 IBU
With Straight Outta Newport IPA, the new double India pale ale by Rogue Ales, a brewery dubbed a “Revolution in Beer,” Maier and company spell out in hops the joy and frustration brimming of life blue-collar coastal town. Rogue’s Straight Outta Newport double IPA is crabby crabbers and sneaker waves, fishermen and big trucks, all surrounding a larger-than-life 8.7 percent alcohol by volume and 73 International Bitterness Units. Starring DextraPils, Pacman, Gold Pils Vienna, Belgian Candi Sugar and MC Munich — and backed by Mosaic, Citra, Comet and Hallertau Magnum — this depiction of the West Coast style and the city it proudly hails from is “a bold and flavorful profile, bursting with aromas of grapefruit, tangerine and orange, fruity hop notes and a juicy finish.”
