Beer and a Movie

401: The Legend of Beer and a Movie - The Legend of Billie Jean

After 8 years, 900 beers, and more movie debates than we can possibly count…this is it — the final episode of Beer and a Movie.

Our last film — the one we could not end without reviewing — is The Legend of Billie Jean: the definitive film review of this underrated masterpiece and our love letter to Corpus Christi, the city where BaaM was created. The takes on Billie Jean get surprisingly heated

For the beers, we keep it meaningful. We start with Martin House Brewing’s Peace Be the Journey — a toast to the 8-year journey we’ve all been on together. Then Joe pulls out something truly special: Barreled Souls Brewing's Honey Pot, a gift from Dave over a decade ago, saved for exactly the right moment.

And because it’s the last one, we lean into it. We talk about what Beer and a Movie might’ve looked like if COVID hadn’t changed everything, shout out the many recurring guests who became part of the fabric of the show, and take time to say a genuine thank you to everyone who listened, supported, and shared a beer with us along the way.

Carlos is here to help send us off the right way, and in a perfect bit of full-circle timing, Joe’s long-dreamed-of guest finally makes an appearance: Dave’s wife, Errin, with a surprise pop-in that feels like it was always meant to happen.

It’s the end — so we let it be. One last conversation, one last round, and the only way we knew how to go out.

PS: Fair is fair.

400: Back In The Cage with Guest Carlos Cooper: Gone in 60 Seconds/Joe/USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

It's our 400th (and penultimate) episode!! So we floor it into the chaos with a full-blown In The Cage episode—the sacred, unhinged tradition where every pick is pure, uncut Nicolas Cage energy. And for a moment this big, you bring back family: Carlos Cooper returns—our one-time permanent co-host turned every-50-episode chaos agent—to ride shotgun one more time before the finale.

Three hosts. Three Cage movies. No brakes.

Joe comes in hot with Gone in 60 Seconds—chrome, speed, and that mythical Eleanor gliding through traffic like a fever dream. Carlos zag-picks with Joe—gritty, stripped down, and proof that Cage can burn just as slow as he explodes. And Dave…Dave chooses violence with USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage—a war story soaked in sweat, sharks, and sheer Cage intensity.

The beers match the moment: we kick things off with Martin House Brewing Company’s Roadhouse Coffee, roll into the heavy artillery with Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s Firestone XXI Anniversary Ale, and finish like kings with the Bourbon County Reserve Brand Blanton’s Stout (2021)—because if you’re going to do #400, you go big, bold, and a little unhinged.

It’s loud. It’s loose. It’s everything BaaM has been for 400 episodes—movies, beer, and just enough chaos to keep it dangerous.

One episode left. Let’s burn it down.

399: The Philadelphia Story/Ball of Fire With Guest Heidi Hovda

Only 3 BaaM episodes left, and now it’s getting classy…dangerous classy.

Local film enthusiast and cheerleader Heidi Hovda finally pulls up and programs a double feature straight outta the early-40s screwball playbook: The Philadelphia Story and Ball of Fire.

We start things proper—popping champagne alongside The Philadelphia Story like we’ve got Cary Grant money—and then slide into a 2024 Bourbon County Vanilla Rye Brand Stout in an attempt to compete with the heat of Ball of Fire.

Expect rapid-fire 40s slang, high society burns, and enough verbal gymnastics to make Jimmy Stewart stutter and Gary Cooper lean back and nod.

And make no mistake—Heidi brings the Barbara Stanwyck energy.

The real question: can Joe and Dave keep up? Or are they about to get left at the train station holding the luggage while Heidi runs the whole picture?

Three episodes left. No fillers. All killers.

398: Grandma's Boy/Zorro, The Gay Blade With Guest Blake Trevino

With only 4 episodes left, Comedian Blake Trevino returns one last time taking the wheel to program a double feature that’s been living rent-free in his head every time he’s on the show: Grandma's Boy and Zorro, the Gay Blade.

For the first half, we lean all the way into chaos with Soul Sips THC 10mg Iced Tea—because if you’re diving into Grandma’s Boy, you might as well meet it on its level. It’s loose, it’s ridiculous, and the laughs hit a little differently when your drink is doing… extra credit.

Then we pivot hard. Like, silk cape and secret identity hard. Out comes David’s Magic Bag of Beer with a 2020 Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout—a rich, tea-infused beast that pairs surprisingly well with the offbeat, ahead-of-its-time weirdness of Zorro, the Gay Blade. Two teas, wildly different missions.

Blake brings the comedy brain, we bring the drinks, and somewhere in the middle we try to figure out why these two movies kept coming up—and why they actually make perfect sense together.

It’s stoner nonsense, swashbuckling absurdity, and drinks that range from “what is happening” to “oh wow, okay… that’s happening.”

397: The 2026 BaaMies With Guest Daniel Benavidez

Forget the Oscars…this is the real main event.

It’s The BaaMies! — our biggest Beer and a Movie episode of the year, where we wrap up everything that mattered in 2025: the best films, the worst disasters, standout performances, and of course… the beer.

And we didn’t come light.

For the first time ever, dream guest and Patron Saint of Beer for BaaM Daniel Benavidez brings his magic bag of beer — loaded with four incredible brews (and yeah… things may or may not get a little whiskey involved).

New Glarus Brewing Co.'s Strawberry Rhubarb
Jester King's Fēn Táo Blend Eleven (2025)
Jester King's Atrial Rubicite
Dogfish Head's Czech-Spresso

Dave and Joe break down their Top 5 Movies, Top 3 Beers, and everything in between in an episode that goes bigger, looser, and a little boozier than usual.

This isn’t awards season.
This is BaaMies season.

396: The Bride!/Secretary With Guest Kailey Diaz

Only six episodes left, so we’re bringing in one of our favorite reinforcements. Kailey Diaz joins the gang for one last hurrah, and we almost go as off the rails as the final new-release movie we’ll ever review: The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s strange, ambitious, full-tilt fever dream of a film.

To pair with it, we go back to the movie that helped launch Gyllenhaal into the spotlight—Secretary—a performance that announced her as one of the most fearless and unconventional actors of her generation. 

We also hear from a listener who’s thrilled that David’s Magic Bag of Beer has been leading to longer beer discussions. In response, we reach into the bag twice. First up is Jester King’s Aurelian Lure bottled in 2018, followed by a Bourbon County Brand Stout from 2018. One of these beers has aged beautifully. The other…has not.

With Kailey in the studio, the beers flowing, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s wild cinematic vision on the table, the conversation swings from thoughtful film talk to complete chaos—exactly the way we like it.

395: The Secret Agent/It Was Just an Accident with Guest Ethan Thompson

On this week’s Beer and a Movie, we go global — and uncomfortably current.

The Secret Agent and It Was Just an Accident, two Best International Feature Oscar nominees anchor the conversation. Both films wrestle with paranoia, authoritarian creep, and the slow normalization of fear — themes that feel disturbingly timely amid rising global tensions and the recent bombing of Iran. 

Joining us is Ethan Thompson — the original third co-host of BaaM — stepping back into the third chair to walk down memory lane. The rhythm snaps back quickly: old stories, early-show chaos, and the kind of shorthand you only get from building something scrappy together from the ground up.

The beers match the mood.

We start with New Belgium Brewing’s 1554 leaning into the historic zwert tradition, a centuries-old style that uses gruit (a blend of herbs and botanicals) for bittering instead of hops. 

Then David reaches into his Magic Bag of Beer and pulls out a decade-old bottle of Allagash Brewing Company’s Coolship Resurgam. Spontaneously fermented and oak-aged, it arrives tart, funky, and beautifully evolved.

Creeping fascism. Wild fermentation. A reunion years in the making.

It’s Beer and a Movie — and this one lingers long after the glass is empty.

394: Sentimental Value/F1 With Guest Adam Beam

This week, we attempt to find the hidden thread connecting Norwegian heartbreak with Brad Pitt's high-octane racing. Adam Beam returns to tackle two Oscar Best Picture nominees, Sentimental Value and F1. 

On the beer side, we’ve got a Banger Imperial Hazy IPA from Saint Arnold Brewing, juicy enough for a cinematic slow-mo montage, and from David’s magic bag of wonders, the 2025 Goose Island Bourbon County Double Barrel Stout, an imperial stout (17.4% ABV) aged in two sets of freshly emptied Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond bourbon barrels. Sip carefully, argue passionately, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll see why Sentimental Value and F1 kinda work together.

393: Wuthering Heights (2026)/Dangerous Liaisons With Guest Emily Suggs

Only 9 episodes left, and this one is all corsets, cruelty, and complicated desire.

Emily Suggs — our resident literary adaptation assassin — returns to the mic after publicly side-eyeing the marketing campaign for the new Wuthering Heights. The big question: did director Emerald Fennell deliver a fever-dream romance worthy of the Brontë chaos…or was this all perfume and no poison?

To keep the seduction simmering, we pair it with Dangerous Liaisons, the gold standard of powdered-wig manipulation. If you like your romance weaponized and your flirtation fatal, this double feature is basically a lace glove hiding brass knuckles.

On the beverage front, Emily zigzags expectations with two non-alcoholic canned mocktails from Athletic Brewing Company, proving you can keep your wits sharp even while discussing reckless passion. Meanwhile, David reaches deep into the magic bag and pulls out a 2017-bottled Oude Geuze from 3 Fonteinen — a spontaneously fermented, beautifully aged Belgian bruiser that’s as complex and unpredictable as the characters on screen.

It’s bodice-ripping. It’s sex-charged. It’s literary. It’s petty. It’s Beer and a Movie at its most unhinged and articulate.

Nine episodes left. Don’t miss the scandal.

392: Nuremberg (2025)/Come and See With Guest Harold Ramos

Only 10 episodes left!

Harold Ramos returns armed with two things we respect deeply: a massive film pick and an even more massive beer. This time, he brings a 19-year-aged Cantillon Lou Pepe — the longest-cellared beer we’ve ever poured on the show. It’s funky, complex, a little intimidating… which turns out to be the perfect pregame for 2025’s Nuremberg.

To pair it, we go even darker.

We discuss Elem Klimov’s Come and See — a film that isn’t just “disturbing,” it’s endure-it-and-process-it disturbing. The kind of movie that doesn’t feel watched so much as survived. Brutal. Unflinching. Historically suffocating in a way that lingers long after the credits roll.

To honor its Russian roots (and brace ourselves emotionally), we crack open a 7-year-aged Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery Illuminatos Russian Imperial Stout — thick, heavy, and appropriately brooding.

What unfolds is a conversation about World War II on film — but from wildly different cinematic angles. One film examines accountability and aftermath in courtrooms and ideology. The other drags you through the mud, fire, and psychological ruin of war itself. Same historical shadow. Completely different lens.

Big beer. Bigger history. Ten episodes left.

This one weighs something.