Hello Everyone, and welcome to another installment of Pop Culture Pairing, a Tap Trail series where we take our favorite pop culture characters and pair them with popular craft brews. Catch up with past articles on Star Wars and Game of Thrones.

This week, we tried something a little different. We’ve partnered with Kiersten Umbinetti, one of the Best Beertender in Bellingham top three finalists. Together, we paired our favorite Muppets characters only using beers you can find at Elizabeth Station.

(Please don’t stone us if we didn’t beersonify your favorite Muppet.)

 

         
Kermit the Frog: The Classic – Dead Frog Brewing

When you hear Muppets, you immediately think of Kermit the Frog. The true leader of the pack; a classic who will remain a household name for years to come.

Miss Piggy: Bitch Creek ESB – Grand Teton Brewing

This Extra Special Brown Ale is the perfect balance of malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Miss Piggy may be an OD (Original Diva), but her love for Kermit and flirty personality makes her impossible to hate. She’s kind of a bitch, but she’s a special kind of bitch.

 

Gonzo: Ground Control – Ninkasi Brewing

Fun fact about the Muppets: Gonzo is the only character other than Kermit the Frog to take on the leading role in a film. (I mean, unless you count the modern Muppets movies, but that argument is not valid here.) The movie I’m referring to, of course, is Muppets in Space. As far as the beer goes, Ground Control is one of the coolest, most pretentious brews out there. The ale yeast used in this beer has actually traveled to space and back! Crazy, I know. Now, can you really taste foreign space particles in your beer? Not really. But you can feel accomplished that much like Gonzo the Great, your beer is a space traveler.

 

Fozzie Bear: Brainless on Cherries – Epic Brewing

You have to give it up to the Jim Henson Company on the creation of Fozzie Bear. He has the only failing standup act that I think anyone actually enjoys. Granted, they’re mostly making fun of him, but what Fozzie doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

 

Statler and Waldorf: Barrel Aged Double Bastard Southern Charred – Stone Brewing

Okay, I’m not going to waste a ton of time explaining why Statler and Waldorf were paired with this beer, because the name makes it pretty obvious. What I will say, however, is that this is an INSANELY limited beer. It was aged over a year before it was released in 2012, so count yourself lucky if you pick this baby up at Elizabeth Station. As Statler and Waldorf might say, “this beer has been aging almost as long as this act.”

Animal: Wild Sour Series: Lynnbrook Raspberry Berliner Weisse – DESTIHL Brewery

The greatest drummer in the history of rock and roll. It felt appropriate to pair Animal with one of DESTIHL’s Wild Sours; it felt more appropriate to pair him with the one that came in a hot pink can. A fun lively sour with a good amount of kick. Animal would certainly approve.

 

Swedish Chef: Mathias Dahlgren & Evil Twin Matölen – Evil Twin Brewing

Besides the fact that when reading the name of this beer out loud you can barely understand what’s being said, Mathias Dahlgreen is the name of *wait for it* an actual Swedish Chef! Evil Twin collaborated with Dahlgreen on this Blueberry Porter “as a more food-friendly pairing” beer, according to the can.

 

Pepe the King Prawn: Fuego del Otoño – Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

This literally translates to Autumn Fire. Everything sounds better in Spanish. Pepe is a little conniving sweet talker who typically deceives you into his getting his way. He may seem approachable, but he’s incredibly destructive.

 

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew: Epiphany Pale – Old Schoolhouse Brewery

“Muppet Labs, where the future is being made today.” Master scientist Dr. Bunsen Honeydew would get kids all hopped up on science with his latest experiments. Of course, they typically never turned out well, which leads us to…

 

Beaker: Bomb! – Prairie Artisan Ales

Do you ever wonder what Beaker probably looked like before he became Dr. Bunsen Honeydew’s lab assistant? He probably has some really depressing back story. I mean, he probably was this really chill dude with an extensive vocabulary and enviable hair who found an ad for an assistant and took it because he was trying to pay off his student loans from earning his PhD and thought it would just be temporary. But like, someone can only be blown up so many times before they turn into a squeaky, static-haired thing and now Beaker will always be stuck at the explosive end of an experiment until that final blow finally gets to him. Just a theory.