‘Eternals’ and a Beer From the World’s Oldest Brewery
The MCU’s latest movie follows a group of immortals who’ve lived on Earth for thousands of years. Weihenstephan Brewery isn’t quite as old, but it’s ancient compared to the vast majority of breweries operating today.
The Movie: Superhero Action-Adventure / 2021 / Marvel Studios – Disney
The Beer: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier / 5.4% ABV / Weihenstephan Brewery – Freising, Germany
*Spoilers*
I struggled to choose a beer pairing for the MCU’s latest movie. Eternals is about a group of 10 immortal humanoids sent to Earth several thousand years ago to protect the planet from invading aliens known as deviants. There’s a lot of superhero-themed beer out there and others with the name “Eternal” in it, but that would have felt like too standard of a decision, and this movie is definitely not a typical superhero movie (more on that in a bit). I briefly debated trying to find a really weird beer with a crazy lineup of adjuncts to honor , but did I actually want to drink that? The movie’s 2 hours and 37 minutes long! I needed something refreshing and on the light side.
Enter Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier.
The Wheat Beer is refreshing and crisp for sure, but perhaps more importantly it comes from Weihenstephan Brewery in Bavaria. Founded by Benedictine monks in a monastery, the brewery has been in continuous operation since 1040!
That’s still a lot younger than the eternals themselves, but it’s mighty old by Earth standards. To put it into context, Germany wasn’t even a country yet, and the majority of modern beer styles had yet to be invented. Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier has been a popular draft and bottle beer for decades around the world though, and as of this year it’s finally available in cans in the U.S. If you’re looking for more options from the world’s oldest brewery, they also released a canned Helles Lager.
Speaking of which, that “world’s oldest” status is debated by some. Though that just makes the beer an even better pairing for Eternals. After all, this is a movie not everyone agrees on.
You may have heard that Eternals is, overall, the worst reviewed film in the entire franchise. And no, critics aren’t just taking issue with the MCU’s first-ever sex scene.
But take all of it with a grain of salt — Phase Four is vastly different from where the franchise was at back in Phase One or even Two. I’d argue that comparing the movies at all isn’t even fair. The earlier phases followed pretty generic superhero stories (origin + a love interest + betrayal + small fight scenes building up to one big one). And while that was necessary for establishing the universe, they feel kind of stale and boring in comparison to where the MCU flicks are at now.
Phase Three — with refreshing additions like Spider-man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok — completely shattered the mould, and the series has never been the same. So far, Phase Four continues to explore new kinds of heroes and stylistic choices. The plot lines are more complex, unpredictable and often spectacularly weird. Told in alternating past and present format, Eternals is an example of the MCU deviating from its former tried-and-true mass appeal. We’re just so not in 2008 anymore — this isn’t Iron Man.
What also may be upsetting to some people is that while this is a group-hero story, Eternals is vastly different from Avengers or even Guardians of the Galaxy. These aren’t people who are discovering their powers and/or learning to work together — they’ve been on Earth for 7,000 years! They know each other well and perhaps have the most realistic family dynamic yet (second only perhaps to the characters in Black Widow). They’ve lived entire lives, multiple lives at this point, with each other and with others. Their powers are well-honed, and for the most part they’re pretty confident. Honestly, I found it refreshing.
Ready for another unpopular opinion? I enjoyed the ending (If you haven’t seen it yet and really don’t want any big spoilers, now’s a great time to exit). In a total departure from the norm, the characters disagree about what approach they should take upon discovering that the truth of their existence is to ensure the birth of a celestial and Earth’s subsequent destruction.
Then instead of coming back together in the end as would happen in pretty much any other movie, they all stick to their guns! Nobody’s really in the wrong here — it’s understandable why each character chooses the path that they do, and it’s a fitting conclusion to the movie’s thread of nothing being black or white. The world’s a messy place, and as much as the eternals love Earth and its people, they hate how violent and destructive humanity often is. As Kingo (who decides to sit out the end fight entirely) points out, “We all followed our hearts.”
Which is really what the filmmakers did, at the end of the day. Whether you end up liking Eternals or agreeing with the critics, that’s still something worth toasting to. Cheers!
