‘Jaws’ and Why Aren’t You in the Water? Watermelon Gose
Da-dum. Da-dum. The craft beer in this pairing comes adorned in some seriously awesome movie-inspired can art.
The Movie: Thriller with a big shark! / 1975 / The Zanuck Company – Universal Pictures
The Beer: Watermelon Gose / 4.5% ABV / Main & Mill Brewing Co. – Festus, MO
I like to tell people I grew up in the town that Jaws was based on. Matawan, NJ doesn’t have many other claims to fame, but it does happen to be the site of two of the 1916 Jersey Shore shark attacks. As the terrifyingly true story goes, a shark made its way through the town via a freshwater creek and killed at least three people. Panic and shark hunts ensued all up and down the Jersey coast, but the “Matawan Maneater” was never identified. In 1974, writer Peter Benchley published a novel inspired by the attacks, and it didn’t take long for Steven Spielberg to adapt that book into a movie.
Jaws is of course a pretty different story. For one thing, it takes place on the fictional Amity Island in the 1970s rather than an early 1900s Jersey town off the Raritan Bay. The villainous shark is also a decidedly massive great white rather than the unconfirmed monster behind the Matawan attacks (some sources suspect a bull shark). Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider also go on to trap and blow up the giant shark as opposed to real life’s open-ended finale.
And instead of a sleepy freshwater creek, the movie attacks take place off of busy sea beaches. Like the famous “why aren’t you in the water” scene. It’s a breezy beach day that would be pleasant in any other movie, but in Jaws, the underlying tension makes it utterly terrifying. With the threat of more fatal shark attacks looming over the town just in time for peak tourist season, people stay put on the sand. A desperate Mayor Vaughn strolls around, continuing to push the illusion of safety. ”Why aren’t you in the water?” He asks one unfortunate family. “No one is going in.”
And that’s exactly why you don’t listen to sordid men with even more sordid fashion sense, folks (seriously, that striped suit looks more at home in Willy Wonka’s factory than a mayoral office). As anyone who’s seen the movie already knows, the people do eventually venture into the waves. Sure enough, the shark comes by for some nibbles, and “Why aren’t you in the water” quickly becomes “Get out of the water!”
It seems the brewers at Missouri’s Main & Mill are huge fans. They released a whole Jaws-inspired beer series over the past several months. Finishing off the warmer months is Why Aren’t You in the Water?, a beer that just screams to be paired with a movie viewing.
It’s not just the name. A gose brewed with sea salt and watermelon, this beer tastes like something you’d sip during summers at Amity Island. Unlike a lot of other sour-style beers with watermelon, the fruit does not overwhelm here. It’s gently puckering throughout, with hints of juicy watermelon sweetness on the finish. The can art is also thoroughly awesome, done by local Long Island artist Andrew Krahnke. Main & Mill does seem to have a knack for choosing their label artists.
Neat, right? Check out some of Main & Mill’s past Jaws creations from this year (with equally awesome can artwork from Krahnke):
In case anyone’s wondering, these brews pair best with the original 1975 Jaws. If you’re looking for something to help you wade through the sequels, we’re going to need a bigger beer.
