2017’s Best Television Shows And Craft Beer Pairings

It was a great year for craft beer and a terrific year for cutting-edge television and as usual we overindulged in both.  So here are (in no particular order) some of our favorite television shows from 2017 along with a suggested beer pairing.

Mindhunter (Netflix)

Based on the true crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, and overseen and sometimes directed by David Fincher (Seven, The Fight Club, The Social Network, Zodiac) Netflix’s Mindhunter may be the decade’s most unlikely exploration of the whole serial killer thing.

Set in 1977, in the early days of criminal psychology and criminal profiling at the FBI, Mindhunter revolves around two FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCall), along with psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), as they set out to interview imprisoned serial killers in order to understand how they think.

Mindhunter’s just-the-facts take on the early days of FBI profiling is absolutely mesmerizing but it’s the surprising and sometimes highly comedic interplay between the three leads that takes this crime drama in unlikely direction. There’s also the serial killers they meet with – and every one of them steals the show in their own ways! Suggested Beer Pairing: Southern Prohibition Jack the Sipper ESB

Halt And Catch Fire (AMC)

Forgive us the obvious pun, but Halt and Catch Fire, which ended its fourth and final season in 2017, was a slow burn.

What  began with an indifferent first season chronicling what would eventually decades-spanning tale of tech-savvy geniuses going through the grinding step-by-step of getting one project after another funded and shipped, became increasingly poignant and personal over time. And in the end it became all about the personal stories, each character’s successes and failures, and love lost and gained. Suggested Beer Pairing: Anchor Steam Ale

Game Of Thrones (HBO)

If people still gather around water-coolers on Mondays and have ‘water-cooler conversations’ about what happened over the weekend, chances are they were talking about Game Of Thrones, which moved closer to its final season this year.

Now freed somewhat from author George R.R. Martin’s unfinished and sometimes meandering adult fantasy, GOT sharpened its vision considerably in 2017 and set a new standard of visual and conceptual brilliance. Suggested Beer Pairing (as if we had a choice): Ommegang Take The Black Stout

The Leftovers (HBO)

Like AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, The Leftovers was another sometimes trying existential epic that got progressively better, and it also ended this year.  The Leftovers’ final season followed a large cast of individuals forced to live life dealing with a ‘rapture-like’ simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people. And if this sounds kinda depressing…well it sometimes was.

But it could also be deeply humane saga that honored the winding, unending journey of its survivors, in episodes that packed more wit, plot, and pathos into an hour than most dramas manage in a year. Suggested Beer Pairing: Wicked Weed Black Angel Cherry Sour

 

Better Call Saul (AMC) – Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul returned for its third and possibly it’s best season…and if you’ve not yet checked out this Emmy award-winning series you’re missing out on one of 2017’s television’s most artful and entertaining “long-form” television dramas.

Created and occasionally directed by Vince Gilligan, Better Call Saul tells the story of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and how he evolves into the charming and somewhat shady lawyer Saul Goodman that we first met in Breaking Bad. Suggested Beer Pairing: Green Duck Beer’s Better Call Saul Sweet Stout

 

Honorable Mentions –

The Handmaid’s Tale – HBO

The Americans – FX

Glow – Netflix

Stranger Things II– Netflix

Mr. Robot –USA

The Crown – Netflix

Legion – FX

The Walking Dead – AMC

Suburra – Netflix