I feel like popcorn was taken hostage by movie theaters. I started thinking this a year or so ago when I was driving in Michigan and stopped at an Amish road side stand and bought popcorn kernels. They weren’t like anything I’d seen. They had several varieties and when we popped them at home they tasted different, smelled different, looked different.

And so I started thinking harder about popcorn. It’s really an amazing snack food. It’s relatively healthy. It’s a ton of fun. It’s one of those foods that kids gravitate towards, so you know it’s got some of that magic working. And in my opinion it’s one of the best tasting pairings with all sorts of alcoholic drinks, especially champagne.

We featured heirloom popcorns at Clover movie nights and it was a huge hit. Now Rolando is upping the game and has been experimenting

with Popcorn as a snack for beer launches. Last week for Jack’s Abby we had BBQ popcorn, and the other night for High and Mighty we had Cajun popcorn.

But seriously, when was the last time you made popcorn? It’s cheap, it hold forever without going bad. And it’s really easy to make. So free your popcorn from the movie-theater shackles and make some at home for yourself. I found a recipe online that works great:

– Put 1 Tablespoon of oil in a pan with 2-3 kernels. heat with lid on until you hear them pop.

– Remove from heat. Add rest of popcorn you want to pop (a couple tablespoons goes a long way). Cover. Count to 60.

– Turn the heat back on. Listen for pops. Turn heat off when there are a few seconds between pops.

– Put some parmesan cheese on there, or butter, or nutritional yeast, soy sauce, something spicy, you can’t go wrong.