The Drunken Moogle

Today I stumbled across another website about video games and booze. Rather than recommending the pairing of a specific booze with a specific game, it lists cocktail recipes based on games. It's pretty awesome. Check it out here.

Wii Sports Tennis and The Bruery Saison de Lente

The weather has been getting warm as of late, and I've been feeling more and more outdoorsy. Thus I had the urge to play Wii Sports Tennis. The game can make one surprisingly sweaty, and so naturally a refreshing beverage is a great accompaniment. I was going to try out a handful of summer seasonal beers, such as Goose Island Summertime, Bell's Oberon, Two Brothers' Dog Days, etc. However, I found The Bruery Saison de Lente on sale. I've been wanting to try it ever since having their Saison Rue, and I figured that a style of beer that was originally invented to quench the thirst of dehydrated Belgian farmhands would be good enough to keep me going through an exhausting bout of Wii Tennis.


Saison de Lente pours with a spectacularly meringue-like head that never dissipates. It is light amber in color, and has a nose full of funk, cloves, and a surprisingly noticeable amount of hops. The beer has a very light body, but is loaded with flavor. It tastes of banana, clove, citrusy hops, and earthy funk. The beer is fermented (at least partially) with Brettanomyces, which causes it to be quite dry. This is what gives it its pronounced funkiness. Saison de Lente is more bitter than most saisons that I have had. I liked the beer, although the combination of strong, clove-like phenols and substantial hop bitterness always makes beer taste overly medicinal.

Saison de Lente is certainly refreshing, and as this was exactly the quality I was looking for in a pairing for Wii Tennis, I suppose it was a successful match. Unfortunately, I did not find myself in need of refreshment, as my opponent (a good friend of mine who will remain anonymous) did not necessitate any exertion on my part. In short, I whooped his ass over and over, and did not come close to breaking a sweat. Not that he is terrible at Wii Tennis, but it takes a special player to compete with my skill level, which according to the game's calculations is literally off the charts. Anyway, it was an enjoyable experience, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Belgian farmhouse ales. Next time, I might try Saison Rue, or perhaps my favorite saison of all time, Saison Dupont.

Super Mario Galaxy with 2007 Les Vignerones de Tavel Terre des Lauzeraies Côtes du Rhône

After my last post, I wanted to test my theory that there is some kind of red wine that pairs well with Super Mario Galaxy. As I have mentioned, a Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel was entirely too powerful. Mario games, with the obvious exception of the Lost Levels, offer gleeful, easy-going experiences. They are quite accessible, but are not lacking of complexity in their construction. In short, they are juicy, flavorful, and altogether delicious. They are the chicken of video games. Specifically, the chicken that has been brined overnight and roasted to perfection.
So what do I like with my chicken? A lot of things. But perhaps because of Mario's red suit, or because of my suppressed urge to pair Mario games with Chiantis, I felt the need to try another red with this game. Some of my favorite reds for roasted chicken have been Côtes du Rhônes, so I found a relatively cheap one, a 2007 Les Vignerones de Tavel Terre des Lauzeraies Côtes du Rhône, and tried it out.


I wish I could tell you the blend in this wine, but neither the store where I purchased it nor the internet could provide me with this information. For a $10 bottle, it was as good as one could expect. My guess is that it was largely made up of grenache. Cherry and vanilla flavors dominated, with notes of lemon peel and a hint of plum. It might have benefited from a little less oak.
Overall, the pairing fell a bit short of my expectations. While the relatively simple, enjoyable wine went well with some levels, such as the Rolling Green Galaxy, it failed to enhance the cartoonish seriousness of others, namely the Battlerock Galaxy.


The pairing was by no means offensive, but it did clearly demonstrate that my approach to finding a pairing for Super Mario Galaxy needs to be reconsidered. Maybe a rosé, a white, or a different type of booze altogether would be better.

Next up on The Art of Pairing Video Games with Booze:

Summer is here, and the time is right for Wii Sports. And booze. I'd love to hear suggestions. If you think you know what's up, send your ideas to videogamesandbooze@gmail.com.

At a loss

I'm drinking a 2007 Bodegas Castaño Hécula Monastrell after getting home from an extra-long workday. A sturdy red with a pleasantly acidic and tannic backbone, it is rounded out with notes of cherries and prunes. Now what the hell am I going to play with this wine? Let's take a gander at the old video game library.

Super Mario Galaxy? No. When I first got the game, I drank my way through most (okay, all) of a bottle of Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel. While that particular wine, like everything else that Ridge makes, was entirely awesome, it taught me that powerful red wines are not to be paired with lighthearted video games. Not that this Monastrell matches the intensity of the Ridge, but it still seems inappropriate.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade? I'm saving my bottle of Shichi Hon Yari Junmai Sake for that one, and I'm not about to open such a fancy bottle at this hour.

Madden '07? Of course not. I really have to get some new video games.

I swear to baby Jesus that I will post later this week with a brand new pairing that does not involve Diablo 2. Please have patience with me.

The Terrible Truth

Email from concerned and angry fans of this blog has been piling up in my inbox. People want to know why I have been so slow in writing new posts. They thirst for more delicious recommendations. I have indeed been lazy, but I want to make it clear that I have not forsaken video games, booze, or combining the two in ways most exquisite. To be fully honest, I have not posted new entries as frequently as I originally expected because I have lapsed in my recovery from that terrible drug, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Sure, as I have previously pointed out, Stone Smoked Porter is a great pairing. But I might as well run through some alternatives, since I have tried out a good number of them over the past few weeks. Here are some quick reviews:

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction with a 2005 Arceno Chianti Riserva Classico

This Chianti went quite well with Diablo. Given the amount of blood and red potions and fortresses that appear in the game, all but the lightest old world red wines should be a nice match. 2005 Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva was no exception. It was, perhaps, a little more restrained than would be ideal, but surely a relatively subtle red is more appropriate than a California fruit bomb. I particularly recommend this wine with acts I and IV.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction with Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout

I'm not a big fan of most coffee beers. I love coffee, and I love beer, but I find that all too often, coffee beers taste like stale coffee grounds. Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout was an exception. Situated comfortably between dark-roasted and caramel malts along with the boozy vanilla lent to it by its bourbon barrel aging, the beer's coffee flavors were part of a beautiful balance. And most importantly, the coffee notes tasted fresh.
GIBCBCS paired well with Diablo II, which is not surprising, given the affinity that imperial stouts (and dark ales in general) have for fantasy games. However, at 13% abv, I found that it dulled my skills after a while, and by the time I was half-finished with my second glass, I began to die with alarming frequency. It's probably best to split this one with a friend, especially during Act V.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction with Short's Huma-Lupa-Licious IPA


West Coast IPA's and swords do not go hand in hand. I enjoyed Huma-Lupa-Licious, though it did not enhance my gaming experience any more than any other decent beer would have. If I had been playing Act III while I drank it, I might have felt differently. Act II would probably have worked out okay as well. Unfortunately, this beer is inappropriate for Acts I, IV and V.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction with a Jim Beam Perfect Manhattan

A little bit of sweet vermouth, a splash of dry, a few drops of Angostura bitters, all topped off with good ol' Jim. Jim Beam is not at all the best whiskey for Manhattans, but it does in a pinch. Similarly, Manhattans are not the ideal beverage to consume while playing Diablo II. But hey, after a hard day at work, they're not so bad together.

Only one option is left if I am going to rip myself from the clutches of Diablo and get around to playing other games: I need to play it so much that I become disgusted with myself. I'll get to work on that right now.

World of Goo with New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red

I recently drove up to Madison, Wisconsin, with my brother in order to wait in line for 5 hours to buy tickets to the Great Taste of the Midwest. The Great Taste is a fantastic beer festival that is held in Madison every August, and I'm sure it will prove to have been worth the trip to get tickets. While in Madison, I was sure to buy some beers from New Glarus Brewing Company. New Glarus doesn't sell their beer outside of Wisconsin, and while I wish they would distribute to Chicago, I know that their small size has a lot to do with the quality of their products. I was most excited about picking up a bottle of their Wisconsin Belgian Red, a cherry lambic that I had only ever tasted a thimbleful of prior to last night.


Tiana (my lovely girlfriend) had recently expressed interest in re-playing World of Goo, a fantastic downloadable game that involves building structures out of little goo blobs in order to help them travel through strange and colorful landscapes. I thought that the Wisconsin Belgian Red might go well with this game, so last night, we fired up the Wii and poured the beer into large white wine glasses.

The pairing worked out pretty well. Wisconsin Belgian Red is the color of dried blood and has an intense cherry pie aroma. It tastes richly of cherries and spice, its refreshing tartness balanced by plenty of sweetness. Wisconsin Belgian Red is a tasty candy of a beer, with more to it than Lindemans Kriek or other sugary pseudo-lambics. World of Goo is similarly colorful and unique. They are cartoonish in delightful and thoughtful ways, and consuming them together was a lot of fun. Of course, good pairings are not always the result of similarity. Perhaps an imperial stout could have been just as good. I do feel that beer is probably the way to go with World of Goo, or failing that, some fine German schnapps.

Recommendations

A couple of people have posted comments to ask for recommendations for specific games or boozes. I am happy to give advice, so keep the questions coming. I will try to implement a feature that keeps all of these types of exchanges in one location on the blog, but for now I'll try to check all of the different comment sections in order to catch questions as they come in. I'm going to be trying out a new pairing tonight, and most likely I will post the results tomorrow.