GTA IV: The Lost and Damned with Good Ol' Jim Beam

I'm a cowboy/ On a steel horse I ride/ And I'm wanted (wanted!)/ Dead or alive.
~ John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.

The words transcribed above not only evoke feelings that I have felt all too powerfully while filling the shoes of Johnny Klebitz, anti-hero of Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, but they are indeed also found in a song that is included in the game's soundtrack. Riding around Liberty City on a chopper, listening to motorcycle-relevant songs and sipping whiskey makes a lot of sense. I'll earnestly disclaim that drunken driving is disgusting and terribly irresponsible. But whipping around the most beautifully-rendered virtual city that I've ever seen while loaded off straight cheap whiskey is really fun.

The first of the two GTA IV expansions has been decent thus far. Our hero, Johnny, is not as interesting or as sympathetic as Niko Bellic, the star of the original. But it's hard to go wrong with a biker-gang theme in the world of Grand Theft Auto. I won't waste our time over-analyzing the game, or even this pairing. Jack Daniels seems like something that the violent criminals in this game might drink, but due to a bad experience I had at a young age, and also due to my possession of taste buds, I'm not about to spend my money on that monstrosity.


No, a situation like this called for Good Ol' Jim Beam. Known for being the official whiskey of The Bomb Sawyers, it's also a great pairing for games involving motorcycle gangs. Playing GTA IV sober, I sometimes feel sad when I accidentally maim pedestrians or shoot dozens of innocent bystanders. Drinking straight Kentucky Bourbon, with it's hot honey-vanilla goodness, gives me the peace of mind to keep on going, regardless of the civilian death toll.

I'm looking forward to the second GTA IV expansion game: The Ballad of Gay Tony. I swear I'm going to get to my Tony Hawk/Pinot Grigio pairing soon. And there's still my Faxanadu/Mead pairing and Portal 2/Night Train pairings to look forward to. God help me.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 with a Delicious Martini(s)

I've had Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 in my Wii for about a month now, and it's been a roller coaster ride. I was terrible at it at first, then I got better, then I hurt my back. I don't know whether I hurt it from lifting a lot of heavy boxes at work or by playing Tiger Woods, but it made playing the game a lot less fun. Then my back got better, and then I got even better at the game, but then my virtual opponents got better, and I was back to sucking. For the sake of my back, and because L.A. Noire and Portal 2 are next in my Gamefly queue, I decided to play one last round tonight and mail it on back.

I've never played golf in real life, and if I did I'm not sure what I would drink. While golf is a particularly civilized sport, I didn't feel like sipping on a dainty beverage between shots. As far as I can tell, golf is about two things: Being classy and getting wasted. So what could be more perfect than a martini?

I made my martini with 1 part Martini and Rossi dry vermouth, 6 parts highly-underrated Seagram's gin, and a splash of pickle juice. I can do without vermouth when I have fancy gin, but I'm not exactly John D. or Catherine T. MacArthur. I used a pickle garnish, cuz that's how I roll. This all makes for a mildly sweet, slightly salty, and deliciously savory martini. I sipped it intermittently throughout the tragedy that unfolded over 18 holes, and it really helped me along. I maintained par for the front 9, but things fell apart after that. Gin is great in these situations. While whiskey angers up my blood, gin affects my spirit more gently. If I had been sucking down Manhattans, I might have thrown my Wiimote through the window when I quadruple-bogeyed on the 18th hole. However, thanks to my martini, I merely spoke the word "fuck" aloud at a modestly high volume.

COMING SOON: L.A. Noire with Leopold Bros. Whiskey, Faxanadu with Wild Blossom Mead, Mega Man X with something, Portal 2 with Night Train!!!!!!

God of War 3 with Highway 78 Scotch Ale and Hellhound On My Ale

It's been way too long since I've posted. I've been busy rocking out with my band and brewing beer and figuring out the logistics of starting a brewpub, and I've severely neglected playing video games. Sure, I've gotten in a good amount of Madden and Tiger Woods golf, but I haven't had the energy to research any particularly interesting pairings. Fortunately, I had no pressing engagements today, and I found myself starting up God of War 3 for the first time. And then I played it for 10 hours.
Playing God of War 3 for 10 hours in a day is exhausting. I can't even count how many people I ripped in half and disemboweled. I beheaded Helios, belegged Hermes, and pounded Hercules' face into mush. I had never played a God of War game before today, and I found it disgusting, but entertaining. I clearly didn't find it overly objectionable, as I only stopped playing to eat and to go buy booze to pair with it.

It's not that I really loved the game all that much. It's pretty fun, and it's certainly well-paced, but mostly I was determined to do nothing productive today, and the game helped me to achieve that. God of War 3 builds on the story from God of War and God of War 2. This story is complicated and pointless. The real point of God of War 3, and I can only assume the first two entries in the series, is to whoop ass all the time. Our antihero, Kratos, is determined to kill Zeus, and nothing is going to stand in his way. A lot of things try to stand in his way, but they get whooped in the ass. That's a really polite way of saying that they get shredded by large blades attached to long chains. It's kind of like the newer Prince of Persia games, but with a little less platforming action and a lot more blood and evisceration.
I was tempted to get something Greek to drink with this game. If my local booze shop had had a red Greek wine, I probably would have bought it. But they only had a white Greek wine, and that hardly seems hardcore enough for God of War 3. I would have bought some ouzo, but thankfully they didn't have it. I do like ouzo, but if I had drank it while playing God of War 3 my brain might have exploded. Instead of going with Greek booze, I went out on a limb and got a couple of limited-release beers that I thought could work.

The first beer I opened was a collaborative effort from brewers from Stone, Green Flash, and Port Brewing. As is noted on the bottle, it is surprising that the three of the hop-happiest breweries in the world would collaborate to make a malt-focused beer. Highway 78 is a Scotch ale, and it is strong and delicious. It has a wonderful raisiny maltiness up front, a bit of yeasty breadiness in the middle, and a long, relatively dry finish. It made me feel like Braveheart, which is a good thing to feel like when one is playing God of War 3. Highway 78, like the game, is pretty intense. They were a good match for each other.
The other beer I opened, Dogfish Head's Hellhound On My Ale, is also intense. I almost followed up that last sentence by saying "Intensely shitty," but I try to reserve hyperbole for positive commentary. The beer is not intensely shitty, but it does not do justice to its stated purpose, which is to serve as a tribute to Robert Johnson on the 100th anniversary of his birth. It's a double IPA with some lemon thrown in as a nod to Blind Lemon Jefferson. This is stupid, and makes no sense. I'm not sure exactly what kind of beer would be most fitting to honor a Delta blues legend, but I'm sure that it is not a double IPA with lemon. If Hellhound On My Ale was extremely delicious, I might be persuaded otherwise, but it is a hot mess. It tastes like alcohol, with a lot of hops, and a little too much sugar. There's a little lemon in there as well, which only accentuates the overpowering booziness of this beer.

Fortunately, hot boozy beers aren't so very bad when one is playing God of War 3. I could have been drinking shots of cheap vodka or Night Train and it probably would have worked. Hellhound On My Ale was powerful, so it was appropriate. Adding to this appropriateness was the fact that over the course of my day I ripped many heads off of many many-headed hellhounds. Take that Cerberuses.
I was going to write a special post to mark the one year anniversary of The Art of Pairing Video Games with Booze, but then I forgot. Anyway, it's been over a year now and I've reviewed over 30 pairings. At times I thought I would run out of ideas, but more keep coming to me. Keep checking back, because we still have a lot of important things to learn together. Important things about life. And video games. And booze.

Mega Man 2 by The Greatest Bits: A Boozical Review

Like a beautiful tree, The Art of Playing Video Games and Booze must sometimes branch out in new and wonderful directions. A while back The Greatest Bits, a self-described "Dutch dj/producer inspired by video games from the 80's and 90's" sent me a copy of his latest album "Mega Man 2." The Greatest Bits describes his Mega Man 2 album as "'chiptune crossover' style, combining 8-bit retro-style sounds with real instruments of the 21st century." It consists of remixes of the 13 songs found in the various levels (and intro and credits) of Mega Man 2. The original versions found in the game are awesome. It is clear that composer Takashi Tateishi set out to create excellent music, as opposed to excellent 8-bit video game music. The quality of music found in NES games varies wildly, and Tateishi's makes the bulk of it look pathetic compared to his work.


In his Mega Man 2 album, The Greatest Bits fleshes out and the game's score. Drums and guitar enhance the already-rocking music that has driven me to the defeat of Dr. Wiley so very many times. Multitudes of effects are employed and songs are re-sequenced to accentuate their grooves and elevate their dramatic dynamics. But let's get down to the details about some individual tracks. Tiana, who you all know from Smoking Zora and my own ultimate Super Metroid live-blog experience, stopped by to weigh in on Mega Man 2. I had previously asked The Greatest Bits what kind of booze I should drink while listening to his album. He recommended beers from Leffe, Westmalle, Grimbergen, and La Chouffe, along with any good hefeweizen. I wanted to pick up some Ommegang Gnomegang, a collaboration between Brasserie D'Achouffe and Ommegang, but I did my shopping at the last minute. The closest I could get was Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale, which I felt was reasonably similar in style to some of the beers suggested by TGB.


I gotta say, sipping on a delicious beer and listening to this album was substantially more relaxing than playing through a video game as quickly as possible (although I did do this at one point in my research in this post. I'll explain later). Tiana and I cranked up the stereo, and scribbled out some notes on individual tracks. "Airman" was her "#1 choice of soundtrack for drag-racing down a Florida highway" and made her feel like she WAS Mega Man. TGB's "Metalman" remix increased the song's intensity, and gave it a catchier beat. "Woodman" sounded more ominous and anxious than ever before, giving me the feeling that I really was plunging head-first through a forest filled with robotic spiders and bunny rabbits armed with only my trusty Mega Buster, Metal Blade, Atomic Fire, Crash Bombs, Bubble Lead, Quick Boomerang, Air Shooter, and Flash Stopper.
"Bubbleman" may have been my favorite track of all. TGB's version sounded rich and waterier than ever. I mean that sincerely, in case you doubted me. Tiana thought that listening to "Flashman" was like robo-tripping (she would know), and that she could probably "kill some @#$*&@#*$&^" while listening to "Quickman." I agreed. "Dr. Wiley Stage 1-2" was rocking off the charts (I love flangers), as was "Ending Theme."
As part of my review of this album, I played through MM2 in the order that The Greatest Bits has arranged his tracks. The game lets you play through stages in whichever order you like, and depending on how you do it, different weapons that are collected throughout the game can or cannot be used against certain enemies. I did not enjoy trying to play through Crashman's stage before defeating Metalman and obtaining Metal Blade. Stupid birds kept knocking me down ladders. Other than that, there were no glaring problems with the order of levels that the album presents, although it is not how I would have done it. I was at least very glad that Airman came first.
The Greatest Bits "Mega Man 2" is fun to listen to. I believe that it gives the game's music a richness and intensity that shows what it might have been like if it had been composed in the Playstation 3 era. It also makes for one hell of a rave. Everybody get your 'tussin!

Next up: I got Pinot Grigio and Skateboaring, Faxanadu and mead, and maybe one last crack at Mafia II (but probably not). But all I really wanna do is play Tiger Woods 2011. I think I'll do that right now.

A Taste of Chicago: We Did It Games's Path-O-Gen and Half Acre Beers

A spotlight has been fixed on the Chicago beer scene recently. Anheuser-Busch bought Goose Island, one of the largest craft breweries in America. Goose Island played a major part in my development as a beer drinker, and I have featured their beers in several past posts. I am no fan of AB-InBev, and their acquisition of Goose Island does make me somewhat less interested in supporting what was once my Chicago brewery of choice. That said, I do not expect a decline in the quality of Goose Island's beers.
But let's change the subject. I've been wanting to do a pairing on We Did It Games's first release, Path-O-Gen, ever since it was first released a few weeks ago. We Did It Games was founded in the not-too-distant past by an old friend of mine, Wayne, and his co-founder, Gabe. Path-O-Gen is a vertical-scrolling shooter, in the spirit of such classic games as Life Force. But instead of piloting a spaceship flying through a generic outer space setting, you control Gen, an adorable pathogen, fighting her way through the body of Dick, an asshole who needs to learn a lesson.


Path-O-Gen is a wonderfully-constructed game. It is difficult. Very difficult, in fact. Befitting of its genre, it requires a balance of weaving between enemies and blasting away at them. The game's mechanics are well-executed, and it is nicely paced. Just as you learn to deal with the tricky situation at hand, something else comes along to make it trickier. Helping you along the way are some classic Gradius-style power-ups that allow you to cut through enemies like a hot knife through butter. Path-O-Gen's visuals are fantastic. The backgrounds, representing the insides of Dick, are colorfully rendered, and the various microorganisms that one battles throughout the game are remarkably expressive.
As I have already mentioned, the game is difficult. It is frustrating in the way that old-school video games were. It's unforgiving nature makes it that much more satisfying. It also makes drinking beer that much more satisfying, and I did not fail to drink beer while playing the game tonight.

I asked Wayne and Gabe what they would pair with Path-O-Gen. Wayne suggested Three Floyds' Gumballhead and Gabe recommended Rogue Dead Guy Ale. Neither of these beers were available to me last night, but I was able to get my hands on Half Acre's Gossamer, as well as their Over Ale. Gossamer drinks like a milder version of Gumballhead. It has a nice fruity aroma and a wheaty, hoppy flavor. At 4.2% alcohol by volume, it is refreshing and very much appropriate when it comes to playing video games that take a long time to master. Over Ale is a delicious brown ale. It is very well-rounded, with a pleasant roasted malt character and just enough hops to round it out. It is fairly dry, which I usually consider to be a good thing in a brown ale. While it is not as sessionable as Gossamer, it was still very enjoyable drinking it with Path-O-Gen.
I had a great time playing this game with these beers. The beer was brewed just a few miles from where I live, and the game was, at least in part, created in Chicago. The fact that I was able to put together such a good pairing from local products goes to show one thing: I'm trendy as hell, and I'm also great for the environment.

Catalunya is Awesome

I'm sitting here after a hard day's work drinking a 2009 Vinos Piñol Terra Alta Ludovicus. It makes me think about how awesome Catalunya is. In 2008 I had the privilege of spending a few days in Barcelona, and it is one of the most astoundingly beautiful places I have ever visited. Delicious food, amazing paintings, and above all else, the awe-inspiring architecture of Antoni Gaudi really struck a chord with me. Barcelona was the first stop on my tour of Spain, and it took me a while to get a sense for where and when to find good food and drink. Due to this, and to the Euro being pretty strong at the time, I didn't drink much memorable Catalan wine while I was there.

The Terra Alta I'm drinking at the moment is delicious, and it brings to mind another gift that Catalunya has given to the world: Vega. Vega, of Street Fighter II fame, is not my favorite character in the game. However, I have on many occasions enjoyed performing repetitive wall jump-swan dive-body slams on opponents who found themselves helpless in my handsome, be-clawed grasp. I think that a good Priorat might be just the thing to accentuate my smugness during such a battle. Come next paycheck, I'm going to haul the old SNES up from Hyde Park, buy a bottle of Camins del Priorat, and find some sucker who insists on playing as Zangief.

Reflections on Super Metroid, Upcoming Posts, and More!

I'd like to start out this post by thanking Tiana, and to a lesser extent, Jason, Zack, and Anonymous, for their contributions to last week's live-blogging. And thanks to everybody who tuned in to check it out. It was awesomely fun. I've played through Super Metroid in one sitting 8 or 10 times, and this was surely the most enjoyable of them all. Bells Hop Slam, Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, and my own homebrew were all consumed during my destruction of Mother Brain. Out of the three, I thought that the wild ale that I brewed in December of 2009 was probably the best match for the game. The beer is along the lines of Orval. It's relatively lightness and funky flavor made it appropriate for my three-hour tour through the depths of the planet Zebes. The other beers were good, but they dulled the fantastically sharp Super Metroid-playing edge that I have honed over the years. It's not as if I died at any point (I did come close once or twice), but my skills were certainly not at their peak.

I'm excited about a few different upcoming posts. Mafia II deserves another chance with another Sicilian red. Faxanadu recently became available on the Wii Virtual Console, and I'll be giving that a whirl. I'm particularly looking forward to finding a pairing for We Did It Games's Path-o-Gen. Wayne, an old friend of mine, is one of the founders of We Did It, and I'm hoping to get his opinion on a pairing for the game.
The Art of Pairing Video Games and Booze is also going to be taking a temporary departure from its typical content to review The Greatest Bits' new album, Mega Man 2. I've asked Nanne of The Greatest Bits what to drink while I listen to the album, and I think it will make for a good evening.
I'll start tackling the above metaphorical fullback next week. In the next few nights, I'll be practicing hard for my upcoming show with The Bomb Sawyers at Miska's (2156 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago) this Saturday, March 26th. We'll be playing with Erik Cameron, Steven Gilpin, and architecture. The fun will get started around 8pm. The show is free, and it's going to rock.