Coming Soon: Bourbon County Stout and Batman: Arkham City

Every so often, a pairing comes along that is so extremely successful (or sometimes so terrible) that it leaves me without the time and/or wherewithal to write a post about it. It happens to be my birthday today, and the stars aligned for a magnificent tasting of three vintages of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, along with some Bourbon County Rare. Naturally, I drank this epic vertical alongside a nice session of Batman: Arkham City. I'll write a full post on it soon.

2009 Elderton Unoaked Chardonnay with Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos with Powers Whiskey

I've always been a big fan of B-movies, and lately I've really enjoyed reading various pulp novels. People sometimes create wonderful things when they're not worried about conforming to certain ideas of quality or form. To be fair, there is also a streak of masochism in my appreciation for these things. I feel an absurd sense of accomplishment when I sit through a film like Leprechaun 4: In Space. The other night, possibly while a bit under the influence, I was browsing through Gamefly's selections and happened upon Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos. Not being a fan of the show and noting the poor reviews attached to the game, I decided that it was the obvious choice to promote to the top of my queue.


Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos (henceforth referred to as DC: SoC) takes all of the most exciting elements of the crab-fishing show that it is based on and brings them into your home in the form of mini-games. Putting crab traps (or "pots" as I now know to call them) into water? Check. Taking them back out of the water? Check. Sorting bad crabs and fish out from the good ones? Hell yes. And who can forget the throwing of crabs into a basket that swings back and forth? BUT WAIT! This last mini-game has a monkey-wrench thrown into it in the form of a crane hook that swings back and forth in front of the basket. The depth and complexity that this hook adds to DC: SoC is breathtaking. If one does not time their crab-throwing carefully enough, the crab will bounce off the hook and NOT go into the basket. Which makes the mini-game take longer to complete, which means that you've wasted that much more of your life playing this game.


As you can probably tell from the anger and sarcasm that this game inspires in me, DC: SoC put me in desperate need of a booze to uplift me from its repetitive blandness. But what alcoholic beverage would be a good match for the game's clunky design and Game Gear-quality graphics? I have written in various posts about different approaches towards pairing games and booze. Perhaps it was the lack of inspiration in the game itself that steered me toward the more superficial approach, as rather than trying to find something that might help me feel like I was in the shoes of a crab fisherperson, I chose a bottle of 2009 Elderton Unoaked Chardonnay that I thought might be good with crab.


From Australia's Barossa Valley, Elderton's Unoaked Chardonnay is simple and clean. It tastes and smells of melon and green apple. It's subtle tartness and wet stone finish make it enjoyable, if not incredibly interesting. I can see it pairing well with crab. But unfortunately, I had no real crab. I had enough virtual crabs to choke a herd of virtual camels, but no real crab at all. The wine did make the game a little more enjoyable, but it wasn't enough to make the experience bearable.

Fortunately, my good buddy Nathan had the decency to bring over a bottle of Powers Whiskey. Three shots later, and all of a sudden we were having a good time. Singing improvised songs about sorting crabs makes sorting crabs much more fun. With its rich whiskey flavor, Powers helped us go all Mary Poppins on that bad boy. Just a bunch of whiskey helps the crappy game go down, in the most delightful way. And Powers is just harsh enough to make one feel tough, as if you might belong on a crab boat after all. As for my misguided hope that Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos would be the videogame equivalent to Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, well, I'll just have to keep searching.

Mega Man 5 with Ockenheimer St. Jakobsberg Silvaner Eiswein

Believe it or not, sometimes I come up with pairings that just plain suck. Head on over to http://tech.li/2011/10/mega-man-5-ockenheimer-st-jakobsberg-silvaner-eiswein/ to check out my latest review.

Little Big Planet 2 with Russian River Blind Pig IPA

Having gotten my hands on a Playstation 3 only in the last year, I find myself playing a lot of sequels to games that I have never played. The latest is Little Big Planet 2. A whimsical 2D platformer, LBP2 gives players control of Sackboy, a comical little creature made of burlap that can be dressed up in a diverse array of costumes. The game draws on quite a few classic video game influences, from Mario and Sonic to Gradius and even World of Goo. It has a goofy sense of humor that I imagine appeals to children, but like World of Goo, it also has a subtle darkness to it that at times gets downright creepy.


I didn't have any bright ideas for what to pair with LBP2, but fortunately my father kindly sent a bottle of Russian River's Blind Pig IPA my way. Blind Pig is a deep golden ale with a rocky white head that left lacing all the way down the glass. It smells strongly of piney, citrusy hops and just a touch of honeyed malt. It tastes strongly of grapefruit, with a light touch of graininess and a hint of caramel.


While not the most wacky or original pairing I've come up with, I did really enjoy this one. LBP2 and Blind Pig are both fun, well-crafted products that are a pleasure to consume. Having them together made me happy.

Crabs

Sometimes being under the influence causes us to do things that we later regret. While my more juvenile readers get their minds out of the gutter, I'll explain that the other night, while drinking whiskey, I took it upon myself to edit my Gamefly queue. I still can't explain the impulse that caused me to order Deadliest Catch: Seas of Chaos, but I did, and it's currently on its way. I think I thought it would be funny. And it might be, but I'm going to need to come up with something great to pair with it. Suggestions are welcome.

A Treasure Trove of Old-Ass Games

My good friends Sarah and Gilad were kind enough to give me their Atari, along with a couple dozen games. I'll have fun coming up with pairings for these. I have something great in mind for E.T., which is commonly considered the worst game of all time.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma with Ayinger Oktober Fest - Märzen

While watching me play Ninja Gaiden Sigma, a friend commented that he rarely sees me getting so angry when playing video games. His observation was accurate. I'll yell at the TV a lot no matter what game I'm playing, but I find this one to be particularly frustrating. It may be the only reboot of a classic series that is harder than its NES counterpart. The game stars Ryu, a ninja who kills a lot of people for some reason. The original Ninja Gaiden was applauded for its cut-scenes that added depth to its narrative. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (which I'm playing on Playstation 3), is a step backwards from this. I have no idea what is going on or why I'm doing the things I'm doing.

Ninja-fighting is awesome, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma can be pretty fun at times. Dicing up enemy soldiers with katanas gives me some satisfaction, but it never takes me long before I start dying. And while I respect the game's developers for giving gamers some old-school punishment, sitting through 5 minutes of load screens every time I die makes things get boring fast. Fortunately, the good lord gave us a delicious cure for boredom called beer.

I chose to drink Ayinger's Oktober Fest - Märzen while playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Getting my ass kicked over and over makes me thirsty, and I thought a reasonably light lager would be appropriately refreshing. The beer is deeply golden in color. It as an aroma of fresh bread and toast with subtle notes of almonds and golden raisins. It is amazingly smooth. Pleasantly malty, it has a subtle sweetness with faint traces of iron.
Every beer I've ever had from Ayinger has been the best beer I've ever had in its respective style. Their Oktoberfest is no exception. I think that it went great with Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but probably just because I like it so much. So let that be a lesson to us all. If you force yourself to play a shitty game in order to drink booze with it so you can write about it on the internet, drink booze that you like a lot so that the experience isn't entirely terrible.