Gourmet Gaming & Brilliant Beer

My last post involved beers from games, this week I'm going to be looking at matching real beers with food from popular games. Luckily though this food has been lovingly recreated by Gourmet Gaming, a great collection of recipes of dishes from some of your favourite games, re-imagined in real life for you to enjoy while play the games that inspired them.

Matching beer and food can be as complex as matching with wine but can produce a greater experience in my opinion. Now I can't dictate what beers you should drink with food, that's entirely up to you, but if you are looking for a bit more of a taste experience then the key is to experiment but also follow a simple rule; look for a balance of flavour. 

Match the flavour strength to the strength of flavour in the food and you can't go far wrong. Delicate styles like pilsners go well with light and delicate food, whereas more fully flavoured beers like IPA go well with rich or spicy dishes. 

So below I've picked some of Gourmet Gaming's creations and picked a beer I feel would be a good combination. 

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Chunko Honey Candy Bar - Fuller's Organic Honey Dew

Click here for the recipe

One of my favorite games of this year which brought back fond memories of the first Deus Ex. These kind of games are some of my favourite types, mixing first person action with RPG elements in an open choice world. With your augmented to hell body, it's going to take a lot out of you, so you're going to need some extreme sugary goodness to keep you ejecting explosive pellets from your body. What better snack than honeycomb encrusted in chocolate? This delicious little treat goes brilliantly with Fuller's Organic Honey Dew, as just switching between the crunchy honeycomb and supping this light golden ale really accentuates the honey flavour within the beer. 

Grand Theft Auto IV 

The Bleeder- Sam Adams Boston lager

Click  here to find out how to make this beast

Hungry after all that car jacking, maiming and general all round Mafioso behaviour? Then you need some serious coronary inducing food like this beast of a burger from GTA IV known as the Bleeder! Made with two 1/4 pounders, bacon, 2 types of cheese, gherkins and the usual burger trimmings and advised to be best served with a Pißwasser, GTA IV's 'lovely' named pilsner beer (which I forgot to include in my last post!).  Now a pilsner wouldn't be bad choice as it will cut through the saltiness of the meat and the gherkins, but with it's delicate flavour you'll lose the beer to the burger.   

Sam Adams Boston lager with its caramel notes will really work well with the beef while still cutting through all the saltiness in the burger. Saying that with the bacon and extras you might want a little bit more hoppy bitterness to complement them so Flying Dog's Doggie Style Pale Ale will do just nicely.

Devil May Cry 3 

Dante's Pizza - Brewdog Punk IPA

If you hadn't guessed clicking here will get you to the recipe

When Dante's not busy bleaching his hair or slicing demonic hordes into little confetti pieces, he likes to kick back with his top off and relax with a good slice of pizza. Who wouldn't, although in the real world if you were sitting around with your top off eating pizza people may have discerning thoughts about the kind of lifestyle you were living. 

This pizza has been given the Hell's Inferno treatment with a chilli base, chilli sauce and chilli cheese, this pizza is not for the faint of heart, or tongue...
Now if you want to cool down the heat you'll want something light like maybe Pilsner Urquell or Alhambra Especial but if you're eating a dish like this you're in it for the heat so you want something to kick it up a peg or two. For this I would recommend a good IPA with the bitterness and hops bringing out more of that spicy flavour, and Brewdog's Punk IPA or Hardcore IPA will do just that.

Portal 

The Cake - Meantime London Stout

It's not a lie - the recipe is here

To finish off I'd thought dessert would be appropriate, and what better than Portal's famously deceptive cake. Luckily you can turn this lie into something real with Gourmet Gamings very first recipe. This rich slice of Glados' congratulatory prize, which is honestly real and by no means replaced by certain fiery doom, needs something rich and full of flavour like a good stout. Meantime London Stout with it's mocha and vanilla flavours will certainly hit your taste buds like a companion cube to the face!

If you're fancying a night in cooking these real life digital delights why not make it a proper night and give these pairings a go, you might be pleasantly surprised!