Pre-End of the World Highlights

I've been away a while if anyone who reads this, and if you are reading this then thank you for spending some of your well earned time on reading what could be construed as some very pointless ramblings. Recently I've mainly been cramming in gaming and drinking between doing the sensible things like earning money and spending quality time with the better half.  But it's nearly the end of the year so hooray! And what a year it has been for gaming and beer alike, so before we get blown into oblivion when Nibiru comes crashing down on us here's my top three games and also my top beers that have graced my chops. 

Beer Byte - XCOM Enemy Unknown

At the time of writing this I am pretty late to the party in terms of reviewing this game, by the time of you reading this you'll be pretty late to the party, period. When I say 'party', I mean alien invasion, and all your friends are dead or abducted.  This, you will have to deal with a lot in XCOM, all I can say is be prepared for a rocket load of aliens, and a lot of squad mates dying. 

So does XCOM Enemy Unknown live up to it's 90s PC predecessors? 

Scare yourself to drink this Halloween

If you hadn't noticed, soon it's Halloween and little kids will be knocking on your door, interrupting your gaming time and asking for sweets which is the complete opposite of what your Mother told you to do in not take sweets from strangers, but it's OK because the little whipper snapper is dressed as Dracula, Doctor Who or Morgan Freeman. 
But anyway if you want something spooky to drink this weekend I've tried and tested some Halloween themed beers and if you happen to be alone and want some fright time then I've also posted a few scary games which you can use to dirty up all your underpants. More than usual maybe.

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. 

You've drunk two beers - you're addicted to alcohol

Don't be sad, you've been drinking!

Alcohol in games can be just as weird as sex in video games. The part it plays in games and the effect it has on players can really be very different to real life.  Drink a few beers in Fallout 3, you're addicted to alcohol, drink a few test tubes of what looks like purple Sourz (people who drink Sourz like some hardcore shot be aware it's 15% you're pretty much doing a shot of wine) and you wake up next to an Asari. Maybe it's doing a good thing representing alcohol like this -you know, drinking responsibly and all that.