Today is International Beer Day, a global celebration of beer that takes place every first Friday of August. First observed in August 2008, it is now celebrated in over 200 countries. Beer is considered the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage in the world with references to the production and distribution of beer in the Code of Hammurabi and a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer in "The Hymn to Ninkasi" --which served as both a prayer and a way to remember the recipe for beer.
Society and culture played a large effect on the brewing of ale which had come to be considered a social lubricant in many societies.
Beer forms part of the culture of beer-drinking nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals. Beer is sold in bottles and cans; it may also be available on draught, particularly in pubs and bars. To draw the attention of a different group of individuals, brewers and manufacturers came up with different means on how to market their product. In light of today's celebration, let's look into video game inspired brews for video game fans.
8-Bit Pale Ale
As described in the Tallgrass Brewing Co. website, "8-Bit Pale Ale pays homage to the classic, yet complex video game systems that weren’t perfect but still sparked our imaginations. Notes of fruit and pine resin dominate the aroma with bright hops and vibrant tropical fruit flavors shining through in this medium-bodied American pale ale." The 8-bit era saw the coming of greatest Video Games, this brew makes a good drink for those who would like to reminisce the third generation of video games.
Hoptronix
As seen in the New Holland Brewing website, "Hoptronix 1-ups the game with its eye-popping bitterness. Mosaic hops give this IPA a dark aroma, yet it finished smooth and crisp." Hoptronix takes its inspiration from "Space Invaders" created by Tomohiro Nishikado in 1978. It was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry.
Bla Spogelse
This beer takes into account one of the greatest video games of all time, "pacman" an arcade game from 1980 created by Japanese video game designer Toru Iwatani. Guinness World Records has awarded the Pac-Man series eight records in Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008, including First Perfect Pac-Man Game for Billy Mitchell's July 3, 1999, score and "Most Successful Coin-Operated Game".
On June 3, 2010, at the NLGD Festival of Games, the game's creator Toru Iwatani officially received the certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having had the most "coin-operated arcade machines" installed worldwide: 293,822.
Here we see examples of beer products that turned to video games for inspiration. Such products often are marketed in a limited time and are best saved as a collectible item for most video game fans who would like to savor the good times and the experience they had playing these video game titles.
