Mass Effect Legendary Edition with Elysian Space Dust IPA – Beeps and Beers

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Space Dust IPA is made by Elysian Brewing Company. Article by Nick.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

I’ll begin this by pointing out the obvious to anyone who is familiar with the Mass Effect games: clearly this one beer did not come anywhere close to being the only one I drank during my time with this game. Why? Because it’s actually a collection of three games that each can take about forty hours to play through. I started to replay these back on Game Pass some months ago, and have been thoroughly enjoying my time with the trilogy again as I near the conclusion of the third game.

So, with a trio of games that have been getting played for months, I found myself trying to figure out which beer I wanted to associated with these games, and rather quickly settled on the Elysia Space Dust IPA for obvious thematic reasons. Simply put ‘space dust’ is a fun tie-in to a science fiction game set out in space. That being said? It’s also a damn tasty IPA that I had the fortune of drinking very recently.

Odds are if you’re a gamer, you’ve at least heard something about the Mass Effect games, both good and bad. The first game’s combination of action / shooter gameplay mixed with meaningful choices throughout the story thrilled fans. Mass Effect 2 was a critical and commercial success that ranks atop many ‘all time’ lists from that era. Mass Effect 3 brought the story to a head and combined it with the best visuals and action gameplay yet, but a conclusion that certainly raised controversy. Oh, and Andromeda was pretty meh, and I am not touching that spin-off title again any time soon.

Hard to believe that the first Mass Effect game came out over fifteen years ago now. It was a title I had a bit of trouble getting into originally (more on that in a future article). Conversely firing it up in the Legendary Edition, it fit like an old glove. Given how long ago I played it, I was surprised at how much I still remembered about the game. Not just the major plot points, but many of the smaller details along the way as well. It was comfortable and familiar. Along the way you make numerous choices that impact how the story plays out, and both those small nods and larger plot points serve the series well as it feels like it is your story.

I’ve had Elysian’s Space Dust IPA in the past several times. I think the first time was several years ago now. It’s not one I get my hands on regularly. IPAs aren’t my go-to year-round, but I certainly enjoy a good one. I wouldn’t say it is a great one – but better than average. To my nose it's sort of floral sweet scent that leads into the first sip. It’s an interesting IPA that has some citrus sweetness right off the back, but that piney, hoppy bitterness shows up on the backend and lingers on the back of the tongue. It’s not a hazy / New England IPA, but there’s a hint of haziness to the initial pour. It’s worth noting that at 8.2% ABV, it’s a little stronger than the average IPA, but not quite up there with a double IPA either. There is a bit of complexity where the malts come through as it warms a bit, but I still prefer this one cold. In general, I prefer my IPAs colder than not, unlike some of the heavier stouts and porters that I sip on as I allow them to draw closer to room temperatures.

I specifically had this beer while working through Mass Effect 2. In particular while I was on the Citadel. Fans of the game no doubt are familiar with the options that your protagonist (Shepard) can leverage to get discounts at shops if he does an advertisement with them. My brain couldn’t shake the idea of him walking around going: I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite beer on the Citadel!

If you know, you know.

One of the really interesting things about playing these games through the Legendary Edition was the DLC. Because I was somewhat late to the game with the original Mass Effect, the DLC was already out. I picked it up and experienced it. Of note: the Pinnacle Station DLC from the first Mass Effect is not included in the Legendary Edition, because the source code was written by another developer who said it was now corrupted. That was not the case with Mass Effect 2 and 3. I played both games immediately upon release, and I never picked up and played the DLC that came later. As such, there were characters, missions and story elements that I missed out on the first time around. This of course includes the updated endings for Mass Effect 3, which just adds greater sense of completion and closure than the as-released ending had.

I mentioned above how one of the key elements to this series was how decisions I made along the way. Many of them quite difficult with no 'right answer' but more of a 'making the best of a bad situation' feel to them. There was a feeling that the choices Shepard made throughout the game really didn't have enough of an impact on the ending. I can see that perspective, I don't necessarily agree with it. I think in the end the writers for the series had a story to tell. They began it and ended it (with some variation in the end sequence based on a final choice made) the way they wanted, and allowed us as players a bit of room to color within those lines along the way. 

My only real grumble about this collection is the lack of multiplayer mode. It was a pretty big part of Mass Effect 3, and it was a survive multiple waves spin-off. I enjoyed the snot out of that mode back in the day. I played it almost every weekend for months. They regularly had weekend events that I kept track of and participated in as I tried to get the most out of the game's rewards. I get that not supporting an online mode likely made this rerelease faster and cheaper for EA, but I was still somewhat bummed by its omission.

The Legendary Edition of these games saw several improvements to visuals, gameplay mechanics, the aforementioned DLC – so it really is a fantastic collection of titles that will span many hours if you play them through from start to finish. While I had several other beers along the way, I felt like Space Dust IPA was probably the most thematically aligned, if not the best of the bunch I had along the way. It’s a good beer, but hardly one of the most memorable I’ve had to date. Conversely the Mass Effect trilogy is among my favorite video game series ever.

Score dropping time.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition: 9/10

Space Dust IPA: 7/10

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Elden Ring with Malted Milk Ball Imperial Porter – Beeps and Beers

Elden Ring is developed by FromSoftware, Inc and published by Bandai Namco Games. Malted Milk Ball Imperial Porter is made by Perrin Brewing Company. Article by Nick.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Beeps and Beers to ring in the New Year? Yes, please.

If you’ve been following any of my recent posts, it quickly becomes apparent that while I was late to the game where Elden Ring was concerned, it became a serious investment for me once I started to play it. When it first released, it came out while I was out of state visiting some family, and by the time I had gotten back, it was on to other releases I was covering for Chalgyr’s Game Room.

 

Then the holidays got here, which usually leads to something of a slowdown in the gaming industry as the rush to get titles out before Black Friday more or less comes to an end until February or so the following year. I often refer to that period as the ‘dead time’ – and I died a whole lot playing Elden Ring. That didn’t however, keep me from nominating it as my Game of the Year for 2022.

From roughly Thanksgiving until New Year, Elden Ring was the game I played when I had the time. Some nights were more strenuous (looking at you Putrid Crystallins) and some that were much lower key (farming that big bird near the cliff for easy runes). Most nights fell in the middle, and that was one of the things that I really enjoyed about Elden Ring. There was this fantastic sense of exploration – it kind of reminded me of my old World of Warcraft days when I would explore every nook and cranny available to me with my rogue stealthing about, just to see what oddball little thing I could find. Elden Ring scratched that itch beautifully.

Of course, that often led to me wandering about areas that I wasn’t properly prepared for yet, and some battles I had to do my best to run away from (ahem… dragons in lakes). With so many nights of gaming, there were plenty of beers had during the process. Most of the time it was just fine, but there was absolutely a night where it did not help my cause a whole lot in Elden Ring, even while I was enjoying the beer itself immensely. 

I’ve mentioned Perrin in the past before (here and here), but one of my all-time favorite beers of theirs has to be the Malted Milk Ball Imperial Porter. When it first came out, it was actually one of my earliest bourbon barrel aged beers. Why does this make for a dicey adventure in Elden Ring? Well, it’s a strong beer and my reflexes were certainly not at their finest the afternoon I started to drink this one. This beauty pours a nice, thick, dark color into the glass. In terms of accidentally being thematically appropriate, the afternoon I opened this beer I was traveling the dark, swamp-like lands of Liurnia of the Lakes. It’s one of the game’s somewhat earlier regions, with a lot of bent trees, ankle-deep water, cemeteries and rundown churches to set the tone. 

It's a hauntingly beautiful area, especially during the in-game evenings – but large with a lot of north by south geography to it. Plenty of strange and undead creatures along the way, and a handful of interesting environmental puzzles. Those weren’t too terribly challenging. One example was a tower I had to get into that had me 'looking around' for turtles to poke. There were a lot of undead continually spawning around me, but they were slowly shambling about and not any kind of a real threat - just more of a distraction. 

During all of this, I certainly continued to enjoy the Malted Milk Ball during my explorations there. Being that it’s an imperial porter, that’s a style that I find tends to open up and display more distinctive flavors as it slowly warms to more of a room temperature. Given that this was a beer that I was simply sipping on, it had ample time to start to show off more of the vanilla bean and cocoa flavors that give it more of a desert-like profile. It’s got a bit of body and warmth to it – perfect for cold Michigan winters and I was playing this out in early December during a pretty substantial snowfall (a great excuse to stay inside and play Elden Ring – at least until I had to shovel the drive).

This is one of my favorite beers hands-down, and has been for years now. Elden Ring is probably one of my favorite games in years also. So the match seems solid until you start to get a bit deeper into the bottle of this one. It rings in at a 12% ABV due to its imperial style and the warm booziness that comes from the beer resting in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels for nine months. This would be an excellent beer even without the bourbon finish, but personally I think bourbon barrel really helps to further accentuate the warm vanilla undertones as the brew warms up. 

Now, where does this pairing go wrong? Well… remember the dragons in the game I bemoaned earlier? There’s one in this region too. There’s a need to sneak behind him and pick up an item. It’s a fun, tense little moment – and you can pick it up, hop on your horse Torrent and ride out of there safe and sound as the one-slumbering dragon wakes up and starts to throw a hissy fit flying around looking to destroy you. 

The problem was, the further I got into that bottle, the more I wanted to go back and face that dragon. Spoiler alert – I was not ready for that particular encounter, but that did not preclude me from attempting it about a dozen times before I wizened up enough to give up on it for now. A good strong beer like that does not necessarily make for good in-game decisions or reflexes as it turns out. It did however, make for an entertaining and memorable afternoon of gaming and that’s what matters most.

I already reviewed Elden Ring recently and scored it a 9.5 out of 10. I’m completely comfortable doing the same for Malted Milk Ball Imperial Porter as well. 

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ZEN Pinball 2: Aliens Vs. Pinball and Devil Dancer - Beeps and Beers

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