8-Bit Release Party

Please excuse the infrequent posts lately, as I've been quite busy. I am quite excited about one of the things that has been contributing to that busyness. I'm organizing a trip to visit Beervana (Portland, OR), and you should be seeing a few posts from me while I'm out there. More on that soon...

Last night, I visited the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. I was there to attend the release party for Tallgrass Brewing's latest creation: 8-Bit Pale Ale. While the event was planned for this new brew, there was so much more to enjoy.

First, the beer. 8-Bit might just be my new favorite beer from Tallgrass (sorry, Oasis). It flows down my gullet easily and is quite sessionable at 5.2% ABV. Don't let the word "sessionable" confuse you, though. This brew has big flavor and aroma thanks to the Galaxy hops Tallgrass used. If you like big hop smell and taste but don't want to get buzzed too quickly, try this beer.

With a name like 8-Bit, the release party had an easy theme to go with: old school NES (or Nintendo Entertainment System, for the non-gamers). There were 5 NES stations set up in the pub where everyone could take turns playing their old favorites. Throughout the evening, I saw Duckhunt, Double Dragon, Contra, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Battletoads, Tetris, Blades of Steel, and Super Mario Bros 3. Of course, I was lucky enough to play most of those titles. There was also a Tecmo Bowl tournament, with the winner getting some Tallgrass schwag as a prize.

There was an awesome band playing the event: Nerd Enhanced Sound (NES). Yep, they did it. They named their band so they could use the NES abbreviation. "Why would they do that?" you may ask. Well, it's because of the music they play. See, they use a projection screen to show a recorded play-through of a classic Nintendo game. While the game is being shown, they perfectly play the music for the title screen and each level. It was amazing (at least for an old game geek like myself). If you like old-school Nintendo games, you owe it to yourself to watch this band perform sometime.

Last night was great fun. Now I have the urge to go out and find a 4-pack of 8-Bit so I can return home and fire up my NES. That would be awesome...