Pixels and Pints: Stardew Valley
When I first had the idea to include Stardew Valley in Pixels and Pints it was going to be right at the end of the series: a capstone, or maybe the article that was to be published via dead man’s trigger.
It was going to be a real fucking tearjerker because I was going to pair it with ‘whatever you are brewing at the moment’ and get a Webly for deftly intertwining the gameplay and development of Stardew with the joy of home brewing.
I then realised that my last few homebrews have been incredibly disappointing, and Stardew Valley isn’t in the slightest. When we pair beer with food one of the things we are taught is to match the intensity of flavours - you can’t taste a video game (gonna write more about this soon) - but you can measure satisfaction. Stardew Valley is wholesome and goodly, and the setting of the game narrows the matching of flavours to a very narrow spectrum.
I haven’t been able to find a bottle of Anchor Steam for years. I used to be able to pick it up from my local supermarket before they rebranded a little while back and I really miss it (not enough to look a little harder than just on my weekly shop though apparently!). The flagship beer of Anchor in California, it’s a remarkable drink; a gorgeous ruby colour, rich and sweet. It’s also got a really lovely history, which you can find on their website:
“Anchor Steam® Beer derives its unusual name from the 19th century when “steam” was a nickname for beer brewed on the West Coast of America under primitive conditions and without ice. While the origin of the name remains shrouded in mystery, it likely relates to the original practice of fermenting the beer on San Francisco’s rooftops in a cool climate. In lieu of ice, the foggy night air naturally cooled the fermenting beer, creating steam off the warm open pans.”
What a lovely image this evokes! Steam rolling off the rooftops in twilight, the gentle malty aroma wafting past. Speaking of lovely images, join me in loving the old logo design:
It’s got everything: barley, hops, an anchor, a subtle aged look that comforts and reassures (they’ve been getting this beer right for a long time). It all comes together to create a gentle rusticity that reminds us of the good gifts the earth gives us, and the skills of centuries that put them together in the glass.
I’m not talking about Anchor Steam today. I’m talking about another steam beer, a blonde one, specifically! A collaboration between two huge players in the modern craft beer game: Wild Beer and Thornbridge. They’re both fantastic brewers! Thornbridge’s Jaipur is my go-to IPA for a regular drop, and anything Wild Beer release in a 750 is automatically at the top of the list for special occasions. They’ve come together to make Release the Stars, which I assume is named after a Rufus Wainwright album? I don’t listen to him, and didn’t care to start just to see if the album pairs with the beer.
-not the focus for today!-
“Brewing Release the Stars gave us the opportunity to team up with our friends at Thornbridge Brewery to create the first in a series of experimental beers. Investigating the release of bound thiols from hops and malt.”
Having a little read around the subject, bound thiols are organic compounds found in hops that are metabolised by yeast during fermentation, leading to increased aroma. They impart a whole lot of fruity aromas to beer, including blackcurrant, gooseberry and passion fruit. In this beer, a wine nutrient was used to stimulate the lager yeast, freeing up the thiols and intensifying the hop aromas. It’s got a really fantastic fruity nose that pulls out those characteristics from the Harlequin and Calypso hops, as well as the wonderful fruity phenols from the lager yeast. It’s Wild Beer’s house yeast strain, so you can expect the wild and funky flavours they’re known for as well. All wrapped up in a bright, clean and deliciously drinkable session ale.
All these aspects to the beer - the lovely bright colour, the abundant aroma, the sheer enjoyment you get from it - are all things you can get from Stardew Valley.
Let’s look a little closer at the opening cutscene. You receive a letter from your grandfather, telling you that you’ve inherited the old family farm in the titular town. You escape the humdrum of the cubicle and arrive at the old farm to revitalise it and the town. From the dim and cold office to the sun-kissed (yet overgrown!) fields of your farm, it marks a shift not only for your character, but also a little break from real life too. Jumping in to tend the crops and livestock, to ply Sebastian with gifts, or to wrest the community centre from the gnarled fist of Joja’s capitalist expansionism is idyllic, serene and a pure joy.
To come across a beer like Release the Stars offers the same experience. When we think of mass-produced beer, from lagers with more gas and less taste than popcorn right through to piss like Punk IPA, there’s a peculiar joylessness to the whole affair - beer for beer’s sake. Each one interchangeable with the cans next to it on the shelf.
An approachable beer like this, with both bold new aromas and a comforting familiarity to it, is a joy to discover. It’s unique flavours conjure up days in the garden chopping wood, tending the borders, mowing the lawn. All things you can enjoy in Stardew Valley. Working hands smearing dirt across a glistening forehead. Rustic flavours in a refreshing pint that goes down so easily - at home both in front of the bonfire that licks up detritus, and on the screen that guzzles down your attention as you destroy the kids in the annual egg hunt.