It’s no secret that for a few of our The Beer Circle writers, geekery is not just limited to the beer-geek realm. Fortunately, these geek powers tend to be used for good, not evil. But sometimes awesome. The most recent bit of craft beer-fueled debauchery that Garrett and Kenton found themselves in was an undertaking to recreate their favorite college bar in Minecraft – as accurately as the game would allow. This bar, Zeno’s Pub, is largely responsible for making the world of craft beer available to most of our Penn State-educated writers, and many an afternoon after classes enjoying a tasting, or a late night singing (well, yelling) Penn State fight songs was spent here.

First, a bit of background – Minecraft is an open-ended, “sandbox”-style game that’s swept the PC (and now console) gaming communities by storm. There’s not really much of an objective – one generally just builds whatever they so desire – out of materials harvested in-game, consisting mostly of one-meter by one-meter blocks, while surviving zombies and other threats by night. It’s a simple and elegant formula, and it works. Zeno’s Pub was a relatively small-scope undertaking that didn’t take too long to complete – but we feel like it captures the aesthetic well.



For those of you who have had the fortune of making it to Zeno’s – what are your thoughts? Also, are there any ways your beer geekery has inspired you to create something cool?