Back in the early 1980s, video games weren’t all that high-tech. For instance, having voices in video games was a big deal. Such a big deal that the Intellivision system released an add-on called Intellivoice.

You plugged that into the cartridge port and then plugged a video game cartridge into the Intellivoice and, voila, the games featuring talking.

Though it was pretty crappy talking. And it only worked for a few games.

What the hell does any of this have to do with a beer from Bridge Road? Well, each year brewer Ben Kraus makes a beer to celebrate Bridge Road’s birthday. For the last three years, that beer has been called B2 Bomber, with a Mach 2.0 and Mach 3.0 to denote more recent vintages.

Mach 3.0 came out last year and every time I thought of the B2 Bomber it triggered off a sound memory from the Intellivoice-assisted game B17 Bomber.

Most specifically, this sound memory.

Even now I see the beer I think ‘‘Bee Seventeen Ballmeer’’. Pretty stupid story, yeah?

Anyway, the Mach 3.0 is described as a black Belgo IPA. So that means it’s a black beer, made with Belgian yeast and IPA-esque hops (that’s the downside of these beer style mash-ups, it can be hard to work out what styles they actually are).

So, when I tasted the beer, I didn’t really have much of an idea what to expect. The dark colour and hoppy aroma confused me a bit (like when I have a black IPA).

On the tongue there is the hop bitterness, but less than I expected from something tagged an IPA. That’s not a criticism, just saying is all. There’s also some slight funk there, which I presume is the Belgo influence coming through.

For me, the main flavour is of bitter coffee. It’s an interesting beer, a different beer and a well-made beer too.