The history of beer is almost as old as human history, and it would be quite true to say that our love affair with the stuff has only grown with modern brewing practices. Given beer’s pervasive place in human history, it’s not surprising that the geeky pastimes of drinkers would eventually rub off on the beers themselves. The result is a veritable cornucopia of nerdy beers, from Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and a few others that fit in quite nicely with your nerdy lifestyle. Like Pizza Beer — it’s more efficient than eating both separately! So sit back, crack open a cold one, and enjoy this astounding and some times mouthwatering collection.

We’ve been waiting with bated breath for the forthcoming LEGO Lord of the Rings sets for quite some time now, but it looks as if they’ve already been spotted in the wild. Apparently this image above was taken in the VIP area of LEGO’s booth at the Nuremberg Toy Fair and (allegedly) posted to this Slovenian forum. But are they the real deal?

Yes, it seems like those official LEGO Lord of the Rings sets are creeping closer and closer toward a reality. The latest announcement from the popular European construction toy features the Minifig population of Middle-Earth, with everyone’s favorite hobbits, wizards, dwarves, nazgul, elves, orcs, uruk-hai, and humans. Oh, and somebody else, but I just can’t remember his name. Creepy little dude, grey skin, you know the guy (gollum! gollum!). Oh, excuse this (gollum!) horrific wet hacking cough I’ve developed. Anyway, I’m sure his name will come back to me eventually.

DeviantART user Undomiele doesn’t think her “Enter Mordor” nail art is too complex, maybe because she’s humble, or maybe because she’s so talented that painting her fingernails with detailed Lord of the Rings art is what she does while waiting in line at the grocery store. Either way, we’re here to tell Undomiele that she can brag a little harder about the impressive nail art.

Winner of “Best Group Layout” at Brickworld 2011 was Middle-earth from The Lord of The Rings made entirely out of LEGO. The project was completed through a collaborative build that got its start on the MOCpages for sharing LEGO creations, following Brickworld 2010.

After a year of planning and building, a team of participants from five different countries built an approximately 200 square foot rendition of Middle-earth. I mean, all of Middle-earth. From Hobbiton to Helms Deep, from Ringwraiths and the Armies of Mordor to the members of the Fellowship – it’s all here. We’ve chosen a few of our favorites, but the entire collection can been viewed on the Journey of the Fellowship 2011 MOCPage.

One does not simply walk into Mordor, nor do they idly assemble enormous recreations of the feared dark tower of Sauron Barad-Dûr from hundreds upon thousands of LEGOs. The model, created by Kevin Walter, is nearly 6 feet tall and shows that with a huge number of plastic bricks and a little imagination, anything is possible.

More choice pictures, after the break.

Remixer Pogo took his electronic talents to The Lord of the Rings and used clips of dialogue and sound from the movie to create the above track, “Murmurs of Middle-Earth.”

(via io9)

Cartoonist Dan Meth has completed what he regards as the complete map of the Fantasy Universe, leading one to wonder how exactly border disputes are handled between, say, Krull and Oz. Drawing from comics, books, movies, and video games, the map is very inclusive in its approach covering just about any realm you’d care to wander through. Bonus points if you can name them all without Googling.

The map is part of a series of popculture graphs. Geekosystem readers may enjoy his Trilogy Meter or his Futuristic Movie Timeline.

(Dan Meth via Buzzfeed)

Apparently, there’s a photo making its way around the web of Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell dressed up as a midriff-baring Stormtrooper (left). Christine O’Donnell is on the record as being a Lord of the Rings fan (“Tolkien’s portrayal of women in Lord of The Rings is bold and courageous. The bittersweet complexities of true womanhood are daringly depicted in each of the female characters,” she once wrote), and we wouldn’t be surprised if she harbored a fond spot in her heart for Star Wars.

But that picture’s a fake.

“It’s all fun and games until your ex-girlfriend tells everyone the password to your friends-only LiveJournal account is the first letter in the names of each of the Ring-bearers, listed in the order they held it, including Sauron, Isildur, Smeagol and Tom Bombadil but neither Deagol nor Gandalf.”

–From Greg Ryan‘s excellent McSweeney’s piece “Events, Over A Life Span, That Precipitate The End Of Fun And Games.”

(Thanks, Hannah.)