Explorer (Adnams)

Name: Explorer
Label: "Serve Chilled - Beer from the coast - Brewery of the year 2011 - Awarded by the Good Pub Guide - Voted for by you, Thank you!"
Brewery: Adnams
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: I'm always a bit wary of any beer that advises it needs to be chilled in order to taste good. Examples being Carling, Carlsberg Special Brew etc - basically anything that would taste like piss at room temperature. But that's lager and this is Adnams blonde beer, and I can report that it is exceptional. It blends Chinook and Columbus hops from the New World and as it says on the label, the citrus attack will burst on your palate.

Game: Just been on UFC Personal Trainer. I've had a few problems tonight though, nothing to do with the software I hasten to add (it's awesome) but more to do with me being a bit rubbish.  This is probably down to 'bad form' but for this session my knees felt like they were crumbling whilst doing forward and backward lunges. Also, I managed to punch myself in the face whilst doing some 'rear elbow' moves. Still, I did it whilst sweating and being knackered so it must be doing some good...

London Porter (Shepherd Neame)

Name: London Porter
Label: "Dark Beer - Rich & aromatic with notes of chocolate - Dark & intense with a hint of spicy liquorice"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame for Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: Chocolate gives me a crippling migraine. This contains notes of chocolate which didn't result in migraine related agony. Win.

Game: Another game currently on the go: Quake 4. This is an old skool corridor shooter and its great. A bit last-gen but so what. Not even going to bother with multiplayer though. Do you know why? Because multiplayer is boring and sucks! Sorry.

IPA (Marston's)

Name: IPA
Label: "Sainsbury's Tastes the Difference - Delicate, fresh nose with floral & Citrus aromas - A traditional brew with clean bitter hop flavour"
Brewery: Marston's
ABV: 5.9%

Rating: Sainsbury's tells us to literally "Tasts the difference". Just noticed the tiger on the label too - instant awesomeness right there.

Game: At the moment I have quite a few games currently on the go. In the fall of this year (sorry for the Americanism) and early next year there's going to be some mega games released that I simply HAVE to buy including but not limited to: Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Rise of Nightmares (Kinect), Star Wars (Kinect), Silent Hill: Downpour, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I Am Alive, Jurassic Park: The Game, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Halo 4, Gears of War 3 and Far Cry 3. Lot's of colons. That's how exciting it is!

Tutti Frutti Pear Cider (Brothers)

Name: Tutti Frutti Pear Cider
Label: "Mixed fruit flavour perry - Last year festival goers started to mix our Pear, Strawberry, Lemon and Toffee Apple ciders together to make a Tutti Frutti. Here's the luxury version with some extra Passion Fruit & Blackberries as well. Enjoy"
Brewery: Brothers
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: As the one reader of this blog knows, I'm not really a fan of cider. But this drink is stunning. And the colour of it is ace too.

Game: Time to kick some ant and spider ass in Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon. Technically speaking spiders aren't insects but we'll let that fact go shall we. There are four classes of soldier to try out, each with different characteristics and loadouts to maximise your bug destroying efficiency. This is just good old run and gun, blow stuff up, fun. So basically no storyline or plot then. 7/10

Toffee Apple Cider (Brothers)

Name: Toffee Apple Cider
Label: "An acquired taste but then so is freezing rain in your face and evenings that start at 4.30pm. The Brothers"
Brewery: Brothers
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: I acquired the taste instantly for drinking this. It's amazing and I don't even really like cider. That's why I drink ale. But this is amazing.

Game: I have mostly been playing Alice: The Madness Returns and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. I always forget what the Forgotten Sands is called and call it the Sands of Time instead. I must remember that it's Forgetten and that it still contains Sand but no Time, even though in the game you can tamper with time when you screw up. All very confusing... great game though! 7/10

Southwold Bitter (Adnams)

Name: Southwold Bitter
Label: "Southwold Jack is one of Adnams' oldest & most loyal figureheads, that's why we've chosen him to be the icon for one of our most famous beers."
Brewery: Adnams
ABV: 4.1%

Rating: Understated on the label with regards to ingredients, but this beer makes a cracking pint so say I.

Game: I saw a trailer for Deadly Premonition ages ago and it looked like crap. I heard some quite good things about it so I thought I'd give it a go.  It looks like crap. Why does it looks so rubbishy last gen? Anyway the actual game is a surreal, quirky, survival horror, murder mystery.  Think Twin Peaks meets L.A. Noire meets Silent Hill but with the aforementioned shit graphics.  It's absolutely brilliant though! At the moment I'm giving it 8 out of 10.

Miss America (Batemans)

Name: Miss America
Label: "Celebrating American Independence - Just as you'd expect, Miss America is a full, well rounded, robust beer, bigger and better than the rest!"
Brewery: Batemans
ABV: 4.1%

Rating: Aswell as the portly looking lady on the front the label also says, "Goes great with Hamburgers... lots of them!"

Game: Getting fit sucks. It's too much like hard work and it's as boring as shit. So how great is UFC Personal Trainer? It's a game and it's exercise, all on the same disc. Overall, it's excellent. Full of absolutely knackering exercise routines but still suitable for all abilities. Light exercise or get your ass kicked exercise, it's up to you. My only quibble so far is it's frozen up a couple of times, which is a bit soul destroying when you're forty minutes into a high impact strength training routine and you've lost all your progress. Also, it doesn't register my push ups very well. Push ups are hard. Recognise the push up damn it, so I just have to do sixty rather than one hundred and twenty!!

Cocker Hoop (Jennings)

Name: Cocker Hoop
Label: "An unashamedly cocky golden pale ale"
Brewery: Jennings
ABV: 4.2%

Rating: Cocker hoop means in very high spirits or boastful apparently. Which is infinitely better than being a cocky little shit.

Game: A couple of games absolutely sped through in the past week were HAWX 2 and Medal of Honor. Both short and sweet. I couldn't be bothered with the MoH Tier 1 stuff or multiplayer. Not. Arsed. I give them both 7.5 / 10. Thats the definitive review for both of them. You don't need to read about them anywhere else. Thanks.

Old Dan (Thwaites)

Name: Old Dan
Label: "Bottle conditioned - a delicious mellow beer with chestnut hues and smooth finish"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 7.4%

Rating: What a teeny little bottle. I know its strong but why the small bottle? Soon they'll be selling beer in thimbles for three quid a pop.

Game: Another game I got around the same time as Shadows of the Damned is Alice: The Madness Returns. If your looking for an epic platformer then get this. It does get slightly repetitive but its still great.  Alice in Wonderland was never something I've ever been interested in previously, I barely know the story, but this is a good messed up version. Did Alice's parents burn to death in a fire? Bring it.

Brewer's Dark (J. W. Lees)

Name: Brewer's Dark
Label: "Award winning dark ale smooth and light with a rich malty flavour"
Brewery: J. W. Lees
ABV: 3.2%

Rating: Smooth, well-rounded and light to drink.

Game: Well Child of Eden didn't last long in my collection. Got it traded for Shadows of the Damned. Shadows is unusual, it could be quite scary - its obvious a lot of effort has gone in to creating creepy and atmospheric renditions of Hell with fantastic sound and music. And yet strangely this is purposely spoilt with excessive cock jokes and a lead character that comes across overly confident and obnoxious. Shame really.