Monday 26 January 2015

Triple C (Crafty Dan Micro Brewery)

Triple C (Crafty Dan Micro Brewery)
Name: Triple C
Label: "Chinook, Citra & Centennial hops - Citrus edge, crisp and clean, for hop heads only"
Brewery: Crafty Dan Micro Brewery
ABV: 5.3%

Tasting notes: "A full, smooth and balanced beer with an intense citrus hop aroma"

Game: Lots of negative reaction about the latest Assassin's Creed game. You know, stuff like the graphics on peoples faces going a bit wrong, getting stuck on a box or a bit of shrubbery, chests not opening when they should. There are some real horror stories out there ('haters gonna hate' I think the phrase is) so here are 5 reasons why Assassin's Creed: Unity was ace:

1. The graphics are AMAZING. Like, photo-realistic amazing.
2. Great story where you assassinate baddies.
3. Have you seen the size of the map?? You can run the length and breadth of it without any loading screens
4. Double air assassination mid-parkour: never gets old
5. For completionists and OCD sufferers, collecting all the collectible things

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Orange Peel (Wadworth)

Orange Peel (Wadworth)
Name: Orange Peel
Label: "The Beer Kitchen is a new range of intensely flavoured, hand-crafted beers, made for the discerning by Wadworth. Brewed in small batches, using the absolute finest ingredients, these beers were specially created to perfectly complement food or savoured on their own."
Brewery: Wadworth
ABV: 6.0%

Rating: "Rich, golden and full bodied with a sweet and tangy orange flavour, and aromas of citrus, melon and spice. Munich malt, US hops and orange peel provide complexity but with perfect balance. A superb compliment to game."  A beer that actually says it goes well with gaming! Finally!

Game: Two DLC packs got released the other day and being season-passed up to the eyeballs I now has extra content for Assassin's Creed: Unity and Alien: Isolation. The Alien DLCs are the timed challenges which are a great change of pace to the main campaign. The difficulty however seems to be turned up to a thousand and I can't turn it down! The Alien is a total pain in the ass (and face). I'm working my way through the challenges though slowly but surely. "Get away from me, you bitch!" Did I mention that Alien: Isolation was Gaming Ales's game of 2014?  Just did.

Zeit Geist (BrewDog)

Zeit Geist (BrewDog)
Name: Zeit Geist
Label: "BrewDog is about breaking rules, taking risks, upsetting trends and unsettling institutions but first and foremost, great tasting beer."
Brewery: BrewDog
ABV: 4.7%

Rating: "Idiosyncratic black lager."  It's lager right, but it's black! So it's lager but it's still a craft beer so shush!

Game: Been playing Dragon Age: Inquisition a bit too much. The save file seems to suggest somewhere in the region of 100 hours :(  Feels like I'm hardly getting anywhere as well. The codex itself contains as much content as the entire Game of Thrones books and the Bible combined by the looks of it. So. Much. Reading. Highly enjoyable though. Dragon Age romance update: just got blown off by Josephine, and not in a good way, basically she declined my request to go for a walk :(

Sunday 4 January 2015

Snowmans Meltown (Staffordshire Brewery)

Snowmans Meltown (Staffordshire Brewery)
Name: Snowmans Meltown
Label: "Don't meltdown, sit down with a beer"
Brewery: Staffordshire Brewery
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: "A smooth dark stout - Made with loving care - just like our beer. So sad when it's all gone. I know, buy some more."  Fittingly the last of the snow has melted today!

Game: Today the Christmas decorations have come down but the games are... er... still up!  Hooray for games, they last all year round!  It's like Christmas everyday when you're a gamer.  2015 looks set to be mega game awesome time too! A couple of games I'm really excited about and their respective release dates direct from the slavering spittle-laden Bandai Namco mouth: Dark Souls II (3 April) and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (19 May). Bring these dates to me now!

Saturday 3 January 2015

Elf Service (Staffordshire Brewery)

Elf Service (Staffordshire Brewery)
Name: Elf Service
Label: "Great British Beer - Normal service will resume after a beer"
Brewery: Staffordshire Brewery
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: "A light hoppy beer - Don't mind our Elf - he's harmless. Beer on the other hand, must be drunk responsibly."

Game: Purchased Halo: The Master Chief Collection and finally got time to power through Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and now just over half way through Halo 2: Anniversary.  Not sure whether beer goggles were involved but the Halo 2 cutscenes now look absolutely incredible. Also the cinematics now tie Halo 2 in with the Halo: Nightfall TV series and Halo 5: Guardians. Halo-tastic and colons everywhere!

Friday 2 January 2015

Rockin Robin (Staffordshire Brewery)

Rockin Robin (Staffordshire Brewery)
Name: Rockin Robin
Label: "Don't get in a flap - Rock on with a beer"
Brewery: Staffordshire Brewery
ABV: 4.8%

Rating: "A strong ruby beer - When you see robin rocking you've drunk too much beer."

Game: Yay it's Christmas! Cue many late Christmas posts and Christmas related ales!  New additions to the game collection now include The Wolf Among Us and Dragon Age Inquisition.  The Wolf Among Us is Telltale Games at it's finest. Wasn't sure I'd get into it because it's fairytale based so not as realistic as Walking Dead, Game of Thrones or Santa. But somehow it's still amazing! 9/10.