Mainbrace IPA (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Mainbrace IPA
Label: "Complex & Refreshing with a Light Citrus Tang & Lingering Hoppy Aftertaste"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: "This exquisitely smooth ale boasts a light malty flavour and is brewed with locally grown hops and chalk filtered mineral water drawn from the well of Britain's oldest brewer."  From Asda's Extra Special range selected by Leiths School of Food and Wine no less!

Game: Forza 5 is great. The graphics are great. And yes, ace graphics make an ace game.  This is indisputable fact. Maybe... There are only a few tracks which is fine because it means feeble brained people like me don't have so many to learn. My only quibble is the sound when you crash into another car. It's like someone's held up a foil covered baking tray and hit it with a rolling pin.  I'm hearing it a lot too... especially on the Australian Mount Panorama Bathurst track. 9/10.

1845 (Fuller's)

Name: 1845
Label: "Bottle conditioned ale matured to perfection for 100 days - Award winning strong ale - Celebrating 150 years of brewing excellence"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 6.3%

Rating: When I was drinking this I thought it was like liquid Christmas cake (but in a good way), I might be getting better at this beer tasting lark as the back label says, "Being bottled conditioned and matured for at least 100 days before being released for sale, helps bring out the delicious fruit cake aroma from the amber malt and Goldings hops in the brew." Get in.

Game: Zombies. Lots of zombies. Played through Red Dead Redemption's massive Undead Nightmare expansion game and it was great: 8/10. Now playing Dead Island which seems to have received mixed reviews, possibly due in part to extremely high expectations generated by the rather exceptional and evocative official Dead Island trailer. This is probably one of the best video game trailers I've ever seen. Ever. No game could live up to the hype generated by that. Its selling well despite the mixed reviews. Most shops in town had sold out, Game only had a couple of copies left and had hiked the price up to £47.99, Gamestation had it pre-owned for £42.99!  So it's rareness suddenly meant I just had to have it. Asda saves the day though with plenty in stock for £10 cheaper than Game, their stock manager needs to win Colleague of the Month, Game's stock manager needs to be sent to an island full of flesh-eating zombies.

Fursty Ferret (Badger)

Name: Fursty Ferret
Label: "Furst Quenching"
Brewery: Badger
ABV: 4.4%

Rating: Another new Badger label. On the back it says "At one inn, rumour has it that inquisitive ferrets would sneak to the back door to cheekily sample the local brew." Fursty Ferret furst appeared on this blog here, I'm not sure what the review was all about at the time. Anyway: "A sweet nutty palate, hoppy aroma and a hint of Seville oranges, give this tawny amber ale its distinctive personality. Recommended with smooth and creamy West Country Cheddar or indulgent pork pies and mustard".

Game: Happy Gears of War 3 Day to you! Want to hear my epic struggle to get the game?  No?  Tough. I pre-ordered it from Game, and guess what? It didn't arrive on release day, boo-hoo. So I ran (yes ran, nay sprinted) to Asda, bought the game and then ran home. Then I played the game. Whew, what an adventure! Oh and: It. Is. Ace.

Samson (Double Maxim)

Name: Samson
Label: "Its strength is its taste - Extra special bitter"
Brewery: Double Maxim Beer Company
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: A special brew forged to quench the thirst of Steel Workers on Teesside.

Game: WTF is with pre-orders not arriving on time?  When I pre-order something I expect it to arrive before release day or actually on release day at the latest. It's a shallow, instant gratification thing admittedly but I pay my money, so I want it delivering.  Zavvi.co.uk are the latest who will take the money but then don't deliver on time, and this was their first (and now subsequently last) chance to get my business. If they can't guarantee delivery on time, what is the point of pre-ordering?  Asda again to the rescue with Super Street Fighter IV, and they were selling it cheaper than Zavvi anyway! Asda FTW!

Whitechapel Porter (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Whitechapel Porter
Label: "A dark ruby traditional porter combining underlying  roasted malt flavour with spicy hop notes"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame (for Asda)
ABV: 5.2%

Rating: Tough but slightly sweet

Game: Veteran difficulty is getting a bit tough now on Modern Warfare 2. Slowly working through it but may give up soon... Talking of Modern Warfare 2, Labour MP Keith Vaz doesn't like video games, the corrupt little cockroach recently crawled out from under his stone to comment on how "psychologically damaging" it is to children. He wants a sticker on 18 rated games to say "This has the potential to damage your health". Laugable maybe but he obviously fails to realise that children shouldn't be playing 18 rated video games. Modern Warfare 2 is rated 18. Which means people under the age of 18 shouldn't be playing it. Vaz obviously thinks games are aimed at children, he's therefore obviously an ignorant fool. Lets all point and laugh at the idiot. Sorry to pick on you Vaz, there's probably other idiotic, knee-jerk reactionary technophobes out there somewhere. I'll try and name and shame them in upcoming posts.

Gentleman Jack (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Gentleman Jack
Label: "A nut brown premium ale with a fruity hop aroma & bitter flavour notes - with a formidable left hook"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame (for Asda)
ABV: 5%

Rating: A malty, hoppy, satisfying ale

Game: There is so much to FIFA 10 that its going to last well into, ooh let's think, the Autumn of 2010? Manager Mode is a lot of fun, trying to get a two star rated Derby County into the Premiership - the Board wants to see at least a top half finish this season so we're well on track. But does FIFA 10 play some part in "fixing" games a bit? It's difficult to tell but sometimes results may vary to say the least. One minute your beating one of the top four 3 - 1. The next game you get beaten 0 - 2 at home to the team at the bottom of the league. Is this down to poor concentration perhaps or football just being a "a funny old game"?  Sometimes its about as easy to be consistent on FIFA 10 as it is for Liverpool FC in real life this season...

Old Empire (Marston's)

Name: Old Empire
Label: "Original Export - India Pale Ale"
Brewery: Martson's
ABV: 5.7%

Rating: The Empire Strikes Back

Game: Took Afro Samurai to the checkout in Asda and the dude behind the counter proceeded to excitedly inform me about all the ways you get to dismember your enemies in the game.  He seemed very pleased with the idea of being able to remove enemies arms, legs, scalps and then cut them in half. So getting slightly scared I hurriedly agreed and said it did look most cool, especially the nice cel-shaded graphics. This prompted excited chatter about the upcoming Borderlands game with its fancy cel-shaded graphics and infinite amount of guns.  Game purchased, followed by a swift retreat with Asda colleagues words "I love guns, me..." fading into the distance.