Black Gold (Cairngorm)

Name: Black Gold
Label: "Silver medal, winter beer of Scotland 2007/8 - Champion beer of Scotland 2005"
Brewery: Cairngorm
ABV: 4.4%

Rating: Not a bottled ale this time.  I went to a "pub" and bought some ale, we should be supporting the pubs. In this case it was a Wetherspoons - some people like to pronounce it Witherspoons for some reason. I have no idea why... Anyway, the ale - a Scottish stout with a wonderful rich dark colour. A smooth full bodied beer with subtle bitterness giving way to late sweetness and underlying roast barley hints.

Game: Some games are criminally underrated and some are criminally overrated. Yes it should definitely be a criminal offence to underrate or overrate games.  Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is definitely one of those underrated games. I've previously given it a 9 out of 10 and stand by the rating after finishing it. Buy it. Its great.

Battle of Britain (The Wolf Brewery)

Name: Battle of Britain
Label: "Royal Air Force Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary 1940 - 2010, 10p donated to the RAF Association's Wings Appeal"
Brewery: The Wolf Brewery
ABV: 3.9%

Rating: This copper coloured, full bodied ale has been brewed specially to commemorate 'The Few'. 2353 young men from Great Britain and 574 from overseas, who are officially recognised as having taken part in the Battle of Britain, of whom 544 lost their lives during the period of the Battle.

Game: Happy new year! Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye and it's nearly time to go back to work. Luckily for him, Santa did as promised and delivered Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Kane & Lynch 2 and Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. Castlevania is similar to Dante's Inferno so that immediately makes it great.  It looks amazing and  also has Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart on voiceover duties. And its on two discs! 9 out of 10.