IPA (Cotleigh)

Name: IPA
Label: "The Somerset Craft Brewer- This label by Quantock Design, features a original illustration recently discovered in the Cotleigh archive. We believe it was produced around 1985, and are very keen to track down the mystery artist"
Brewery: Cotleigh Brewery
ABV: 4.0%

Tasting notes: "Cotleigh IPA was first created by Head Brewer Guy Baddeley and adjusted to perfection in the Brewery's 35th Anniversary year. It contains a blend of three bittering hops and a beautiful aromatic Motueka hop from New Zealand. This golden IPA is a full bodied malty beer bursting with long lasting moreish flavour."

Game: It's "Let's buy a random game" week! This weeks random game is Elite Dangerous.  Remember the original Elite (or Elite Plus) from the 80's / 90's?  Well I do and it was great but 14 year old me didn't have the foggiest idea what was going on or what I was doing.  So now after firing up Elite Dangerous I can safely confirm that old me also doesn't have the foggiest idea what is going on or what I am supposed to be doing. Graphics are good though.

Rating: 8 learning curves out of 10

Snowy (Cotleigh)

Name: Snowy
Label: "Single malt - Finest Somerset Beers - This impressive bird is also known as the Arctic Owl or Great White Owl - Cotleigh supports The Hawk and Owl Trust which is a registered UK charity dedicated to conserving birds of prey and their habitat"
Brewery: Cotleigh
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: "A golden coloured premium beer brewed using only pale Flagon malt, this beer has a full bodied long lasting and moreish taste with a hint of citrus from Golding's hops."

Game: Trying to play a bit of Resident Evil 6 tonight to get over my current XCOM addiction. Going quite well, although I keep thinking of XCOM.  XCOM is one of those games where you're thinking, "Just one mission tonight," then, "I'll play something else in a minute", which leads to, "Shit is that the time, I need to go to bed", which further leads to, "No point going to bed, will be getting up in a minute!"

Buzzard (Cotleigh)

Name: Buzzard
Label: "Dark Ale - Finest Somerset beers"
Brewery: Cotleigh Brewery
ABV: 4.8%

Rating: The chocolate malt gives a nutty flavour, the finish in the mouth is dry with a smoky and smooth finish. Dark ales are for winter really. It's nearly winter. Woo.

Game: So Dark Void came and went in about five hours. It was ok, the vertical shooting thing was a bit of a gimmick and some piss poor quick time events (or "QTEs" as they're known in the trade, possibly) meant the game lands in the slightly-above-average bracket.  It could have been Dark Avoid but it turned out to be Dark Ok.  6/10

Tawny Owl (Cotleigh)

Name: Tawny Owl
Label: "Tawny Owl premium bitter is a classic west country beer whose robust malty nose has hints of toffee and citrus fruit"
Brewery: Cotleigh Brewery
ABV: 3.8%

Rating: Continuing a 200 year old Georgian brewing tradition in Wiveliscombe, Cotleigh Brewery has become one of the most successful award winning independent breweries in England producing around three million pints of beer each year. Three million people can't be wrong (or the person who has drunk three million pints can't be wrong, their liver might be a bit iffy by now though).

Game: Gamestation have a bit of an awesome offer on at the moment, four games for £20.  So with each game cheaper than a small round of drinks and as games rarely result in me waking up the following day throwing up and having a headache, it's a win win situation. Need for Speed Undercover, Bourne Conspiracy, Red Faction: Guerilla and Dark Void are now filling the current gaming er, void.  What better way to remedy gaming burnout than by buying four new games!