Past Masters Double Stout (Fuller's)

Name: Past Masters Double Stout
Label: "Limited edition - heritage series"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 7.4%

Rating: "Brewed to a recipe from 4th August 1893 - a time when 'stout' meant 'strong'. Its signature ingredient is Plumage Archer barley, carefully malted and kilned using C19th methods. Dark, brown and creamy this beer balances a rich fruity aroma with smoky, bittersweet chocolate notes."  An exceptional beer and no mistake. The only mistake was the price maybe. From Sainsbury's, it weighs in at a whopping £3.05 which is the most expensive bottled ale I've ever bought. For most people this probably won't break the bank, but my bank's now just a smouldering pile of rubble.

Game: I've not played anything else for over a week now except for The Witcher 2. It's immensely addictive and the dialogue is on sparkling form. Some of my favourite quotes so far:

"Your next opponent is Smugface, also known as Tassledick."
"Is a pig's arse tight?"
"Did you say something? Or did you just fart?"
"They'll pick us off like ducks and I'm no duck!"
"They say blacksmiths are strong. I say they're fat pussies."

Check out james-sterling.blogspot.co.uk for first thoughts on the game. He's a lot more better with the putting the words together and writing stuff thing than I am.

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.

Summer Ale (Fuller's)

Name: Summer Ale
Label: "Refreshing - serve chilled"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 3.9%

Rating: Summer is great, except this summer it's rained constantly for about three weeks (where's that climate change I ordered)? Anyway, this ale is very refreshing especially when chilled. Pale gold in colour, and brewed with malted wheat, pale malts and Czech Saaz hops for a perfectly refreshing summer beer.

Game: Bargain hunting is great and it generally means cheap games. This time it's Homefront up for inspection for just £9.99.  A competent shooter, some excellent set-pieces, some morally ambiguous choices (enemies on fire, shoot them quick or let them burn?). The premis, a unified Korea invades America and you are part of the American resistance.  There are some quite poignant cutscenes towards the beginning of the game but why, oh why, did they feel the need to put "Press A to skip" in big letters right across the screen? It's like watching a movie and then seeing "Press >> to fast forward this bit". Totally distracting and spoils any immersion and emotion the cutscene could have had. Apart from that, so far so good.

Discovery (Fuller's)

Name: Discovery
Label: "Refreshing Blonde Beer"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: A delicious malty taste bursting with rich biscuity flavours. It's getting really quite expensive now buying all the quality beer...

Game: Bought Guitar Hero World Tour ages ago and sold it. Now re-bought it for dirt cheap and I'm left wondering why the fiddlesticks did I sell it in the first place? Some quality tracks on there, a lot of chuff too, but some quality, and a Chimaira track downloaded for free, win.  A couple of Nirvana track packs are just asking to be downloaded soon too...

Bengal Lancer (Fuller's)

Name: Bengal Lancer
Label: "Bottle conditioned India Pale Ale"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 5.3%

Rating: Like the dashing exploits of the Bengal Lancer cavalry regiment this should pass into folklore

Game: I pay £40 a year for the privilege of playing online against other gamers, however I rarely use the facility because I think it's a bit... meh?  So Battlefield Bad Company 2 seemed like a good idea for coaxing me into playing online more. So, started playing the single player campaign. Pretty good so far, like Modern Warfare 2 but your weapons can actually destroy buildings.

Jack Frost (Fuller's)

Name: Jack Frost
Label: "Brewed with blackberries for a delicious fruity taste"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: Best enjoyed accompanied by your favourite meaty dish or mature cheese, preferably close to a warm fire to ward off winter's chills.

Game: Another highly annoying story in web-rag Metro. "Church of England condemns 'violent and sexual' video games".  What's a DVD game?  Where are the games with "extreme violence and sexual scenes",  because I want some...  If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, these games aren't for children, they're rated 18 for a reason. And on what authority does the Church of England even have to speak out about something they clearly have no idea about?

Honey Dew (Fuller's)

Name: Honey Dew
Label: "Organic - Refreshing Golden Beer"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 5%

Rating: It's a pity bee sick doesn't taste like this. If it did, everyone would want to harvest bee sick.

Game: I must be doing something wrong or attempting missions too soon, but I find myself struggling in the "Fade" on Dragon Age: Origins. Use an attack against a load of enemies and run away waiting for attack to recharge, enemies are in hot pursuit and we end up circling a conveniently placed pillar or piece of furniture in what ends up looking like a crappy version of the already crap enough Benny Hill show. Incredible game though, I just suck at it... 9/10.