Unicorn Black (Robinsons)

Name: Unicorn Black
Label: "Deliciously rich roasted stout - A modern twist on an aged old recipe, Unicorn Black is a dark, mysterious, ebony coloured stout with a distinct aroma of roasted malt and chocolate."
Brewery: Robinsons
ABV: 4.1%

Tasting notes: "Rich, full bodied and deeply satisfying, Unicorn Black delivers a palate of roasted coffee and peppery hops leaving a robust after bitterness. It is perfectly balanced with a hint of sweetness."

Game: Assassin's Creed Syndicate is ace. The attention to detail is amazing. However, there only seems to be about three enemy character models which is weird.  It's like, "Oh, there's that stocky looking bald bloke again and the baddy woman lookout person." This happens every minute or so when traversing London's streets bumping into groups of Blighters. Seems strange given the obvious effort gone in to recreating London and it breaks the immersion. Breaks it worse than getting stuck on a wall mid-climb. A minor quibble so it still gets 9/10.

Headland Red (Wold Top)

Name: Headland Red
Label: "Wold famous - A beacon of taste in an ocean of choices"
Brewery: Wold Top
ABV: 4.3%

Tasting notes: "A red beer to halt you in your tracks, giving you a warm red glow! A mellow malty flavour, from predominately Wold grown barley, dark Crystal malt and roasted barley, hopped with Progress hops. This is the beer to use for the best 'beef in beer!'"

Game: Here's a quick flyby birds eye view of a parked Millennium Falcon in Star Wars Battlefront. It's a very similar video to the eagle flying over London that Ubisoft did to promote Assassin's Creed Syndicate.

Amber Ale (Fourpure Brewing)

Name: Amber Ale
Label: "Inspired by Colarado USA"
Brewery: Fourpure Brewing
ABV: 5.1%

Tasting notes: "Fourpure is a London based family brewery founded in 2013. Beer is our passion and our travels are what inspires us to brew. We believe craft beer should always be bold and flavourful - enjoy one of ours, kept fresh in this can."  Craft ale in a can! Who'd have thought it?!

Game: I'm increasingly concerned that I've spent a tit-load of money on Star Wars Battlefront and it's not going to hold my attention for long.   There's only so many times that finishing mid-table or watching yet another AT-AT fall over can keep me entertained. Thinking positively though it's hopefully something I can dip into from time to time over the course of a year or two until Battlefront 2 comes out. And even though there's no single player, it's still got more story than Destiny...

British Clipper IPA (Meantime)

Name: British Clipper IPA
Label: "Brewed exclusively for Marks & Spencer"
Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting notes: "This rich, complex beer is brewed with British Fuggles and Goldings hops and has all the earthy, peppery notes of a classic IPA."

Game: Got a 10 hour trial of Star Wars Battlefront so I'm playing at being the rebel scums for a day or so.  It's interesting how much I suck at it, although it was a bit juddery for some reason which is totally the reason for the poor performance obviously. Looks like there'll be plenty to do when the game releases proper next week anyway, there's more game modes than you can shake a Jawa at. Just hope the lag sorts itself out or there'll be hell to pay.

Blonde (Bottle Cap Brewery)

Name: Blonde
Brewery: Bottle Cap Brewery
ABV: 4.5%

Tasting notes: "The Blonde Ale is a sessionable, easy drinking American Pale Ale, with light floral notes."

Game: Yay free game time on Xbox One! This time it's Pneuma: Breath of Life. It's a first person puzzler. It's kinda pretty. It's also got one of the most horrendously annoying narrator/guide/disembodied voice thingys I've ever heard. It's constantly yapping about what's going on in the world and I can't work out whether it's trying to be funny in a Portal 2 / Stephen Merchant-esque way but with all the humour sucked out of it. The writing is terrible (bit like mine) and the delivery, although he tries hard, is lacklustre at best. Still you can nab 100 gamerscore for completing each level, and level one is just walking in a straight line! Win. But I can only stomach the voice for so long so it's back to Witchering for me! Huzzah!

Barry Island IPA (Brains Craft Brewery)

Name: Barry Island IPA
Label: "An American style IPA - Collaboration brew with Simon Martin"
Brewery: Brains Craft Brewery
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting notes: "Created by Simon Martin, aka Mr Real Ale Guide, this India Pale Ale was inspired by the 'IPA revolution' across the pond. The boy from Barry has used a trio of hops from the US in this pale coloured ale, which is bursting with citrus aromas. A unique smooth malt taste upfront is finished off by a vigorous bitterness and a 'tidy' clout of citrus and berry hop flavours." Barry Island sounds like a really rubbish holiday destination. Like the George Coast or the Timothy Isles.

Game: Started to play The Walking Dead by Telltale games again. This time the Xbox One version. I've took some alternative choices this time round. Made the opposite decisions to what I made on the 360 version and I've made a startling discovery! Generally the choices don't make all that much difference to how the game pans out! Bit like real life, stuff just happens as its intended to happen and you're just given the ILLUSION of choice!  This is getting a bit heavy so I'm off to drink some more beer. It's still a great game though by the way...

Atlantic White (Brains Craft Brewery)

Name: Atlantic White
Label: "A US hopped Belgian style witbier"
Brewery: Brains Craft Brewery
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting notes: "Atlantic White blends the tradition of Belgian 'Wit' beers and the hop-character of American IPAs to produce a 'White IPA'. Brewed with wheat malt and Belgian wit yeast the addition of freshly crushed coriander seeds, Curacao orange and US hops gives a light refreshing beer with a zesty and spicy finish."

Game: So I was wondering what new enemies we'd get to fight in the Hearts of Stone Witcher DLC and I was hoping it wouldn't be spiders but then after playing it for a few hours I was like, "spiders... why did it have to be giant spiders"?  It's spiders you see, One of the new enemies is spiders. #SadCobwebbyFace  Also, they turned the difficulty up to eleven. Actually the enemies are levelled up to the mid-thirtys. Amazing DLC. Have at it!

Wizard (Robinsons)

Name: Wizard
Label: "Mythical Amber Beer - made using 5 British hops, Bramling Cross, EKG, 1st Gold, Challenger & Admiral - Drink of this and take thy fill, for the water falls by the Wizard's will."
Brewery: Robinsons
ABV: 3.7%

Tasting notes: "Inspired by a local Cheshire legend 'The Wizard of Alderley Edge', we have combined 5 English hops, pale, wheat & crystal malts to produce Wizard, a moreish, sessionable 3.7% ABV mythical amber ale. Packed full of flavour, Wizard has a spell-binding fruity & zesty hop palate complemented by a magical full malt character."  Definitely a great session ale, unfortunately my session was very short as I only had one bottle.

Game: I'm expanding my Witcher 3 experience with the Hearts of Stone expansion which looks to be quite expansive.  So far I've learned how to; survive a ship wreck, raise spirits (ghosts, not more alcohol) and how to talk to women, e.g. "This way, my strawberry".  Probably the best DLC ever, although I don't think I'll ever try the strawberry line in real life lest I be slapped.  8/10

Black Wych (Wychwood)

Name: Black Wych
Label: "A dark mysterious spellbinding porter"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 5.0%

Tasting notes: "The Black Wych has cast her spell. Start with a measure of alluringly rich dark malt and allow the bitterness to creep in. Watch out for the caramel sweetness lurking behind. This silkily smooth porter is no taboo, she's a spellbinding force to be reckoned with."

Game: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate has some collectibles right up our alcohol drenched street. Bottles dotted around London can be picked up to unlock Beer Tasting Notes in the database. Apparently the beer wasn't too great in 1868 judging by just one of the examples:

Amber Ale - Robert, Barnaby & Co.
With its strong flavour and heady aroma, this beer would pair wonderfully with halibut. I'm sorry, did I say "pair with?" I meant "tastes of," it tastes like halibut. The body has an unctuous pond-scum quality, but manages to be gritty at the same time. Overall I'd rate this beer somewhere between "poison oak" and "a live and furious piranha" on the "things I'd willingly put in my body" scale.

Buy Black Wych (Seasonal - limited stock)

UK & Worldwide delivery

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Dunkel Fester (Wychwood)

Name: Dunkel Fester
Label: "T'is the season of mischief - A disturbingly dark beer"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 4.4%

Tasting notes: "An exceptionally dark malty beer with an eerie red tinge brewed for those with a fetish for rich flavours. Hints of coffee & roasted nuts are haunted by an underlying fruity finish creating the perfect Halloween treat." Yay, it's nearly scary Halloween. Celebrate with this scarily great beer!

Game: Cor blimey, guv'nor! It's a new Assassin's Creed! AC: Syndicate is set in London and there's lots of  assassinating going on and apples & pears or something.  So it's like previous Assassin's Creeds's's but totally better and with a cockney accent.  This time out the multiplayer element has been stealth assassinated! Thankfully there's lots and lots and lots and lots to do. Best bit so far is thieving a horse and cart like it's GTA, 1868 style!

Buy this beer (very limited stock)!

UK & Worldwide delivery

UK Standard £9.89 GBP UK Signed £10.99 GBP Worldwide Standard £15.99 GBP Worldwide Tracked £26.99 GBP