Burton Bitter (Marston's)

Name: Burton Bitter
Label: "Brewed at the Marston's Brewery Burton Upon Trent - Established 1834"
Brewery: Marston's
ABV: 3.8%

Rating: Smooth

Game: Manchester City Vs West Ham in glorious HD. Not a video game but its a bit like FIFA, except not as good.  City win convincingly 3 - 1 and Tevez should have scored a couple of hatricks. He was probably missing on purpose... Amount of words he said during the post match interview = 0. Still, his English is a lot better than my Argentinian, or Spanish or whatever language it is.

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.

Fiddler's Elbow (Wychwood)

Name: Fiddler's Elbow
Label: "Wheat Brewed"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: Quaffable

Game: IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey again. Now this was pretty damn annoying as for the second time, mission objectives were completed but the mission didn't end. This resulted in a switch off rather than aimlessly flying around until the end of time. Glitchy games suck so it goes on the trade pile and is docked a point. Revised rating: 5/10

Next up is Left 4 Dead. A multiplayer game if ever there was one, this is the first game I've seen where "Single Player" is the last option on the menu. Not brave enough to play it multiplayer yet, the single player mode is first choice to get used to the maps before venturing online. Beware of stupid AI team members - if you die right near the end of the level thanks to their ineptitude (or your general shitness at the game in my case), its back to the start of the level for you. The fact that getting vomitted on attracts a flock of zombies automatically warrants an 8/10. Genius.

Fursty Ferret (Badger)

Name: Fursty Ferret
Label: Country Crafted - Dorset Ales - Real Character - 1777
Brewery: Badger
ABV: 4.4%

Rating: Cheeky Bastard

Game: Playing MK Vs DC again. Story mode beaten both ways. Got to see Midway's pleasant "Thank you for playing" message at the end of the credits. No... thank you Midway. Thank you for such a great game. Shame you've gone bust - 8/10. 

Also on the 'Box was IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Interesting flight sim but slowly spiralling into yawn city on Arcade mode.  Realistic mode is a bit tricky and Simulation mode is just crazy difficult.  If it was really like that flying one of those planes in the war I'd have been deaded before I'd even got to the cockpit - 6/10.

Next was Pinball FX. Pinball games are great. Fact.  And this was a steal at only 400 MS points from XBLA Marketplace. It gets docked a point though because several of the achievements are only gettable after downloading further tables (at 200 MS points each) naughty naughty - smacked botties time for Micro$oft - 6/10

England's Gold (Badger)

Name: England's Gold
Label: "Quintessentially English"
Brewery: Badger
ABV: 4.6%

Rating: Ace

Game: Playing Mortal Kombat Vs DC again. Great game, not only does it have the normal Arcade mode but there's a story mode as well! Story Mode is well written considering its just a one on one 2D beat-em up. Quality.

Pedigree (Marston's)

Name: Pedigree
Label: "Premium English Ale"

Brewery: Marston's

ABV: 5.0%

Rating: Consistent

Game: Playing Mortal Kombat Vs DC.  This was then followed by eating Pork Scratchings and watching Match of the Day 2. Man United just beat Man City 4 - 3 with a 96th minute goal and Bellamy bravely hits a fan who ran onto the pitch (but only after fan has been restrained by four stewards).

Brave - against people with their arms behind their backs