Bombardier - Burning Gold (Wells)

Name: Bombardier - Burning Gold
Label: "Drink of England - Inspired by William Blake's Jerusalem, this is a lively, refreshing golden ale, alive with English passion."
Brewery: Wells
ABV: 4.7%

Rating: Bombardier's great tasting relative.

Game: Changing the difficulty level on Dragon Age helps a great deal - now playing on "Casual" setting *hangs head in shame*.  It's ok though, I can enjoy the game a bit more now without having to save every three to four seconds.

Etoile D'Or

Name: Etoile D'Or
Label: "Imported Belgian Lager"
Brewery: Brewed in Belgium for Marks & Spencer
ABV: 5%

Rating: Belgian beer is ace.

Game: On the verge of selling/trading Dragon Age today. Got stuck again and can't get past a certain section. Stupid under-equipped, under-skilled team. Going after the Urn of Sacred Ashes but can't get past my teams doppelgangers.  Looking for hints on the web and one site advises "have fun -- this is one of Dragon Age's cooler fights." Er, no.  This is one of Dragon Age's suckier fights. It's over in about thirty seconds with my entire team getting wiped out. Not fun. I'm going to flee the mountain and do side missions to try and level up my characters so when I return it will still be just as difficult...

Biere d'Alsace

Name: Biere d'Alsace
Label: "Imported French Lager"
Brewery: Brewed in France for Marks & Spencer
ABV: 5%

Rating: Lager's great. Not as good as ale, but still great. And it's more difficult and time consuming to brew.

Game: Wolverine is done and dusted. No more claws-through-skulls for a while until Hard difficulty is attempted.  Now, there was some massive sprawling RPG I was trying to play through prior to Wolvie's arrival... what was it called again..?

Birra D'Oro

Name: Birra D'Oro
Label: "Imported Italian Lager - Superiore & Rinfrescante - Birra Di Qualitá"
Brewery: Brewed in Italy for Marks & Spencer
ABV: 5%

Rating: Great to drink when playing Assassin's Creed 2

Game: Wasn't playing Assassin's Creed 2, too busy slicing and dicing on Wolverine. Almost reached the end I'm sure but this game definitely warrants a second playthrough once the "Hard" mode has been unlocked.

Iceberg (Titanic)

Name: Iceberg
Label: "Shipped from the Potteries"
Brewery: Titanic
ABV: 4.1%

Rating: Goes down like a lead balloon

Game: Wolverine is so good that Dragon Age isn't getting a look in at the moment.  Wolverine is simple from a puzzle perspective but the special moves and quick kill moves never get old. 8/10.

Goliath (Wychwood)

Name: Goliath
Label: "A colossal taste"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 4.2%

Rating: Used to be sold in a bigger bottle than it is now. They stopped doing that because the government wants you to drink less but pay the same price. Nanny state stuff I reckon.

Game: This years Christmas game is X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The quality of movie franchise and tie-ins seems to be getting better and better. Ghostbusters was pretty good, the Batman franchise has had a new lease of life thanks to the excellent Arkham Asylum and the Wolverine game is splendidly violent.

Maplemoon (Joseph Holt)

Name: Maplemoon
Label: "Full bodied pleasure with a twinkle of maple - Mystical Maple Ale"
Brewery: Joseph Holt
ABV: 4.8%

Rating: A glimmer of Canadian maple which makes it very pleasurable on the taste buds. One of the better things to come out of Manchester, UK.

Game: There are sooo many quests in Dragon Age: Origins I've lost track of them all. I don't know where anything is and I keep getting wasted by packs of wolves. Christmas tomorrow!

Strong Pale Ale (Marston's)

Name: Strong Pale Ale
Label: "Smooth, refreshing and remarkably easy drinking"
Brewery: Marston's
ABV: 6.2%

Rating: Exactly what it says on the bottle.

Game: As you'll know doubt remember, I've been having a bit of difficulty getting past the Sloth Demon in the Fade on Dragon Age: Origins. Well, no longer. I acquired myself an enchanted dagger and a big red dagger, and a drake scale suit of armour (drake is a male dragon apparently).  Have a bit of daggery goodness in your face Sloth bitch!

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.

Tribute (St. Austell)

Name: Tribute
Label: "The Ale of Cornwall - A delightfully delicious and drinkable beer that captures the essential character of Cornwall.
Brewery: St. Austell
ABV: 4.2%

Rating/Comment: The Cornish, so far up their own arses that they have their own flag and pretend Cornwall is an independent country. Tourists are made to feel unwelcome even though they play an essential role in the local economy. Although the Cornish people I know are thoroughly decent so maybe the previous statements are a load of old bol. Nice beer!

Game: I'm going all soft-core on the gaming front at the moment. Wii is quite addictive and playing through Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is fun fun fun. Its just a phase I'm sure, the novelty will soon wear off...

Black Sheep Ale (Black Sheep Brewery)

Name: Black Sheep Ale
Label: "Crisp, dry & bittersweet - The culmination of five generations of brewing expertise. Brewed at the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire and nowhere else."
Brewery: Black Sheep Brewery
ABV: 4.4%

Rating: Excellent ale unimaginatively named.

Game: Got a black Nintendo Wii.  Definitely a "family" console which will probably end up being used just by me.  Trying to encourage other family members to partake in video games is like trying to get blood out of a cabbage. Cant remember the reason for getting it now, especially with Natal on the way...

Golden Ale (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Golden Ale
Label: "A well balanced fusion of malt & floral hop, with a clean dry citrus finish"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame (for Asda)
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: "Extra special"

Game: Currently playing at trying to clear my mailbox of play.com "Christmas offers" - an apparently relentless spamming campaign set to run the course of December.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, after the Assassin's Creed 2 debacle (AC2 delivered two (2) days late) and as Darth Vader would say - You have failed me for the last time, bitches. I ain't buyin nuffin from use anymore!"

Whitechapel Porter (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Whitechapel Porter
Label: "A dark ruby traditional porter combining underlying  roasted malt flavour with spicy hop notes"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame (for Asda)
ABV: 5.2%

Rating: Tough but slightly sweet

Game: Veteran difficulty is getting a bit tough now on Modern Warfare 2. Slowly working through it but may give up soon... Talking of Modern Warfare 2, Labour MP Keith Vaz doesn't like video games, the corrupt little cockroach recently crawled out from under his stone to comment on how "psychologically damaging" it is to children. He wants a sticker on 18 rated games to say "This has the potential to damage your health". Laugable maybe but he obviously fails to realise that children shouldn't be playing 18 rated video games. Modern Warfare 2 is rated 18. Which means people under the age of 18 shouldn't be playing it. Vaz obviously thinks games are aimed at children, he's therefore obviously an ignorant fool. Lets all point and laugh at the idiot. Sorry to pick on you Vaz, there's probably other idiotic, knee-jerk reactionary technophobes out there somewhere. I'll try and name and shame them in upcoming posts.

Directors (Courage)

Name: Directors
Label: "Originally brewed for the directors. Now brewed with distinction for you. Traditionally brewed superior quality ale"
Brewery: Courage - now Wells and Youngs. I wish companies would stop buying other companies, it makes things confusing.
ABV: 4.8%

Rating: Not just for the directors of Alton Brewery.

Game: Looking for something to tide me over until Christmas so picked up Dragon Age: Origins. Eight hours in and have got absolutely nowhere, this will probably tide me over until Christmas 2011 nevermind Christmas 2009.  There must be some kind of black magic involved in order to cram this amount of game onto one disc.

Old Speckled Hen (Morland)

Name: Old Speckled Hen
Label: "Strong fine ale - A distinctive rich malty taste bursting with character, fruity aroma and deliciously smooth"
Brewery: Morland
ABV: 5.2%

Rating: Named after an MG car used as a runaround in the factory or something.

Game: Now trying to complete missions on Veteran difficulty on Modern Warfare 2. Was tempted to replay Bioshock but the lure of MW2 (even single player) is too much.  Although the frustration factor will no doubt raise its frighteningly ugly face when attempting missions on Veteran.  Watch out for flying control pads! Gamerscore is now 49995 by the way. Five tiny gamerpoints away from 50k.

Abbot Ale (Greene King)

Name: Abbot Ale
Label: "Brewed longer for a distinctive full flavour"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: Great and doesn't taste like religion

Game: In need of a new game at the moment but not sure what to get. Christmas soon and the fatty in the red suit is bringing me Wolverine and some vouchers for Game hopefully. Bring it Mr Claus, bring it.

Pickled Partridge (Badger)

Name: Pickled Partridge
Label: "Perfectly plump - With roasted malt character and a noticeably hoppy, slightly spicy linger"
Brewery: Badger
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: Woohoo - a new beer, and seasonal as well!

Game: Back on Need for Speed Shift. Sticking with it because of the slight suspicion that Forza 3 is a bit over-rated and that any racing needs are catered for right here with Shift.  Reached Tier 4 now and the cars are stupidly fast, and as such, staying on the tarmac now seems an impossible task. Practice, practice, practice....

Old Growler (Nethergate)

Name: Old Growler
Label: "A special porter beer"
Brewery: Nethergate
ABV: 5.5%

Rating: Not really a "unique" beer as far as this blog is concerned because it has been sampled before, however it now sports a new label so its ok. See image and previous post.

Game: Tried to start a new Fallout 3 game but decided against it. Although journeying through a post-apocolyptic wasteland is fantastic fun, Christmas is coming and I'm getting fat and so can't dedicate enough time to this games awesomeness at the current juncture. Soon though, soon....

Hooky Gold (Hook Norton Brewery)

Name: Hooky Gold
Label: "Pale, gold & zesty - Brewed in Oxfordshire - Where progress is measured in pints"
Brewery: Hook Norton Brewery
ABV: 4.2%

Rating: Not had a beer for a few days so this hit the spot.

Game: 1000/1000 gamerpoints for Assassin's Creed 2. Still playing it even after 100% completion. That just shows how great this game is. DLC or Assassin's Creed 3 is now urgently required.  My awesome boxset: flickr.com/ass2.