Label: "Vintage Ale - Crafted by the Master Brewer of 'Old Speckled Hen' - Gold Quality Award Winner 2009 - Superior Fine Ale"
Brewery: Morland
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: "This strong fine ale combines a distinctive malty taste with a satisfying, smooth raisin finish. Brewed with a blend of the famous old 5X, which is aged using our vintage oak vat maturing method, this delicious dark amber ale is perfect for indulging yourself and your friends."
Game: Less than a week until Batman: Arkham City and the reviews are bigging it up as the best game ever invented. No longer is it just the best superhero game, it's the best game, 'period'. And I want it 'stat' (whatever this means, presumably 'at once'). Now trying to avoid reading anything more about it, lest it be spoilt by over-zealous reviewers. Skyrim is now less than a month away too and what better way to whet the appetite than a read of the following post from Games From the Void about all the awesome improvements and changes since Oblivion. I'm going to need a sabbatical from work this autumn.
5 comments:
Okay...
Fair enough, I do acknowledge the fact that you've placed quotation marks on your 'rating', but how can a section of the brewery's official marketing description - (written word for word as the link below will show) - possibly be considered your rating of the product?
Is the point of this blog to tell us what YOU think of it, or what its own manufacturer thinks of it?
I know it's sometimes hard to sit down and compose a review - but this seems totally self-defeating for your site.
Surely, if you've tried a beer, you must be able to say at least something about it? If not, then why decide to blog about beer at all?
Your header reads 'Game and ale reviews...'.
But that's not a review you have there. It's just free advertising.
Your blog has a fantastic (and very unique) concept, but as things stand the concept offers something quite different from what's being delivered, as the product description at this online retailer neatly demonstrates -
http://goo.gl/iL7HR
Thank you for your comments, you make some salient points there Anonymous. The point of my blog is outlined in the "Origin story" (the link of which is towards the top of the page). This basically says the blog is really just to keep a track of what different ales I've drank. If anyone reads it, great. If no-one reads, it's no big deal.
Secondly, a lot of the ratings are just the blurb on the beer label as you point out, sometimes with a comment (but not always). I explain this on the "Ratings guide" page - in a nutshell, the brewers describe their beers more succinctly than I ever could and they make for a good rating.
So what if it's free advertising? This is real ale remember not cheap lagers that are brewed in billion gallon batches. Some of the ales are brewed by large, obviously profitable, operations but some of the ales are from small family run breweries so I'm happy to support them in any way, shape or form (whether they know about it or not). If this means putting their bottle label blurb on a blog, for what it's worth, then so be it.
Still tastes nice though.....and if Bickle77 is still here then I also know you haven't died form it, blend that it with the anticipation of Batman, hic!
Issa why I keep coming back here
hic...! :)
remind me not to comment when I'm enkneebree... anameated... abbrivat.... sigh! pissed!
THUD!
Yeah I haven't died. Not yet anyway... *checks life insurance policy just in case its imminent*
All comments are welcome by the way, whether they be from pissed, angry, apathetic, happy or sad states of mind. They all add to the wonderful mix of commentary based comments.
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