Essex Border (Nethergate)

Name: Essex Border
Label: "Stour Valley" with three swords and a grumpy looking dog.
Brewery: Nethergate
ABV: 4.8%

Rating: "This delicious premium, handcrafted ale is brewed by Nethergate at The Growler Brewery on the Essex border in the picturesque Stour Valley." The label may be a little drab but the beer sure as heck ain't!

Game: There seems to be a definite gaming lull at the moment. A good chance to catch up on, and hopefully finish, Catherine. I say lull, but I've just remembered that Dawnguard, the DLC for Skyrim is out now! Oops. 1600 Microsoft points though... I'm sure it's worth it.

London Glory (Greene King)

Name: London Glory
Label: "Great British Beer - A rich & fruity ale"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: "Our expert brewers have combined Crystal Malt with Challenger and Golding Hops to create this rich and fruity brew, in celebration of our great capital city."  It's random celebration time! I'm celebrating... erm... not being dead!

Game: Recently I've been test driving the new Amazing Spider-Man game on the iPad courtesy of popbucket.co.uk. I thought it was great, not quite Batman (because it's Spider-Man) but still great. Did anyone see that Batman game on YouTube where it was Batman but set in Victorian England? It looked rubbish.  But I digress, have a looksy at the full Amazing Spider-Man review here. It made 'Featured' article and everything!

Root Brew (Jeremiah Weed)

Name: Root Brew
Label: "The smoothest you'll ever have - Bold taste, smooth sippin' - Mr Jeremiah Weed, the original southern gentleman from Kentucky USA, proudly brings to you his root brew."
Brewery: Jeremiah Weed
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: "Ginger brew with fruit alcohol, spirit & flavourings." Like the Sour Mash Brew I extensively reviewed the other day, this is great. Doesn't quite match the Sour Mash for awesomeness, but it's still great nonetheless.

Game: So the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC just finished downloading... but when I've loaded up the game I've realised I don't have a saved game closest enough to the ending. I could play through the last two or three hours but I've got beer to sip and the football is on in a bit. Fortunately I've been able to watch all the endings on www.computerandvideogames.com. Having watched them I stand by original opinion, they should have left well alone...

Sour Mash Brew (Jeremiah Weed)

Name: Sour Mash Brew
Label: "The smoothest you'll ever have - Bold taste, smooth sippin' - Mr Jeremiah Weed, the original southern gentleman from Kentucky USA, proudly brings to you his sour mash brew."
Brewery: Jeremiah Weed
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: "Brewed with fruit alcohol, spirit & flavourings." Wow! I just found my new favourite drink! Is it even beer? I don't know and I don't care, I'm on my eighth pint already.

Game: Whilst I'm waiting for the 1.85GB of free Mass Effect 3 DLC to download, I'm playing Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes. Right, where to start. The series is great, this game stays true to the series as far as story, characters and visual style goes. All well and good then. But, and it's a big butt, why oh why make a platforming game where the platforming sections are so totally broken? Was there no-one at LucasArts brave enough to say "Hold on a minute, we can't release this, it's broke to shit"?  Hello game testers? Were you on permanent cigarette breaks during development? Dear LucasArts, please hire me, let me test games for you. I am better than the testers you had on this particular 'project'.

Sovereign (Marston's)

Name: Sovereign
Label: "An English Hop - Blonde ale with an elegant, floral, understated aroma - Single hop"
Brewery: Marston's
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: "Developed at the end of the last century as a replacement for Fuggles, the most famous English hop variety, Sovereign delivers a pale Blonde ale with an elegant, floral, understated aroma."

Game: I've been playing Asphalt 7: Heat on iPad quite a lot recently. It's really impressive. Never thought I'd get into iPad gaming but writing the odd review for popbucket.co.uk means that I'm kinda getting into iPad gaming! Here's the full review on popbucket.co.uk. Oh and I also finished Crysis 2 at last. Although predictable, it got quite good towards the end. 7/10.

Simply Dark Ale (Tesco)

Name: Simply Dark Ale
Label: "This deliciously Dark Ale is rich and full bodied with a smooth and fruity flavour"
Brewery: Tesco
ABV: 4.5%

Rating: "This ale is ruby in colour. It is rich and fruity with a roasted malt flavour." I thought the question of who the brewers are for this Tesco range would be answered, but the mystery still persists. Whoever it is, they're still a master of the brew.

Game: I've been meaning to get an Infinity Blade review up (cos it's so great). Never got round to it though, until the awesome James from popbucket.co.uk asked if I'd like to do some reviews of mobile app games for the site. It's the first 'proper' review I've done in years, but I tried my best dammit! So check out the review at popbucket.co.uk, and while you're there why not have a look around at all the other great articles, a veritable wealth of information and knowledge awaits!

Snake's Bite (Wychwood)

Name: Snake's Bite
Label: "Cider apple fruit beer - serve chilled or over ice"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 4.2%

Rating: "Give in to temptation with this sinful blend of traditionally crafted beer, infused with Cider Apples. Forgive yourself for enjoying its truly distinctive, refreshing fruit flavour." Best. Label. Ever. An absolute stunner of a beer too. I could drink this til the snakes come home. But then I'd have to drunkenly stumble from the house screaming like a girl if those damn snakes do turn up again.

Game: Not much gaming this week due to Euro 2012. However something game related did happen! A few weeks ago when Microsoft ditched Inside Xbox, I voiced my displeasure and Dan Maher mentioned my blog on Twitter, which was most kind of him. He later asked whether people would donate money to fund a pilot episode of a game related TV programme. Due to an abject lack of decent game related televisual productions I thought it sounded like a great idea. Well today is time to put my money where my, er, keyboard is and so I donated, an albeit paltry amount s'all I could afford, to the Project Possum project (I couldn't think of another word for project so had to say the Project Possum project). As I occasionally get free beer thanks to this site I thought I'd spread the "wealth", only managed the bronze perk though... and I'm on bread and water for the remainder of the month.

Celebration Ale (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Celebration Ale
Label: "A light refreshing ale"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: "Deliciously refreshing, this pale golden ale will quench the driest palate. The distinct hoppy, fruity aroma is complemented by a wonderful combination of malt and spice citrus flavours. A brew with a good bitter bite and hoppy finish."

Game: Playing Crysis 2, desperately trying to get it finished. It looks great but with nondescript alien baddies and some army-type people. Still, I'm enjoying the beer at least.

Simply IPA (Tesco)

Name: Simply IPA
Label: "This classic IPA balances refreshing citrus hops with a rounded malty richness"
Brewery: Tesco
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: "This ale is golden blonde in colour. It has a refreshing fruit and citrus hop flavour." It's not really brewed by Tesco by the way, it's brewed for Tesco... by someone. Someone called E Gilleland (Master brewer) judging by the signature on the bottle.  I know not who this is, but can confirm his brewing skills are indeed masterful.

Game: Literally seem to have hit a brick wall in Catherine.  Thought I was doing ok and then suddenly it's gone seemingly impossible. My new rule is no more new games until I've finished the ones I've got. So, I want to get this game out of the way asap because now I'm missing out on Dragon's Dogma and Game of Thrones. Time to start visiting some YouTube videos for some handy hints. And when I say handy hints, I mean detailed move-by-move instructions on how to finish the levels.

Liberty Ale (Anchor Brewing Co)

Name: Liberty Ale
Label: "San Francisco's famous Liberty Ale was first brewed on the 18th of April, 1975, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere's historic ride"
Brewery: Anchor Brewing Co
ABV: 5.9%

Rating: "Made with the finest barley malt; fresh, whole hops; top-fermenting yeast; pure water; and the simple, natural methods that reflect our exceptional respect for the ancient art of brewing." This is imported from the U. S. of A.

Game: After playing the Batman: Arkham City DLC, I seem to find myself playing through the whole game again. I've discovered the Game Plus Mode you see, which lets you play through a tougher version of the game but with all your XP and unlocked gadgets carried over. And I've still got Crysis 2 to finish. Why can't I get on with that game? It's perfectly good, but every time I think of playing it, the word "meh" appears in my mind and repeats itself over and over, getting faster and faster and faster and louder and louder until I pass out from over-exposure to meh! I don't even like the word "meh"!

Indus Pale Ale (Thwaites)

Name: Indus Pale Ale
Label: "Thoroughly hoppy flavour - Refreshing amber ale, brewed with four hop varieties for superb taste and aroma."
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.6%

Rating: "When Daniel Thwaites was embarking on his brewing career, the INDUS would have been voyaging to the East Indies - trading Lancashire cotton for exotic Eastern delights. Our INDUS Pale Ale celebrates ales of that period with a refreshing brew enriched with abundant hops for flavour that stays fresh and crisp to the finish." Tonight I'm celebrating the Queen's Jubilee in the same way as all other Royal occasions, by drinking excellent beer and playing video games.

Game: Downloaded Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC for Batman: Arkham City. This is definitely what DLC should all be about. Put simply, it's a proper, hefty piece of story driven content. You get to play as Robin as well as Batman. It was only 800 Microsoft points. Raise your glass to Rocksteady, the bestest maker of games this side of Rockstar and Bethesda.

White Shield (Worthington's)

Name: White Shield
Label: "Closer to cask for a fuller flavour - our finest India Pale Ale for true IPA connoisseurs"
Brewery: Worthington's
ABV: 5.6%

Rating: "White Shield is the longest surviving India Pale Ale and one of the UK's most heavily decorated ales, having won numerous Campaign for Real Ale awards." This is probably one of the liveliest beers I've ever had. And when I say lively I mean 'really fizzy', it wasn't shouting and jumping around or anything.

Game: Got a tad annoyed tonight playing Catherine. It's a brilliant game but the block-moving puzzley bits do get highly frustrating at times. Not as annoying as people who say "simples" and pretend to be a meerkat (those people could do with a Max Payne style bullet to the face scenario), but the puzzling did get annoying enough for me to shout, "Fuck you, you fucking piece of fuck!" I don't even know what that means and I don't tend to swear that much so this sudden outburst was a surprise to say the least... shameful almost. Maybe it's time to give up gaming and take up a less stressful hobby? Sewing maybe. Beer and sewing...?