Orange Barley (Batemans)

Name: Orange Barley
Label: "Oranges. freshness, zest and tang - if you like oranges!"
Brewery: Batemans
ABV: 6.2%

Tasting notes: "Brewed with zesty oranges (1%) and natural cane sugar (1%) to deliver unabated sweetness, bite, body and charm. Serve in a large wine glass for maximum aroma."  Wow, surprisingly orangey and it works!

Game: This new game has also got plenty of bite, body and charm! Dying Light is a zesty first person parkour adventure with zombies!  The night time bits where you're being chased by the more agile aggressive zombies is terrifying.  My heart rate hasn't increased this much during a game since Alien: Isolation.  Getting too old for this shit! But it's awesome!  8/10

Stoodley Stout (Little Valley Brewery)

Name: Stoodley Stout
Label: "Rich and creamy - organic bottle conditioned"
Brewery: Little Valley Brewery
ABV: 4.8%

Tasting notes: "Stoodley Stout is a rich, dark stout containing chocolate and crystal malt mixed with oats and wheat. It has a rich and creamy roasted flavour with notes of orange and citrus." Impressive name, impressive taste.

Game: Heard quite a bit recently about how game reviews and scores as we know them are going to change and/or become obsolete. The thinking behind it is that all of a sudden you can't now review a game unless you've been playing it for months, like with Destiny and Evolve etc. I agree so I'll be doing a review system whereby I say whether a game is rubbish, ok or ace. Then I'll give it a score out of 10 which will roughly equate to whether the game is rubbish, ok or ace. And then I'll make the review available very soon after I've played the game.

Rating of new review idea: 8/10

Santa Paws (BrewDog)

Name: Santa Paws
Label: "Christmas Scotch Ale"
Brewery: BrewDog
ABV: 4.5%

Tasting notes: "A 4.5% decadent scotch ale brewed with Scottish Heather Honey. A robust malty beer packed with flavour and at a strength you can drink all (Christmas) day long.  A baby scotch ale which is perfect with Christmas pudding or whilst playing Pictionary with your gran. This is our antidote to the chaos of the upcoming festive season. Raise a glass of this Christmas beer, share it with friend, family and strangers, and sit back and enjoy the view as world descends into a fairy light fuelled frenzy. And, if all else fails, just blame Santa. Hoppy Christmas (when it comes) from all at BrewDog."

Game: Not really a game this time (unless you count spending money a game), but just checking out some beers from the Flavourly.com craft beer club. Got a good introductory deal and the beers have been brilliant so signed up for three months. Slight concern that it will be quite expensive to carry on after the first three months though. But you also get gourmet snacks in the box!

Robin Hood (Springhead)

Name: Robin Hood
Label: "A chestnut-brown traditional bitter with plenty of hops - Brewed in Robin Hood country by Springhead"
Brewery: Springhead
ABV: 4.0%

Tasting notes: "Robin Hood is an aromatic, traditional, chestnut-brown English bitter. It is malty in flavour with a dry, hoppy finish. Robin Hood has been lovingly brewed by master-craftsmen using only the finest English ingredients to ensure that each bottle is as good as the last."

Game: Crikey, Dragon Age: Inquisition is epically long... Feel like I've been playing it for years and I'm still unlocking new areas to explore!  Not complaining though (really). Although maybe games these days are getting a bit too big?  Almost overwhelming in their vastness with too many distractions that detract from a coherent story-driven experience? Personally I think their immenseness is great, I'm just a bit concerned that I'll start to accrue a backlog of unfinished gigantic games as more games get released over the next few years?

La Tène (Celt Experience)

Name: La Tène
Label: "Crafted Ale - Bracis-Curmi."  Bracis-Curmi means malted beer apparently.
Brewery: Celt Experience
ABV: 3.3%

Rating: Lots of French words on the back even though the brewer is based in Caerphilly. The label also bids us "Welcome" in big letters. Not sure what's going on to be honest. The beer tastes brill though, a pale bitter, great with chicken so I've found.

Game: Just played through the second episode of Telltales' Game Of Thrones.  Suffice it to say The Lost Lords is superb. It is however a little bit glitchy. Choices from episode one sometimes don't carry over into episode two, although I didn't get this issue. I did get a problem where the graphics didn't pop in and big black blobs appeared instead. *Minor spoiler?* Rodrik was looking at some dead bodies and looked quite scared but I just saw Rodrik looking at some big black blobs and looking quite scared. Lesson learned: dead bodies and big black blobs are both quite scary.

Imperial Ale (Wentworth Brewery)

Name: Imperial Ale
Label: "Brewed and bottled by Wentworth Brewery"
Brewery: Wentworth Brewery
ABV: 3.8%

Rating: "Our new session bitter, a glowing tawny coloured ale with a refreshingly floral nose. Going down great guns on tap and now brought to you bottled."

Game: So last night was all about the Far Cry 4. This time co-opping with Xbox Live's Red Tomacco showing me how it's done. Couple of achievements achieved and a couple of fortresses beat, plus bell towers and outposts conquered. We did a lot of shooting and Red Tomacco did a lot of reviving a stricken Bickle. Top bloke and a top Far Cry 4 player who seems to be able to fly the length of the map using the wingsuit!