Brew T (Greene King)

Name: Brew T
Label: "Amber Ale - British hopped amber brew, with botanical infusion of jasmine green tea"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 4.5%

Tasting notes: "Amber ale, brewed with jasmine green tea. Botanical blend of jasmine green tea contrasts with spicy British hops, Goldings and First Gold. Rich amber ale with subtle astringency & fragrant floral finish."  This ale is definitely my cup of tea.

Game: Played Xbox 360 game Super Meat Boy, cos ya know, FREE with Xbox Gold :)  Let my eldest play it. He came up to me 20 minutes later crying saying it was too frustrating. Welcome to gaming, son. Welcome to gaming.

Rating: 8 rages out of 10.

Optical Infusion (Greene King)

Name: Optical Infusion
Label: "Golden Ale - Scottish Optic malted barley brew, infused with Blended Malt Scotch Whisky"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 5.5%

Tasting notes: "Golden ale with oak matured Scotch whisky. Brewed with a single variety of malted barley, "Optic" and blended malt Scotch whisky infused from toasted oak.  Rich and full with dried fruit & vanilla accents."

Game: Another quick one about Star Wars Battlefront DLC: Bespin. It looks the part, it sounds the part. It's got new heroes, Lando Calrissian (no-good scoundrel, you'd like him) and Gendar (you never heard him in the films but the voice and accent is so good it fits like a glove/head bandage).  New weapons, Jabba contracts and new maps abound; Cloud City, woah there's Slave I, there's that room where they all met, there're some bombs to disarm / arm in new mode Sabotage, AT-AT's here? Awesome!  8 scoundrels out of 10.

Brilliant Ale (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Brilliant Ale
Label: "Inspired by tales of sunbeams striking the brewhouse of Britain's oldest brewer. Legend has it our brewers were first moved to create Brilliant Ale by the vision of the bright, early morning sun sending golden shafts of light onto our solid oak mash tun."
Brewery: Shepherd Neame
ABV: 5.6%

Tasting notes: "Historically this recipe was formulated with 100% pale malt, bittered by our signature East Kent Goldings hops.  A golden, brilliantly bright, hoppy ale was born. Today this ale has been rejuvenated by using the modern hop variety of Cascade. Hugely popular in its day, this revitalised ale has risen from the annals of history for the modern drinker to savour."

Game: Quick one about Star Wars Battlefront DLC: "Outer Rim". It's got new heroes Greedo (he shot first) and Nien Numb (he laughed first), new mode Extraction where you've got to transport some stuff to some place and the other team have to stop you transporting the stuff to the place. It's got ace maps, Jabba's throne room, woah dead Rancor! Jabba contracts, new weapons etc etc. Rating: 7 Banthas out of 10.

Big Bad Wolf IPA (Metropolitan Brewing Co)

Name: Big Bad Wolf IPA
Label: "Huge hoppy character, brewed with 7 hop varieties and dry hopped for extra intensity."
Brewery: Metropolitan Brewing Co (Greene King)
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting notes: "India Pale Ale. Humulus Iupulous or 'wolf of the woods' the Latin name for hops. Centennial, Amarillo, Styrian Goldings & Cascade varieties deliver big, bold tropical fruit aromas, with delicate, herbal bitterness to finish."

Game: Britain has voted to leave the EU!  Gaming Ales doesn't think it's that big a deal. It would have been nice to remain in the EU, it makes sense to keep Europe united rather than split up, but it's not the end of the world. There will still be games and there will still be beer. Plus the new Zelda game will be released on WiiU AND NX in 2017! Brexit rating: 5/10

Surrey Nirvana (Hogs Back)

Name: Surrey Nirvana
Label: "Hoppy and Golden - Enlighten Yourself - A drier, golden brew with cascade, centennial and local Surrey fuggles hops"
Brewery: Hogs Back
ABV: 4.0%

Tasting notes: "We've designed Surrey Nirvana to release the bad karma and achieve that perfect state of mind. Brewed with Centennial, Cascade and Fuggles hops to give strong citrus and floral notes on the nose. It is light in body and well-balanced, with delightful mellow citrus flavours. This beer showcases the wonderful aromatic character that can be achieved by late hopping."

Game: Great news! XCOM 2 is getting an Xbox One release! After the utter dismayment of it only releasing on PC originally, this is mega news. Roll on 6th September 2016. I definitely know what to ask Father Birthday for now!  News rating: 9 aliens out of 10.

Under Currant Pale Ale (Metropolitan Brewing Co)

Name: Under Currant Pale Ale
Label: "Hopped with Tasmanian Galaxy, a variety with intensely fruity aromas"
Brewery: Metropolitan Brewing Co (Greene King)
ABV: 5.0%

Tasting notes: "Pale ale. Galaxy hop from down under, imparts powerful fruit character. A smooth pale ale with distinctive tropical fruit aromas; passion fruit, lychee, mango and blackcurrants."

Game: Ever fancied being a goat? No, me neither, but now we can thanks to this months free 'Games with Gold' offering of Goat Simulator. And for a self-proclaimed 'simulator' it's not very good. The goat slides around all over the place, you can jump out of your pen straight away, the goat's tongue is lolling out of it's mouth constantly. I've stroked loads of goats and their tongue never does that unless you bought one of those paper bags full of goat feed from the bloke in the shed. Also, there are no people with paper bags of goat feed. Totally unrealistic. 2 baaas out of 10.