The Nutcracker (Staffordshire Brewery)

Name: The Nutcracker
Label: "Over exuberance can lead to... ouch! Strong Ruby Beer"
Brewery: Brewed and bottled for Cottage Delight by Staffordshire Brewery
ABV: 4.8%

Tasting notes: "After a few beers - using the stairs might be difficult but if you take your time it could prove to be less painful"

Game: Today we're playing the freebie Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, Xbox 360 version backcompat [this is lazy talk for 'backwards compatible' - Ed] with Xbox One X. This is an absolute gem of a game - a third person hack and slash adventure in the same vein as Dante's Inferno, Conan and God of War. This follows a similar formula, slowly powering you up and giving you more weapons and combos as you progress. Your character traverses multiple environments ranging from factories, industrial complexes to Tomb Raider-esque temples buried deep in the jungle. There are a vast array of enemies, with new baddies being introduced as you progress to keep things fresh. Go get it!

Rating: 8/10

Santas Christmas Cracker (Staffordshire Brewery)

Name: Santa's Christmas Cracker
Label: "It's safe to say- Santa's pulled! Light Hoppy beer"
Brewery: Brewed and bottled for Cottage Delight by Staffordshire Brewery
ABV: 4.5%

Tasting notes: "This beer is a real cracker too... isn't Santa a lucky fellow!"

Game: Check it out, we've now played through the main storyline in Assassin's Creed Origins *beware minor SPOILER incoming*. During the final cut-scene with Bayek and Aya on the beach, Bayek drops his eagle skull pendant in the sand and the imprint that is left by the skull is the symbol of the assassins! Mind. Blown!

Rating: 10/10

Cold Turkey (Staffordshire Brewery)

Name: Cold Turkey
Label: "The beer is high up the pecking order - Golden premium beer"
Brewery: Brewed and bottled for Cottage Delight by Staffordshire Brewery
ABV: 5%

Tasting notes: "If you're going for a cold turkey, wash it down with a cool beer! MMM Gobble Gobble."

Game: This Christmas has been about finishing off a bunch of games. This time it's Telltale's classic series The Walking Dead. Specifically A New Frontier. This one really struck a chord with an absolute shocker of a cliffhanger on one of the episodes. You should really play it. Like, right now.

Rating: 8 shocking shocks out of 10

Welsh Beacons (Brecon)

Name: Welsh Beacons
Label: "Seriously quaffable Welsh Pale Ale"
Brewery: Brecon Brewing
ABV: 3.7%

Tasting notes: "Welsh Beacons is a traditional Welsh Pale Ale - pale golden in colour, with a blend of UK hops for a fresh, floral aroma and a gentle, refreshing flavour - the Beacons in a glass!"

Game: We love Telltale Games here at GamingAles so it was a great treat to get Tales from the Borderlands for nish on Games with Gold. And Telltale Games have created a stunner here. The art style is fantastic, it has a great soundtrack and the story is funny and engaging. We never quite got on with the Borderlands games but this re-imagining of it pleases us. Lots.

Rating: 8/10

Fruitesse On The Rocks (Liefmans)

Name: Fruitesse On The Rocks
Label: "Fruit beer - serve on the rocks"
Brewery: Liefmans
ABV: 3.8%

Tasting notes: "Refreshing fruit beer, matured on cherries flavoured with sugar and sweetener." Tastes more like fruit juice than beer!

Game: Christmas present for Gaming Ales collection is this Predator. This is the Limited Edition Ultimate Hunting Trophy set that includes the Predator head and a 3D blu-ray of the film. The film being Predator by the way [yes, I think they've probably worked that out themselves - Ed].

Rating: 10 trophies out of 10

Predator Limited Edition Ultimate Hunting Trophy

Rocking Rudolph (Hardys and Hansons)

Name: Rocking Rudolph
Label: "A full bodied, malty and fruity Christmas ale"
Brewery: Hardys & Hansons
ABV: 4.2%

Tasting notes: "A full bodied, malty and fruity Christmas ale, with a refreshing bitter finish"

Game: Merry Christmas! Today we've finished playing through South Park: The Fractured But Whole. Gameplay-wise it was very similar to the first game in the series (Stick of Truth) - this isn't a bad thing. Some major difficulty spikes in it though that were a little annoying but overall it was an enjoyable RPG-lite romp through South Park. Plenty of toilet humour too, literally - one of the mini-games involves taking a crap on various South Park residents toilets!

Rating: 7 farts out of 10.

Golden Crown (Harpers)

Name: Golden Crown
Label: "Golden ale - Brewed with pale biscuit flavour malts and a touch of tropical hop for a fruity finish."
Brewery: Harper's
ABV: 4.1%

Tasting notes: "Exotic hops from around the New World contribute rich aromas of tropical fruits and soft citrus. Look out for passion fruit, plump stone fruits and a touch of gooseberry."

Game: Third Eaglemoss Alien and Predator Collection item is the Special Edition 2: Alien Newborn Figurine.  I thought this was really unpleasant in the film. The figurine is equally as unpleasant which makes it great!

Rating: 9/10

Special Edition 2: Alien Newborn Figurine

Medusa (Harpers)

Name: Medusa
Label: "Ruby Red Ale - A deep mahogany beer with rich toffee apple and roasted chocolate aromas."
Brewery: Harper's
ABV: 5.0%

Tasting notes: "Chocolate and Toffee give way to a fresh fruity aroma and rich red hues. Dried fruit flavours and a roasted taste blend to produce a balanced bitter-sweet finish."

Game: Eaglemoss Alien and Predator Collection Issue 18 - and this one is doozy! This is 'Grid' from AvP. The grid pattern is when the Predator fires the net over the xeno and it cuts into its head.  Quality stuff, great figurine.

Rating: 8/10

Issue 18: AVP ‘Grid’ Xenomorph Figurine

Golden Sheep Ale (Black Sheep)

Name: Golden Sheep Ale
Label: "Refreshing golden beer with a clean & wickedly moreish finish"
Brewery: Black Sheep
ABV: 4.7%

Tasting notes: "Born from the pioneering spirit of Paul Theakston who, in 1992, followed his heart and dared to start a new brewery. Brewed in Masham, North Yorkshire, this beer is the culmination of six generations of family brewing expertise."

Game: Today we have an Eaglemoss Alien and Predator Collection delivery. This is Issue 19: Bishop. The figurine shows Bishop just before he gets in the tunnel to go and fix the satellite to call the spare ship down to the planet. The resemblance in the face is not quite there to be honest. They should have maybe done one with him speared by the Alien Queen's tail or cut in half.

Rating: 6/10

Issue 19: Bishop

Proper Job (St Austell)

Name: Proper Job
Label: "Bottle Conditioned - Cornish IPA - Powerfully Hopped"
Brewery: St Austell Brewery
ABV: 5.5%

Tasting notes: "A 'proper' India Pale Ale, Proper Job is a strong golden ale that's powerfully hopped."

Game: This week we're playing Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries. Three episodes which are quick, punchy and slicey. Don't think it rated all that well at release but this was a Black Friday deal so it only cost £3 for the lot. And it's well worth £3 which is probably the same amount as a couple of loot boxes in other "games". Classic Walking Dead storytelling and it's well worth the three hundred pence.

Rating: 8 beheaded zombies out of 10

Welsh Pale (Glamorgan)

Name: Welsh Pale
Label: "#drinkitin"
Brewery: Glamorgan Brewing Co.
ABV: 4.3%

Tasting notes: "A well-rounded pale ale with intense citrus, tropical and lime flavours. Hints of pine oil finished with a clean, hoppy bitterness."

Game: Another epic sized figurine in the Eaglemoss Alien and Predator Collection. Here is the Bonus Edition 1: Space Jockey Figurine.  It's a fantastic edition to the collection at 22cm tall, over 20cm in diameter and a whopping 2kg in weight. Brilliantly painted and excellently detailed.

Rating 9/10

Bonus Edition 1: Space Jockey Figurine

Pirates Gold (Wooden Hand)

Name: Pirate's Gold
Label: "Brewed and bottled in Truro Cornwall"
Brewery: Wooden Hand Brewery
ABV: 4.0%

Tasting notes: "Easy drinking pale coloured ale, a tempting hop aroma with light fruit notes. Strong malt and hop flavours with a dry tangy fruit finish."

Game: Limited edition time from Eaglemoss - The U.S.C.S.S. Nostromo. This is numbered 1461 of 3000. Looks great, if a little pricey for the size but we don't mind paying a bit extra for limited runs! That's forty-two million in adjusted dollars sat in my display cabinet. That’s minus payload, of course.

Rating: 7/10

The U.S.C.S.S. Nostromo

Wold Gold (Wold Top)

Name: Wold Gold
Label: "Wold Famous Blonde Beer - Brewed on our Yorkshire Farm"
Brewery: Wold Top Brewery
ABV: 4.8%

Tasting notes: "Wold Gold a blonde continental style beer, a heady mix of predominantly Wold grown Barley, Wheat and Cara malt hopped with Goldings and Styrian Goldings hops give the beer its soft, fruity flavour with a hint of spice. Year on year our best selling bottled beer."

Game: Another quick one, Issue 17 of the Alien and Predator Figurine Collection, Ronald Noland Figurine from Predators.  Sadly on one side of the box it refers to him as "Roland Noland" as opposed to Ronald Noland. But other than that, this figurine is excellent quality complete with salvaged Predator gear.

Rating: 7.5/10

Issue 17 Ronald Noland

Hellfire (Leeds Brewery)

Name: Hellfire
Label: "A premium pale ale"
Brewery: Leeds Brewery
ABV: 5.2%

Tasting notes: "Choicest Chinook and Centennial hops create a hop forward beer with a fruity tasting bitterness"

Game: Another Eaglemoss delivery, here is Issue 16 - the Elder Predator Figurine inspired by the crossover movie Alien vs Predator. Another quality figurine with fancy combistick and luxurious red cape!

Rating 8/10

Issue 16 AVP Elder Predator Figurine 

Double Dragon (Felinfoel)

Name: Double Dragon
Label: "The National Ale of Wales"
Brewery: Felinfoel Brewery
ABV: 4.2%

Tasting notes: "This deep copper red ale has a tangy red fruit flavour with nutty, toffee overtones. Having won a gold medal at the International Brewers Exhibition, Double Dragon is truly a champion ale."  So cool that they named it after a video game too!

Game: The Xbox One X Scorpio Edition comes with a built in 1TB HDD. Now one terabyte isn't all that much and it's expected this will get filled up pretty quickly. Cue lots of people moaning about that fact.  At GamingAles we've worked tirelessly to discover a really neat little feature on the console. Under My Games & Apps you can click on a game or app and click something called "Delete".  This actually removes stuff from the console. Useful if you spot anything you don't really play anymore.  So until Microsoft work out a way where we can store infinite games to the console, we'll be using this feature in the meantime.

Sea Fury (Sharps)

Name: Sea Fury
Label: "Exceptional special ale"
Brewery: Sharp's
ABV: 5.0%

Tasting notes: "Sea Fury Special Ale takes its inspiration from the stormy Atlantic seas that crash into the rugged Cornish coast during the long, dark winter. This exceptional beer was first brewed in 1996 to satisfy demand from local fishermen for a stronger ale to enjoy after long and often perilous stints at sea."

Game: This week is Xbox One X week! So far we've installed Assassin's Creed Origins, Evil Within 2 and South Park The Fractured But Whole. Assassins's Creed Origins is the most played so far and we must say the 4K graphics look absolutely incredible. It's definitely the best looking game we've ever played. Like, EVER! And we've played a lot of games! We've been playing games since the 80's! We KNOW games! [yes ok I think they get it - Ed]

Current rating: 4000 out of 10

Special London Ale (Youngs)

Name: Special London Ale
Label: "Matured live in the bottle for that fresher taste. Can be enjoyed cloudy, but ideally pour slowly leaving the last few drops in the bottle with the yeast."
Brewery: Young's
ABV: 6.4%

Tasting notes: "Rich and malty with notes of candied fruit and a powerful spicy hop finish."

Game: Belated happy Xbox One X day! Our console arrived on the morn of release day - big thanks to Amazon from everyone at GamingAles Towers! Amazon came in for some stick for failing to deliver consoles on release day. Reports have been coming in that customers were furious. Lives have been ruined. They couldn't bear to look at their stupid old Xbox One or Xbox One S knowing that the Xbox One X was out there being played on by other customers.  Numbers of people affected are vague, but initial estimates indicate it's about six or seven. We will be keeping an eye on the situation so watch our twitter feed to keep track of the latest developments.

Amber (Banks)

Name: Amber
Label: "Exceptional Amber Bitter"
Brewery: Banks's
ABV: 3.8%

Tasting notes: "Crafted with the finest ingredients to deliver a deep gold amber beer with a clean finish and fruity overtones. The blend of fuggles and goldings - the classic twin hop masterpiece delivers a classic English beer."

Game: The game of the week has obviously been Assassin's Creed Origins, but we have also had time to wrap up The Evil Within 2 just in time for Halloween. And what a game it is too, complete with one of the grossest horrible looking end of game bosses ever [you big chicken - Ed]!  The game is so great we went straight into New Game+ so we can play through again with all of our unlocked weapons and abilities.

Rating: 9/10

IPA (Wadworth)

Name: IPA
Label: "Easy drinking and refreshing"
Brewery: Wadworth
ABV: 3.6%

Tasting notes: "A great balance of malt aroma & hoppiness on the palate. Wadworth IPA is the local session ale of choice favoured for its light refreshing nature."

Game: Blimey it's Eaglemoss's MEGA Predator Statue!  He's an impressive 34cm tall, amazing paintwork and detail. Only 500 worldwide, the one below being number 244 according to the certificate of authenticity. Here he's pictured next to the Eaglemoss 1/16 sized Predator just for comparison. After the photo was taken he ate the other predator so he could have the shelf to himself. That's how badass he is.

Rating: 10/10

MEGA Predator Statuette 34 cm (Predator 1987)

Spill the Beans (Brains)

Name: Spill the Beans
Label: "Coffee Porter - A malty chocolate taste with an aroma of caramel & sweet malt."
Brewery: Brains
ABV: 4.4%

Tasting notes: "Deep brown porter brewed with real coffee beans. There is an initial roasted malty chocolate aroma, with notes of caramel, liquorice, raisins and some cocoa. The taste is creamy smooth with notes of chocolate, figs, raisins and sweet malt."

Game: Today, surprisingly, we're playing Assassin's Creed Origins. First off, it looks absolutely incredible - we can't wait for the 4K optimised version when we get our hands on the Xbox One X.  Second off, the prologue took as long to finish as the entire purported length of the Battlefront 2 single player campaign.  The prologue... Took as long to finish... As the entire Battlefront 2 single player campaign... Did Assassin's Creed just become better than Star Wars? [No - Ed]  Personally, I think it may have!

Preliminary rating: 10 times better than Star Wars out of 10.

Hop Bomb (Sadlers)

Name: Hop Bomb
Label: "Incomparable Ales - Craft Brewed Beers"
Brewery: Sadler's
ABV: 5.0%

Tasting notes: "American pale ale brewed with Amarillo and Citra hops. A sweet malt base is lifted by a powerful hop character."

Game: Finally the release date has rolled around and we now have in our greasy mitts the Assassin's Creed Origins - Dawn of the Creed Collector's Case. This includes the Bayek figurine and collector box (below), the game, season pass, 'Ambush at Sea' exclusive mission, 'Secret of the First Pyramids' mission, art cards, art book, steelbook, map, Bayek's amulet and soundtrack [is that all? - Ed].  Quite possibly the best thing we've ever bought.

Boxset rating: OMG / 10