IPA (Fourpure Brewing)

Name: IPA
Label: "Inspired by Oregon USA"
Brewery: Fourpure Brewing
ABV: 6.5%

Tasting notes: "Fourpure is a London based family brewery founded in 2013. Beer is our passion and our travels are what inspires us to brew. We believe craft beer should always be bold and flavourful - enjoy one of ours, kept fresh in this can."

Game: So prize for Most Poorly Designed Bit of Gaming 2015 goes to Batman Arkham Knight DLC, Catwoman's Revenge. There's a battle with Riddler's robots on a floor, a large proportion of which is electrified seriously restricting movement. So it basically renders useless one of the best things about the Batman Arkham series, the fight mechanics. For example you can't do a special takedown move because it usually ends up with Catwoman sat on the electrified floor being sapped of energy while the animation plays out. Ditto for some counters where Catwoman ends the animation in a different position, usually on an electrified part of the floor. Even the evade move is not an option because she jumps quite far, usually ending up on... you guessed it, the electrified floor.  Bit moany, but so what. It's spoilt an otherwise enjoyable item of DLC.

This. Is. Lager. (BrewDog)

Name: This. Is. Lager.
Label: "21st Century Pilsner"
Brewery: BrewDog
ABV: 4.7%

Tasting notes: "This. Is. Exactly. What. Lager. Should. Taste. Like. Full. Bodied. Full. Of. Bite. Floral. Spicy. Sharp. Bitter. Crafted. From. A. Full. Malted. Barley. Base. Matured. For. Five. Weeks. Made. With. No. Short. Cuts. And. Reclaimed. In. Honour. Of. The. Great. German. And. Bohemian. Pilsners. Of. The. 19th. Century. A. Shock. To. The. System. Maybe. But. A. Good. One. A. Really. Good. One. This. Is. Lager. Reclaimed. Perfected. Renewed. This. Is. Lager. As. It. Should. Be. End. Of."  Think BrewDog have gone a bit mad with the fullstops. What. The. Full. Stop. Pull out all the stops and you're just left with great tasting lager :)

Game: Started New Game + Batman: Arkham Knight, partly in the hope I can pick up missing / glitched Riddler trophies. NG+ is totally difficult by the way! Unlike in real life, you no longer see the wiggly lines above the baddies heads just before they attack you.  This makes it tricky to counter.

But forget that, check out the 1989 movie Batmobile! It's lived up to expectations, racing around Joker / Penguin themed tracks based on the movies. The Tumbler is the next Batmobile available soon as DLC. Looking forward to that and some more tracks.

Bombardier Glorious English (Wells)

Name: Bombardier Glorious English
Label: "Damned Tasty Rich & Fruity English Beer"
Brewery: Wells
ABV: 4.7%

Tasting notes: "Chaaarge your glasses Troops and enjoy a proper English beer!  Savour the distinct aroma, then surrender to the perfect balance of malty richness, tangy hops and sultana fruit on the palate. Brace yourself for a long soft spicy finish. Bang On!"

Game: OK, I fully appreciate it's not the end of the world, but after hours of collecting 239 Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham Knight I'm dismayed to discover the remaining trophies are glitched. Ironically the Riddler mocks you saying "5 trophies to go Batman, you're just too stupid to find them." Er, no... the game is too GLITCHED to let me find them and in some cases I already found them (example below)! I love this game but this is slightly annoying to not be able to get the last four trophies and 100% completion. Still, I has beer :)

Guinness Golden Ale

Name: Guinness Golden Ale
Label: "Brewed with the finest hops, Irish barley and a specially selected amber malt - The Brewers Project"
Brewery: Guinness & Co
ABV: 4.5%

Tasting notes: "A group of enterprising brewers on a quest to explore new recipes, reinterpret old ones and collaborate freely to bring exciting beers to life. A beautifully balanced ale with a rich golden hue. The subtle biscuit flavours of the malted barley perfectly complement the pleasing bitterness and delicate, fruity hop aroma, giving way to a refreshing crisp finish."

Game: Hang on to your be-caped butts BatPeople, the 1989 movie pack for Batman Arkham Knight is out next week!  Yes, the one with the awesome new (old) Batmobile.  So far this THIRTY TWO quid season pass has bought me a one hour level of Batgirl, i.e. re-skinned Batman, #RippedOffFace (sounds painful - that was supposed to be like #sadface but more related to being ripped off financially, but it reads like something really violent, still valid I guess).

Strong Suffolk Dark Ale (Greene King)

Name: Strong Suffolk Dark Ale
Label: "A rich dark ale featuring rare 2 year old oak aged vintage 5X"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting notes: "As the name suggests, Strong Suffolk is not for the faint-hearted. We blend a proportion of our very special and rare vintage 5X brew with a rich malty dark ale to create a deeply satisfying and complex beer." I really enjoyed this beer, so there.

Game: Thirty two quid seems a lot for a season pass, however it was recently mentioned that the 1989 Batmobile from the Tim Burton films is going to be power-sliding into Batman: Arkham Knight! This news is muchos awesomes, although you may only be able to use it in certain situations rather than cruising around the city in it.  Just realised that the first Tim Burton Batman film was released 26 years ago... suddenly feel totally old.

Clock Brew (Eden Brewery)

Name: Clock Brew
Label: "Traditional Scottish Ale - Thank you for buying our beer and we hope you can enjoy being part of the journey"
Brewery: Eden Brewery
ABV: 4.3%

Tasting notes: "A classic Scottish red ale with a hint of pepperiness and hops up front giving way to a smooth multi layered finish."  It's Beer 'O Clock! On the label this beer actually thanks you for buying the beer. I say No! Thank you!  Thank you for this most excellent of brews!

Game: Two Batman: Arkham Knight DLC missions down and enjoyable they were too!  So far we've played as Harley Quinn and now Batgirl. Both missions have been criticised by most 'proper' journalisty things but I think they're pretty good. Batgirl's level only lasts about an hour and Harley Quinn's is even less (much less) but they make a nice distraction if you're still working your way through the main Batman campaign.
So stop moaning and enjoy it will you!  Just forget for a second that you've spent thirty two quid on a season pass. Just forget it! Five more months of DLC incoming. The whole will be better than the sum of it's parts, or something.

Fathers Day Ale (Oakleaf Brewing)

Name: Father's Day Ale
Label: "Great British Ale - Father's Day Crafted Ale - You're the Best"
Brewery: Oakleaf Brewing
ABV: 4.0%

Tasting notes: "Father's Day Ale, a traditional bitter ale brewed in Hampshire. This is a mid-brown session ale with a complex malt sweetness that leads to a long hoppy finish." I'm the best apparently, so much so that I MUST be woken up at 6am every morning after 2 minutes sleep, then get mithered, hit, back chatted and cried at constantly for the next 24 hours straight. Welcome to parenthood.  But then they get you beer and everything is okay :)

Game: I must admit I felt a twinge of disappointment at the start of Batman: Arkham Knight when we're informed that the whole city must be evacuated (again), and you're effectively left with an empty city interspersed by gangs of wandering thugs. It's a bit like town on a Saturday night. Nevertheless, after this initial disappointment the game then consistently fails to disappoint. Meaning it's batballs awesome!! 9.9999999999 bats out 10.

13 Guns (Crafty Dan Micro Brewery)

Name: 13 Guns
Label: "An intense hit of hops - American IPA - A salute to the original 13 states of America"
Brewery: Crafty Dan Micro Brewery
ABV: 5.5%

Tasting notes: "Intensely hoppy, rich mouth feel, malty flavours with soft tropical fruit aroma and taste."

Game: Yikes, Batman Arkham Knight is incredibubbles. Finally, something to distract me from The Witcher 3 for a bit. I hear it's a bit knackered on PC though (smug mode engaged).  Rain doesn't even gather on Batman or the Batmobile on PC. And check out the lack of ambient occlusion!  Fools!  This is a perfect of example of why consoles are better. They don't cost thousands of squids, you don't have to continually upgrade bits of them, they have a life-span of ten years plus, Batman is better on them. Batman wins.

Five AM Red Ale (BrewDog)

Name: Five AM Red Ale
Label: "Bitter Sweet Chaos"
Brewery: BrewDog
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: Tastes amazing. Not much more to be said really. Could have done with a bigger bottle. Or more bottles.

Game: Disaster! Amazon are telling me that my Limited Edition Batman Arkham Knight pre-order due next Tuesday has been "delayed as the manufacturer has advised us that there's been a packaging quality issue."  Swines! Think something similar happened in America with the Arkham Knight Batmobile boxset - in that instance it sounded like the Batmobile turned out to be shit. Anyway, I look forward to my updated packaging... in JULY!  To be fair to Amazon though they are sending out download codes so we can still play the game on release day. Smiley BatFace.