Manns Brown Ale (Thomas Hardy)

Name: Manns Brown Ale
Label: "First brewed in London in 1902. The complex blend of pale & dark roasted malts still lies at the heart of this English beer. A deliciously creamy, biscuity beer with a sweet, lightly hopped more-ish flavour."
Brewery: Thomas Hardy Burtonwood Limited
ABV: 2.8%

Rating: Wow, didn't realise it had such a weak alcohol content when I picked it up. Its ok though because it tastes fantastic.  A "session beer" I think.

Game: More yawnsome FIFA 10 anecdotes I'm afraid. Anyway, I was up 2 - 0 against Bolton and I substituted Albert Riera for Ryan Babel. Martin Tyler and Andy Gray went absolutely berserk in the commentary box. They were going on about how my decision "wasn't exactly out of the text book" and that it was an "odd decision".  Why Martin? Why Andy? It was a perfectly reasonable substitution considering Riera was looking tired. Also he doesn't even play for Liverpool any more! You pair of crazies!

6X (Wadworth)

Name: 6X
Label: "Rich copper colour, vibrant fruit and malt aromas, combined with tempting hop flavours: an easy drinking beer"
Brewery: Wadworth
ABV: 4.3%

Rating: I have no idea what 6X means. If you know please DM me @bickle77

Game: It's total game overload at the moment. I've bought a load of new games using "Easter" as a convenient excuse. Lots of great deals around so picked up Forza 3, Tom Clancy's HAWX and Darksiders. Still playing Borderlands, DJ Hero and need to replay Mass Effect 2. Just got back into FIFA 10 after definitely having my shooting boots on yesterday. Someone seriously needs to invent a cure for sleep!

Double Drop (Marston's)

Name: Double Drop
Label: "Crafted ale using the 'Double Dropping' brewing process"
Brewery: Marston's
ABV: 4%

Rating: Home Bargains - bringing out the full clean flavour of the malt for just 99p

Game: I haven't played FIFA 10 for a while. Tonight though I popped it on and played an absolute blinder. It's a pity the real Liverpool squad weren't watching because they could have picked up some tips. Beat Birmingham 0 - 1. Beat Burnley 2 - 1. Then the big game against Arsenal, I go 1 - 0 down due to some shoddy defending for a Fabregas headed goal. Then for the first time since Sensible Soccer in 1994, I managed to score a free-kick! Stevie G in the dying minutes of the first half: bit.ly/acrYpS (the lack of goal celebration and poor camera angle is down to shock on my part).  An Aqualani second half goal seals the victory. Goodnight!

Bombardier (Wells)

Name: Bombardier
Label: "English - Premium Bitter - Brewed in the heart of England, this is a richly rewarding traditional, burnished copper ale, bursting with English spirit."
Brewery: Wells
ABV: 5.2%

Rating: Very English - some PC Councils will no doubt try to ban it at some point

Game: Still Ghostbustin'. The voice acting is terrific in this game, makes it worth playing just for that. And FIFA 10 is still annoyingly realistic. Got through to the 6th Round (quarter final ??) beating Watford 3 - 1 then get hammered at home 0 - 3 in the league to Sheffield United. Loss of concentration apparently according to Andy Gray....

Gentleman Jack (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Gentleman Jack
Label: "A nut brown premium ale with a fruity hop aroma & bitter flavour notes - with a formidable left hook"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame (for Asda)
ABV: 5%

Rating: A malty, hoppy, satisfying ale

Game: There is so much to FIFA 10 that its going to last well into, ooh let's think, the Autumn of 2010? Manager Mode is a lot of fun, trying to get a two star rated Derby County into the Premiership - the Board wants to see at least a top half finish this season so we're well on track. But does FIFA 10 play some part in "fixing" games a bit? It's difficult to tell but sometimes results may vary to say the least. One minute your beating one of the top four 3 - 1. The next game you get beaten 0 - 2 at home to the team at the bottom of the league. Is this down to poor concentration perhaps or football just being a "a funny old game"?  Sometimes its about as easy to be consistent on FIFA 10 as it is for Liverpool FC in real life this season...

Poacher's Choice (Badger)

Name: Poacher's Choice
Label: "Rich, warm, fruity and deeply satisfying"
Brewery: Badger
ABV: 5.7%

Rating: The clocks have gone back, it's winter, drink this.

Game: FIFA 10 now has my face in it thanks to GameFace (and thanks to my employer for unwittingly providing me with a better spec PC to create it on). But it looks nothing like me! I'm all ugly, yellow looking and boss-eyed. Oh hang on a minute perhaps it is a pretty good likeness actually...

A tip for anyone wanting to get 1000/1000 on Silent Hill Homecoming: complete the game and finish with the "UFO ending". Up the difficulty to Hard and simply zap your way through the bad guys with the laser. With some strategically placed save files, 100% completion will be within sight before you know it.

Another tip (it is National Tip Day.. possibly), for the heads up on great gaming deals check this site out: http://www.frugalgaming.co.uk/. They're looking for writers as well. I would apply but as can be seen from the quality of this blog, my writing skills are lower than below par so I've applied a self-imposed "need not apply" clause to their advert.

Circlemaster (Wychwood)

Name: Circlemaster
Label: "Golden Pale Ale"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 4.7%

Rating: Scarily good.

Game: A shed load of games on the go at the moment. Repurchased Halo 3 (awesome Legendary Edition), FIFA10, started to replay Silent Hill 4: The Room on Xbox original which has inspired a Silent Hill: Homecoming revival. Great game, very "Silent Hill", great soundtrack, great weird kinda distant quirky characters, plus 5 different endings each worth 50 points each means its essential playing, especially in the run up to Halloween. Also giving Need for Speed Shift a whirl. Cockpit view is the best so far of the racing genre and the speed of the cars is almost sickening. Its great trying to play it after ale - a great advert for not drinking and driving. Remember, only complete f*cking ar*eholes drink and drive...

Badger First Gold (Badger)

Name: Badger First Gold
Label: "A noble character - Brewed with First Gold single English Hop - Established 1777"
Brewery: Badger
ABV: 4%

Rating: Literally - World Champion 2005

Game: Another year, another FIFA game. This year its surprisingly called FIFA 10. Released a whole three weeks before PES 2010: Pro Evolution Soccer and now recognised as the best of the genre, FIFA 10 was a must-buy. Plus the word "Soccer" is definitely not to be trusted. Created a team which hopefully other users can sign up to - current squad size is one (me) so take up has been a bit slow thus far. Started Management Mode too and also created me in the game. I did try to use the EA Sports GameFace program on the PC which supposedly would create a true 3D likeness of me in the game, however this needs a PC with 2GB of RAM to work. 2GB?!?  Didn't they land on the moon running software that was about 16kb in size?  The game though is top notch.

Burton Bitter (Marston's)

Name: Burton Bitter
Label: "Brewed at the Marston's Brewery Burton Upon Trent - Established 1834"
Brewery: Marston's
ABV: 3.8%

Rating: Smooth

Game: Manchester City Vs West Ham in glorious HD. Not a video game but its a bit like FIFA, except not as good.  City win convincingly 3 - 1 and Tevez should have scored a couple of hatricks. He was probably missing on purpose... Amount of words he said during the post match interview = 0. Still, his English is a lot better than my Argentinian, or Spanish or whatever language it is.