Rhapsody (Alechemy)

Name: Rhapsody
Label: "Session Pale Ale"
Brewery: Alechemy
ABV: 3.8%

Tasting notes: "A light session pale ale. Gentle light aroma and flavour with Chinook & Columbus hops"

Game: Quick one: Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: Scarif DLC.  It's got Walker Assault, Turning Point and... Zzzzzzz. Same old stuff to be honest but still great because there's a space battle then you can go on the beach or go in a jungle. New skins, new weapons and two new 'heroes' Jyn Erso and Orson Krennic. New film is out in FIVE days. Excited face.

Rating: 8 no spoilers out of 10

Cwrw Haf (Hurns Brewing)

Name: Cwrw Haf
Label: "Tomos Watkin's - The Great Ales of Wales - A taste of summer from the land of song"
Brewery: Hurns Brewing Co
ABV: 4.2%

Tasting notes: "The taste of Welsh Summer captured in a bottle. Cwrw Haf is a refreshing golden summer ale brewed using only the finest floor malted barley and wheat. Infused with the invigorating citrus flavours of golding and cascade whole hops and finished off with the summer floral aroma of the famous fuggle hop. Enjoy Welsh Summertime, anywhere, any place, rain or shine!"

Game: A few initial thoughts about Star Wars Battlefront DLC: Death Star. Yay Chewbacca, boooo Bossk, but yay at Bossk's regenerating health! Wow look at the graphics on that, flying around a Star Destroyer with the Death Star in the background, now we're IN the Death Star, now we're back in space doing the TRENCH RUN OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST STAR WARS GAME EVER.
Rating: 9 stay on targets out of 10

St Edmunds Golden Beer (Greene King)

Name: St Edmund's Golden Beer
Label: "Made with Cascade Hops - Fresh golden beer with a citrus finish brewed using pale malt and cascade hops"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 4.2%

Tasting notes: "St Edmund, the first patron saint of England, lends his name to this fresh golden beer with a citrus finish. Brewed using pale malt and cascade and first gold hops, it is a refreshingly crisp ale. Just one of a selection of great-tasting beers, created by Greene King at our home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England."

Game: Quick one about the new Skirmish mode DLC in Star Wars Battlefront. It's just 1 or 2 player Walker Assault and Fighter Squadron modes against bots. Gone is the thrill of besting a real opponent from across the globe. Gone is the mad scramble against peers for the coveted Hero pickup. Instead you're playing against a load of seemingly bad AI. At one point on Hoth, my Rebel scum friends were all just stood in a passageway whilst the nice lady on the comms channel was asking everyone to attack the AT-AT. They weren't even moving around to keep warm. They were just stood there. I'm sure it's great for couch co-op with a bud, but it sucks solo (not literally). 5 frozen Tauntauns 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.

Blitzen (Black Sheep)

Name: Blitzen
Label: "A collaboration with Blitzen the Reindeer, this beer has Santa's official approval - Ruby Christmas Ale"
Brewery: Black Sheep
ABV: 4.0%

Tasting notes: "This cheeky festive number has been brewed using a blend of Cascade and Goldings hops and a hint of orange peel and muscovado sugar." This beer is great even though I've never heard of muscovado sugar. At first I read it as mucusvader sugar. Must have snot and Star Wars on the mind again.

Game: So while everyone is falling asleep watching shite telly after a gigantic food-fest, I'm sneaking out for a cheeky couple of rounds of Star Wars Battlefront and a go on new addition, Transformers Devastation. Merry Christmas!

Bitter (Banks's)

Name: Bitter
Label: "Award winning ales - Fide Et Fortitudine 1875"
Brewery: Bank's
ABV: 3.8%

Tasting notes: "Deep gold in colour, Bank's Bitter is the outstanding example of classic English ale. A bitter that resonates with tangy and refreshing flavours that only Fuggles and Goldings - the classic twin masterpieces of the English Hop Growers' art, can deliver."  Simple name, awesome flavour. And currently only a measly 90p from Asda!

Game: I'm out for the rest of the season with a hand injury! Played Star Wars: Battlefront pretty much nonstop during the double XP weekend and now my hand really hurts. Seriously. RSI I think it is (Really Stupid Idiot). Anyway it's only my left hand so it's not the end of the world... I can still lift a pint with my right hand.  Back to Assassin's Creed Syndicate for a bit while I convalesce.

Saltaire Pride (Saltaire)

Name: Saltaire Pride
Label: " Hand crafted ales - A pale amber bitter with spicy hop flavours"
Brewery: Saltaire Brewery
ABV: 3.9%

Tasting notes: "Bordering the World Heritage site of Saltaire in Yorkshire, Saltaire Brewery uses traditional brewing methods to produce great ales, with a contemporary twist! A pale amber bitter with soft roast flavours, good spicy bitterness and a citrus finish."

Game: Wow Star Wars Battlefront has been super laggy since its release. It got worse and worse: juddery screen (technical term), rubber-banding, 'bad connection' messages popping up every other second.  Anyway the resolution was incredibly complex but I managed it. As an IT technician I've had 18 years of computery experience but this taxed me to within an inch of my capabilities. If you're getting the same laggy problems just turn your modem on and off again. Problem solved!

Headland Red (Wold Top)

Name: Headland Red
Label: "Wold famous - A beacon of taste in an ocean of choices"
Brewery: Wold Top
ABV: 4.3%

Tasting notes: "A red beer to halt you in your tracks, giving you a warm red glow! A mellow malty flavour, from predominately Wold grown barley, dark Crystal malt and roasted barley, hopped with Progress hops. This is the beer to use for the best 'beef in beer!'"

Game: Here's a quick flyby birds eye view of a parked Millennium Falcon in Star Wars Battlefront. It's a very similar video to the eagle flying over London that Ubisoft did to promote Assassin's Creed Syndicate.

Amber Ale (Fourpure Brewing)

Name: Amber Ale
Label: "Inspired by Colarado USA"
Brewery: Fourpure Brewing
ABV: 5.1%

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."  Craft ale in a can! Who'd have thought it?!

Game: I'm increasingly concerned that I've spent a tit-load of money on Star Wars Battlefront and it's not going to hold my attention for long.   There's only so many times that finishing mid-table or watching yet another AT-AT fall over can keep me entertained. Thinking positively though it's hopefully something I can dip into from time to time over the course of a year or two until Battlefront 2 comes out. And even though there's no single player, it's still got more story than Destiny...

British Clipper IPA (Meantime)

Name: British Clipper IPA
Label: "Brewed exclusively for Marks & Spencer"
Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting notes: "This rich, complex beer is brewed with British Fuggles and Goldings hops and has all the earthy, peppery notes of a classic IPA."

Game: Got a 10 hour trial of Star Wars Battlefront so I'm playing at being the rebel scums for a day or so.  It's interesting how much I suck at it, although it was a bit juddery for some reason which is totally the reason for the poor performance obviously. Looks like there'll be plenty to do when the game releases proper next week anyway, there's more game modes than you can shake a Jawa at. Just hope the lag sorts itself out or there'll be hell to pay.

Firecatcher (Wychwood)

Name: Firecatcher
Label: "Dazzling Golden Beer"
Brewery: Wychwood
ABV: 3.5%

Tasting notes: "The warming hints of honeyed nectar will spark the intense and sharp gooseberry flames. A refreshingly crisp catch smoldering in citrus aromas that will leave you glowing inside."

Game: Pre-ordered Star Wars Battlefront Ultimate Edition. We liked the beta a lot judging by the stats. Walker Assault on Hoth was great but the level of immersion was dented somewhat by the hero powerups which see Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader join the fray. I can understand Vader messing about on Hoth, jumping around like a knob and lightsabering rebels, I guess that's why he was late getting to the Millenium Falcon. What I don't get is how Luke managed to change out of his orange flight-suit and don his Return of the Jedi clothes.  Presumably when the rebel base was overrun he then got changed back into his orange flight-suit in order to get in his X-Wing to go to Dagobah. Lucky Hoth had heated changing rooms!

Withens Pale Ale (Little Valley Brewery)

Name: Withens Pale Ale
Label: "Organic Bottle Conditioned - Brewed in Yorkshire - Light and Hoppy"
Brewery: Little Valley Brewery
ABV: 3.9%

Rating: "Light and bright, Withens Pale Ale uses refreshing floral Cascade hops with hints of spice, orange and citrus, giving a delicious dry bitter finish. Withens Pale Ale is a bottle conditioned beer. Connoisseurs prize such beer as it continues to mature in the bottle and carbonates naturally."  I prized it, not because I'm a connoisseurs but because it's awesome!

Game: Initial thought regarding Star Wars Battlefront: OH MY GOD IT LOOKS AMAZING!!  Playing the Beta, and I suck at the multiplayer, Drop Zone on Sullust, but did OK against the 6 waves of baddies on Tattooine in single player.  Now to try the Hoth Walker Assault. It warns me to level up before trying the Walker Assault. Yeah right! Did Dak level up before he went to Hoth? Did he balls. And he did alright... oh no hang on...

Hummingbird (Young's)

Name: Hummingbird
Label: "Delightfully aromatic, refreshing golden beer with tropical notes"
Brewery: Young's
ABV: 4.2%

Rating: "Hummingbird is an exciting addition to the Young's bottle range following its popularity as a seasonal cask ale. A golden ale with a refreshing tropical hint, Hummingbird brings something a little bit different which we are sure you'll love."

Game: Wow what a week! We've just got back from our trip to E3 with boxes of review code and free consoles (which really means I've been sat at home watching telly and pretty much missed all of E3).  The Star Wars Battlefront gameplay trailer looked interesting though. Can't wait for this game as I'm hoping it will be the truly immersive Star Wars game I've been looking for. However, towards the end of the trailer Darth Vader starts lightsaber duelling Luke Skywalker in the face... on Hoth. This never happened on Hoth!! Maybe they can get Yoda driving one of the AT-ATs too, just to fully spoil any hope that we'll get to play an accurate video game representation of the original Star Wars trilogy.