Wainwright Golden Ale (Thwaites)

Name: Wainwright Golden Ale
Label: "Exquisitely Lovely"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.1%

Tasting notes: "Inspired by Alfred Wainwright, famous for his Lakeland Fells guide books. This refreshing, golden ale has been brewed with the same loving care that Alfred Wainwright put into creating his inspirational hand drawn walking guides. In keeping with a walk on the Fells, this beautifully balanced beer is a 'breath of fresh ale'."  Being able to breath in ale would be pretty cool. Might sting a bit though.

Game: So for the first time since 1993 there's not going to be a new annual Assassin's Creed game released. After I'd finished weeping profusely into my empty glass of ale, I drank the beer flavoured tears and realised it's probably for the best.  They can hopefully work on something even amazinger for 2017 and there's also the film on its way in late 2016.

Triple C (Crafty Dan Micro Brewery)

Name: Triple C
Label: "Chinook, Citra & Centennial hops - Citrus edge, crisp and clean, for hop heads only"
Brewery: Crafty Dan Micro Brewery
ABV: 5.3%

Tasting notes: "A full, smooth and balanced beer with an intense citrus hop aroma"

Game: Lots of negative reaction about the latest Assassin's Creed game. You know, stuff like the graphics on peoples faces going a bit wrong, getting stuck on a box or a bit of shrubbery, chests not opening when they should. There are some real horror stories out there ('haters gonna hate' I think the phrase is) so here are 5 reasons why Assassin's Creed: Unity was ace:

1. The graphics are AMAZING. Like, photo-realistic amazing.
2. Great story where you assassinate baddies.
3. Have you seen the size of the map?? You can run the length and breadth of it without any loading screens
4. Double air assassination mid-parkour: never gets old
5. For completionists and OCD sufferers, collecting all the collectible things

Crafty Dan (Thwaites)

Name: Crafty Dan
Label: "Crafted fruity pale ale - celebrating 1 year of Crafty Dan"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 6.0%

Rating: "Introducing Crafty Dan, the name of our craft micro-brewery and this wonderful, fruity pale ale. Both are the offspring of a brewer with over 200 years' experience. Pacific Gem and Amarillo hops give this beer a complex, zesty flavour and, at 6% ABV, some depth and a memorable character. We hope you enjoy the craft that's gone into Crafty Dan." - I sure did!

Game: E3 time again, or as I like to call it EEE. There's been some amazing games on show so far this year. Particularly liking the look of The Division and Assassin's Creed Unity, although they seem a bit too co-opy?  Hopefully they'll have solid single player gameplay too.  Rise of the Tomb Raider by the way! Cannot wait. Some other exciting news: we'll be heading out to E3 today!! So keep checking back for updates over the next day or so (we wont really, we (I) will be sat at home drinking beer and playing Watch_Dogs and Mario Kart 8).

Yule Love It! (Thwaites)

Name: Yule Love It!
Label: "Thoroughly Festive - A Magically Festive Brew"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: "An amber beer with a balanced hop and biscuit malt flavour and lingering bitter finish".  Yes! Christmas beer! And I'll did love it! And yule will too!

Game: Two days after Christmas day and my stomach has finally shrunk back down to normal size so I can now see the telly again - bring on the games! Forza 5 is as amazing as I've been led to believe. One of the things that was putting me off about it was the Top Gear affiliation and Jeremy Clarkson's involvement. From what I hear from various sources Jeremy Clarkson is "a bit of a knob" and I'm not really into Top Gear. It just seems to be three blokes way too far up their own arses surrounded by a bunch of sycophantic wankers for an audience. That's what I've gauged from the 20 second or so snippets I've seen of the show, so I'm more than likely wrong about everything and the show is great. Aaanyway, the game, as already stated is amazing. And Jeremy Clarkson's voice over bits are genuinely informative, engaging and oft-times humorous.

Triple C (Thwaites)

Name: Triple C
Label: "Thoroughly appealing - Refreshing blonde ale"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.4%

Rating: "C is for Cascade, an aromatic American hop that is renowned for its flavour and aroma. It has been added at all three stages of the brewing process to give this delightful, thirst-quenching blonde ale its enticing, light grapefruit flavours."

Game: Suddenly become hopelessly addicted to Dark Souls once again. Finally beat the Bell Tower Gargoyles after getting back into the swing of things. Got me some stone armour, a +5 battle axe and new ways to farm souls. Even beat the Capra Demon at the second attempt. I seem to have become cursed now though so my energy bar is permanently 50% depleted *scared face*.

Tavern Porter (Thwaites)

Name: Tavern Porter
Label: "Thoroughly rejuvenating ale - full-flavoured and smooth with a warm roasted character"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.7%

Rating: "A taste of the past, inspired by a time when the elite would gather in Elizabethan taverns, to sample the finest ales, porters and wines. Introducing Thwaites Tavern Porter, surprisingly refreshing for a full-flavoured, dark porter with subtle notes of smokiness and liquorice." I'm not part of the elite but I do enjoy a good taste of the past. I can report that on this evidence the past tastes/tasted ace!

Game: The start of the hectic gaming season begins now with Darksiders 2. So far so brilliant. It's like Darksiders 1 but massively bigger. And that's all I'll say on the matter at the moment because I'm too busy playing Darksiders 2!

Indus Pale Ale (Thwaites)

Name: Indus Pale Ale
Label: "Thoroughly hoppy flavour - Refreshing amber ale, brewed with four hop varieties for superb taste and aroma."
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.6%

Rating: "When Daniel Thwaites was embarking on his brewing career, the INDUS would have been voyaging to the East Indies - trading Lancashire cotton for exotic Eastern delights. Our INDUS Pale Ale celebrates ales of that period with a refreshing brew enriched with abundant hops for flavour that stays fresh and crisp to the finish." Tonight I'm celebrating the Queen's Jubilee in the same way as all other Royal occasions, by drinking excellent beer and playing video games.

Game: Downloaded Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC for Batman: Arkham City. This is definitely what DLC should all be about. Put simply, it's a proper, hefty piece of story driven content. You get to play as Robin as well as Batman. It was only 800 Microsoft points. Raise your glass to Rocksteady, the bestest maker of games this side of Rockstar and Bethesda.

Very Nutty Black (Thwaites)

Name: Very Nutty Black
Label: "Export strength - Bottle conditioned for a truer flavour"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 3.9%

Rating: On the bottle it says that "Daniel Thwaites has broken all the rules with an export strength version of its award winning ale." That Daniel is a complete maverick! His ales are cracking as well!

Game: Just about wrapped up Deadly Premonition now. It seems to veer wildly between spookily gory and horribly farcical. In one chapter a woman has her tongue cut out, is stabbed in the chest and is then strung up ready to be dropped and impaled on a spiky tree shaped sculpture below, and in the next chapter you have to chase a dog around the street Benny Hill style, complete with ridiculous soundtrack. It's strangely addcitive, it's probably a work of genius that will gather a cult following and it's one of those games that will get remade or ported over to next-next-next-gen consoles. I don't know how to rate it, I don't know what score to give it. It's a 2/10 and an 8/10 game all at the same time.

Old Dan (Thwaites)

Name: Old Dan
Label: "Bottle conditioned - a delicious mellow beer with chestnut hues and smooth finish"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 7.4%

Rating: What a teeny little bottle. I know its strong but why the small bottle? Soon they'll be selling beer in thimbles for three quid a pop.

Game: Another game I got around the same time as Shadows of the Damned is Alice: The Madness Returns. If your looking for an epic platformer then get this. It does get slightly repetitive but its still great.  Alice in Wonderland was never something I've ever been interested in previously, I barely know the story, but this is a good messed up version. Did Alice's parents burn to death in a fire? Bring it.

Thoroughbred Gold (Thwaites)

Name: Thoroughbred Gold
Label: "A golden winner - A winning thoroughbred is the result of breeding the best stallion to the best mare, with the proof of superiority and excellence being established on the race track"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 3.7%

Rating: A really great beer that I've not seen much of in the shops before. Not sure why its got all those equine breeding tips on the bottle, maybe it was brewed for some horsey people at some horsey event.

Game: Very addicted to Split/Second now. It only arrived today so I guess it's only natural to want to play it constantly until the novelty wears off. The game is quite shallow to be honest, but it's what one would class as a "guilty pleasure". I'm really really really tired tonight by the way, just thought I'd share...

Double Century (Thwaites)

Name: Double Century
Label: "Celebration ale - This delicious strong ale has been specially created to mark 200 years of family brewing"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 5.2%

Rating: It's double hopped, it tastes great, being picky but they've been brewing great beer for 203 years now. So it should be called "Double Century plus 3" or something, although that's not got the same ring to it admittedly.

Game: Playing Need for Speed Undercover. It was only 500 pence and I thought Need for Speed Most Wanted was the best racing game I've ever played. Undercover is just more of the same by the looks of it, which is just fine by me.  Its got proper video in it of actors that are trying really hard to be good. I could probably do a better job but I still think it's superb.  This game has also reminded me that Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is out soon which will almost definitely be a must-buy.

Lancaster Bomber (Thwaites)

Name: Lancaster Bomber
Label: "Best of British beer - Full flavoured with a hop aroma - So more-ish"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.4%

Rating: Winner of the best English Ale at the European Beer Star Awards

Game: Figured out that I was in the mood for some FPS style fun so opted to play through Battlefield Bad Company 2 again.  UglyGeezer's BFBC2 game nights on a Tuesday have been really good and the multiplayer side of it is most fun.  Single player campaign is short and sweet so should be finished in time for Alan Wake.

Liberation (Thwaites)

Name: Liberation
Label: "A beer to be remembered - Proud supporters of the Royal British Legion"
Brewery: Thwaites
ABV: 4.9%

Rating: Great malt flavour and subtle red fruit overtones. Daniel Thwaites donates a minimum of £10,000 a year to the Legion from the sales of Liberation Ale. Get drinking...

Game:  Already spent about ten hours playing Mass Effect 2 and not even recruited all my team yet - and this game spans two discs! Its going to be a long haul but will no doubt be enjoyable every step of the way.  In an annoying twist however, much like in real life, everyone I meet seems to be really horrible to me...