Snowdonia Ale (Purple Moose Brewery)

Name: Snowdonia Ale
Label: "Cwrw Cymreig Da - Fine Welsh Ale. Cwrw Eryri, Bragdy Mws Piws - Porthmadog"
Brewery: Purple Moose Brewery
ABV: 3.6%

Rating: "Colour: Gold, Style: Pale Ale, Taste: Delightfully refreshing citrus aroma with a medium hoppy finish"

Game: Yeah, well I beat that bitch ass dragon that I was stuck on in Dragon Age II. I found this game slightly unusual for an RPG because you don't appear to be able to equip your other party members with armour. You can only change their weapons (few and far between) and the attribute enhancing rings and amulets.  It makes for easy inventory management though but overall it does seem slightly dumbed down as a result. Having said that, the battle tactics element is as deep as you want to take it. Rating: 8/10

Bacchus Cherry (Castle Brewery)

Name: Bacchus
Label: "Belgian Cherry Beer - 15% cherries"
Brewery: Von Honsebrouck Castle Brewery
ABV: 5.8%

Rating: I really enjoyed the Bacchus raspberry beer.  This is good but just doesn't quite hit the taste heights of it's raspberry kin.

Game: £17.99 for Dragon Age 2 was too much of a good offer to pass up, so with Red Dead out of the way in swoops Dragon Age 2.  So far so splendidly good. Great visuals and voice acting however the sudden difficulty curve, woah there! My party and I were merrily hacking, slashing and zapping (that's the magic bit) our way through monsters and foes alike when all of a sudden there's this big ass dragon. Got a beasting off of it. Can't beat it, try some of the fetch quests instead - far safer and less stressful. That's pretty much an account of progress so far.

Bacchus Raspberry (Castle Brewery)

Name: Bacchus
Label: "Belgian Raspberry Beer - 12.5% raspberries"
Brewery: Von Honsebrouck Castle Brewery
ABV: 5.0%

Rating: Van Honsebrouck is a family owned brewery in West Flanders Belgium. It makes a range of beers including Bacchus, a beer in the local style of the region. It is on this beer that the kriek and framboise is based, a premium fruit beer for which Belgium is well known. Hand wrapped and presented in half champagne bottles this is a remarkable beer.

Game: Still ploughing my way through Red Dead Redemption. Still an awesome game. Spent a fair bit of time now just playing the in-game gambling mini-games in the saloons; blackjack, poker, dice etc. Just seen Dragon Age 2 for £17.99 on play.com though which is a definite tempter.  Would it bad to have so many games on the go...?

Belgian Cherry Wheat Beer (Huyghe)

Name: Belgian Cherry Wheat Beer
Label: "A blend of Belgian wheat beer & juice pressed from Griotte cherries - Refreshing, fruity, full of cherry taste"
Brewery: Huyghe Brewery
ABV: 3.5%

Rating: Absolutely marvellous. I could drink this constantly in place of water.  The bottle also advises, "This Belgian cherry fruit beer is from the Huyghe Brewery synonymous with its pink elephant logo".  It's probably best not to ask...

Game: There was a Royal Wedding the other day. I missed this historic occasion because I was playing Kinectimals. I missed twenty million quids worth of wedding because I was throwing virtual frisbees at my virtual lion cub (called "Killer" by the way). Boom!

Southwold Winter Beer (Adnams)

Name: Southwold Winter Beer
Label: "Seasonal guest with English fuggles & boadicea hops - Fruity, deep & rich - Created by Adnams Master Brewer Fergus Fitzgerald
Brewery: Adnams Brewery (exclusively for Marks & Spencer)
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: Ok its not winter. So? This is made in the flavourful 'Broadside' style. The label mentions stuff about six eighteen-pounder cannons that commemorate the Battle of Sole Bay. What's this? Allied with the French?

Game: Got Red Dead Redemption a few weeks back. Somehow hasn't yet had a mention even though it's totally awesome.  Yes, it's a bit like GTA IV but with horses. It's the kind of game that makes me want to book a weeks annual leave from work so I can proper immerse myself in it's gun-slinging goodness. So far I'm giving it 8/10.  I'm giving work 2/10 though for stealing all my gaming time.

The Leveller (Springhead)

Name: The Leveller
Label: "An agreement of the people - Dark in colour, with an intense burnt toffee finish - Brewed in Robin Hood country"
Brewery: Springhead Brewery
ABV: 4.8%

Rating: Brewed with traditional English ingredients but in the style of Belgian Trappist beers. I would like to drink this all day, deeee-lish!

Game: Just been playing probably the best fighting game ever to grace a console. Mortal Kombat!  It boasts super-duper graphics, fantastic backdrops and a wealth of content. It's actually got a great storyline too and the fighting is really accessible, even for those with sausage-like fingers.  My only complaint so far is that I pre-ordered it from Game and received some bonus DLC codes, all of which do not work.  Mildly annoyed face.

Doombar (Sharp's)

Name: Doombar
Label: "Exceptional bottled beer - Named after the infamous sandbank at the mouth of the Camel Estuary in North Cornwall"
Brewery: Sharp's Brewery
ABV: 4.3%

Rating: Another Cornish ale, this time from Rock, Cornwall - and it's a beaut!

Game: Being highly averse to "family-friendly" gaming and party games I decided not to get Kinect after-all.  But then I saw it on quite a good offer and I now have Kinect.  After some major furniture shifting and room re-arranging it's finally up and running. And I must say it's pretty impressive. I just need to wait for an "adult" themed game now. And when I say "adult", I don't mean one about boobies and willys but one about fighting or swords or guns (or all the above).

Welsh Pride (Conwy Brewery)

Name: Welsh Pride
Label: Balchder Cymru - Bragdy - Cww o answawdd o afrodir y Gogledd"
Brewery: Conwy Brewery
ABV: 4.0%

Rating: Not meaning to sound racist or piss anyone off but come on, those aren't real words on the label surely!  Some of them don't even contain vowels!  Just kidding, I find the Welsh language amazing, and the beer too.

Game: Some more epic fails from people who don't understand what interactive entertainment is all about.  Here perennial chubster Anne Diamond seems to think that the concept of drive-by shootings was invented by video games, and that we all have an arsenal of weapons stashed under our bed. She's obviously a complete dick. Join in with CVGs W.R.O.N.G. campaign and read the full article here.

Abbot Reserve (Greene King)

Name: Abbot Reserve
Label: "Brewed longer for Superior Quality - Brewed in limited quantities"
Brewery: Greene King
ABV: 6.5%

Rating: Tastes amazing, obviously. Abbots have something to do with religion I think, check this out for anyone who likes the Bible (and anyone who doesn't): http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11566094

Game: An issue that's been bugging me a bit recently is whether or not to get Kinect.  I think I'll regret it if I do. But then if I don't, I might regret it more. One of the main issues is lack of gaming space. Apparently you need at least 6 foot between you and the sensor. I could do this but it would mean moving furniture everytime unless they start making some Kinect games where you can just sit down - these would be my favoured type of Kinect game obviously, preferably with as little physical movement as possible. Talking of Kinect, the "Michael Jackson Experience" has been released recently. In this case DLC may or may not stand for Downloadable Children.

Hooker (Batemans)

Name: Hooker
Label: "Have you got the balls for it? - Goes well with raw meat!!!"
Brewery: Batemans
ABV: 4.1%

Rating: I do have the balls for it as a matter of fact. A tasty brew but wouldn't want to eat raw meat at the same time, or ever for that matter.

Game: Splatterhouse is absolutely ace.  I cannot believe IGN only gave it 4 out of 10.  Why do games like this rate so badly? I think they're great. What exactly is so wrong about upgradeable heavy & light attacks, quicktime events and locked rooms that only unlock when you've cleared it of enemies?  And what frame rate problems??  Enough of the rhetorical questions. If you're undecided, bollocks to IGN - if you liked Conan, Dante's Inferno and all those types of underrated games you'll like this. 7.5/10