If you hadn't noticed, soon it's Halloween and little kids will be knocking on your door, interrupting your gaming time and asking for sweets which is the complete opposite of what your Mother told you to do in not take sweets from strangers, but it's OK because the little whipper snapper is dressed as Dracula, Doctor Who or Morgan Freeman.
But anyway if you want something spooky to drink this weekend I've tried and tested some Halloween themed beers and if you happen to be alone and want some fright time then I've also posted a few scary games which you can use to dirty up all your underpants. More than usual maybe.
Dark Lord
A deep ruby beer as dark as Satan's heart, this has subtle coffee aroma with a warming spicy coffee palate to match and a nice bitterness lengthy finish. Not one for people who don't like a full-bodied flavour but a tick in my necronomicon.
Rating - Diablo, worth sticking it in your head like a soulstone.
Adnams Ghost Ship
This beer was inspired by a 600 year old pub owned by Adnams which is apparently haunted. Not that it's important but this pale ale has nice colour with a good citrus nose and more importantly a hoppy bite to the taste with a fruity finish. Very easy drinking and a good all rounder.
Rating - Alan Wake, worth drinking with Barry while averting the darkness.
Moorhouse's Pendle Witches brew
A brewery based in Burnley which I've never come across before, I must say I wasn't too impressed with this one, not much of an aroma and just a bit of a fruity taste with not that much finish. It's taste left my mouth as quick as it went it, needs more newt eye probably.
Rating - The NES' Friday the 13th, if you've played this you'll know.
Wychwood's Wychcraft
Brewed by the makers of Hobgoblin which is unofficially dubbed the beer of Halloween but chose not to include that here as bit of an obvious choice for Halloween beers. Wychcraft is a blonde beer which first impressions not much to nose but flavours of biscuit with a nice dry bitter finish makes this quite similar to Ghost Ship. A good drinkable beer but think I would definitely stick with the Ghost Ship.
Rating - Playing Resident Evil 5, good but not as good as RE4.
Shepherd Neame Spooks Ale
'The official ghost brew for all hallows' apparently, I have no idea how you would go about getting a sponsorship deal like that unless it involves a Ouija board. But more on the beer, light ruby colour this beer has a toffee and roasted coffee aroma with full bodied toffee flavour and has an almost spicy bitter orange finish. Not a bad drink at all and good for these cold spooky nights but a bit full on flavour for me to drink it all night...which is OK because I only bought one.
Rating - Super Ghouls and Ghosts, you will end up down to your pants.
Wychwood Pumpking Ale
Another from Wychwood here but really going full hog on the Halloween spirit (unintentional pun) by including pumpkin and mace into the brewing. A friend mentioned to me pumpkin beer is quite big in the US but this is 1st I've seen it in the UK. Quite orange is colour but not having tried pumpkin before I'm at a bit of a loss whether this tastes of pumpkin or not. A dried fruit taste with a hint a sweetness on the finish. Whether I tried pumpkin or not this doesn't taste very different to other beers, I was maybe expected a completely different taste profile but perhaps I was over expecting. If you have eaten pumpkin and try this beer let me know if your thoughts.
Rating - Lollipop Chainsaw, has novelty value, but a bit lacking.
So there it is, six beers for you to chuck into your cauldron this weekend if you feel the need. Now if you want some games scares, look now further than giving theses suggestions a go...
Three games to make you reach for the Vanish in your next wash..
Slender
 |
| To avoid scares just don't pick this up. |
If you've not played this game it's probably because you've spoke to other people who have played and warned you off like the classic 'don't go into the woods' line from any horror film, or you're oblivious to the fact this game exists. Well if you like to get scared, download this free game (here), put your headphones on, switch the lights off and put some plastic sheets down. Based on the internet urban myth Slenderman you walk around a dark forest trying to collect eight pages to stop the Slenderman. What ensues after you collect the first page is just paint wetting tension, and this is the games killer selling point. The controls are a bit sluggish but I get the feeling that is intentional and does add to the horror that you WILL experience. A great simplistic idea for a game that is definitely pant wettingly scary.
Dead Space
 |
| You've got red on you |
A brilliant return to survival horror and lots of brilliantly executed scare moments. One of my favourite games of all time the story is great. Taking a great story builder idea from the original System Shock I really enjoy the audio logs you find lying around of the old crew who are now necromorphs attempting to hack your face off at every moment. This add to the story and the whole in game inventory system adds to not take you out of the terrifying gameplay Fan of the sequel too but however not looking forward to the co-op in Dead Space 3, the reason Dead Space is so scary is the isolation factor but we will see how Visceral pull it off when it releases in February.
Rise of Nightmares
 |
| Be afraid be very afraid, of lacklustre kinect use. |
Ha who am I kidding the only thing terrifying about this was the god awful kinect controls. This game is like The Ring tape apart from if you play you will die in 7 minutes from flaying your whole body in attempt to do anything in this game.
But that's the end of my scary game suggestions, as I have just sampled a load of beers and I'm hungry so I'm off to eat and then I may go off and carve a pumpkin with David Dickinsons' face on it. True horror.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
(but more importantly my birthday...which is scary because it means I'm older and closer to 30)
No comments:
Post a Comment