Evil Eye PA - Evil Genius Beer Company

    Evil Eye PA (hah..hah) is an American India Pale Ale brewed by the Evil Genius Beer Company which is located in West Grove, Pennsylvania. I have to admit that I might have chuckled a little bit about the multiple meanings of the beer's name.

    Evil Eye PA pours a pale copper color with an off-white head. The head actually lingers for quite a while, and leaves thick lacing on the glass.

    The beer smells of floral hops with noticeable malt sweetness. There is definitely more malt to the nose of this beer than many other IPAs. There is an almost skunky smell to the beer, however, as though the hops may not have been fresh when they were used to brew it.

    Evil Genius's IPA is light to medium bodied with what seems to be a low level of carbonation. The beer has an almost flat feeling to it. Evil Eye PA has an alcohol content of 6% ABV.

The Evil Eye of Sauron is always watching for bad beer.

    The IPA is hop forward in taste, with some bitterness followed by some floral flavors. The malts then take over and mellow out the bitterness with an almost honey-like sweetness as well as flavors of caramel. Again, however, I'm detecting what seems to be a slight skunkyness to the beer.

    Oh, I get it now. It's called Evil Eye PA, the evil eye is also called the stink eye, skunks stink, this beer tastes and smells skunky. I think we've uncovered how the beer got its name!

    I'm really disappointed in this beer. The floral and citrus scents in the beer's aroma made me think that it would taste much better than it did. I don't know if I got a bad batch, or if this IPA always tastes somewhat off. I just hope that Evil Genius realizes what went wrong and fixes it ASAP!

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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Xbox 360

    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an Action/RPG developed by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios (headed by ex-Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling). The game was published by Electronic Arts and saw release in 2012. Kingdoms of Amalur saw a huge amount of hype as it neared release, and got nearly as much media attention after. The game touted an amazing cast of writers and designers such as Ken Rolsten (of The Elder Scrolls fame) working on game design, Todd McFarlane (of Spiderman and Spawn comic book fame) working on art design, and R.A. Salvatore (If you're a fantasy fan that hasn't heard of Drizzt Do'Urden, there's something wrong, love him or hate him, Salvatore has made a killing with his books) writing the game's story. Gamers looked forward to what looked to be the greatest Action/RPG ever to be released (the game was meant to garner attention for the series and a MMORPG was planned eventually), only to find that the game was much less amazing than they had expected. While the game met with a relatively positive reception, it sold extremely poorly and lead to the demise of Big Huge Games and 38 Studios. The closure of developer 38 Studios lead to a $75 million dollar lawsuit levied against the company by the State of Rhode Island who loaned the business money to make the game. Luckily, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not nearly as big of a disaster as it caused.

Laughing Panda - Two Brothers Brewing Company

    Laughing Panda is an India Pale Ale brewed with green tea. This "Green Tea IPA" is created by the Two Brothers Brewing Company which is located in Warrenville, Illinois. I have to admit that I'm rather amused by the very anime-esque water drop that just happened to be falling down the panda's head when I took this photo. I guess he's worried that I'm going to drink all of his beer (spoiler alert: I did).

    Laughing Panda pours a hazy yellow-orange. There is a large presence of bubbles which always makes me worry about over-carbonation. A two-finger head tops the beer and slowly dissipates.

    The Green Tea IPA smells strongly of citrus hops and pine. There is only the slightest bit of malt sweetness to the scent, though other fruity, sweet scents of tropical fruit are present. There is a very slight scent, which I assume must be the green tea, that gives the beer an almost herbal smell.

Human tested, Panda approved!

    Laughing Panda is on the lower end of medium bodied. As I suspected, there is a medium-high level of carbonation, though it's not too high. The beer has an alcohol content of 6.25%.

    I was intrigued by the addition of green tea to an IPA, though I was somewhat disappointed to find that there was very little green tea flavor to the IPA. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised as IPA flavors are extremely bold and green tea has a very subtle flavor. Similarly to the smell, citrus bitterness is the predominant flavor to the ale, with a slight malt sweetness backing it up. The ale has a strange astringency to it which I find unpleasant. I found that Laughing Panda really just tasted like a decent IPA rather than an IPA with other flavors added.

    Laughing Panda comes off as an average IPA with just a couple small differences thanks to the green tea additive. Overall I was mostly disappointed with the Green Tea IPA, as in my head the flavor of green tea would go well with IPA flavors. But then again, in my head Pandas sit around drinking beer and talking about all the stupid humans they saw at the zoo that day...

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Crimson Alliance - Xbox 360 Arcade

    Crimson Alliance is a Cooperative Action/RPG developed by Certain Affinity and published by Microsoft Studios. Released in 2011, Crimson Alliance has caused a lot of confusion on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The game uses the Freemium model of sales in which you can download the game for free, though with limited gameplay. Gameplay time and level limits keep the free game from having full functionality. For a price, you can download one or all three of the game's characters, fully unlocking the game for that class. A huge number of online message board topics have been created since the games release saying that "Microsoft messed up! Crimson Alliance is accidentally listed as free! Download it before they notice!" Sorry pal, while it is free, it is meant to be, and only offers a taste of the full game.

Bedlam - Ale Asylum

    Bedlam is a Belgian India Pale Ale brewed by Ale Asylum in Madison, Wisconsin. The inclusion of Belgian yeast with the common IPA ingredients makes for an interesting take on a classic style. Bedlam has the honor of being Ale Asylum's summer seasonal.

    Bedlam pours a hazy copper with a one-finger, off-white head.

    The IPA smells very much like citrus and tropical fruits. Papaya, mango, apricot, and lemon are all present in the beer's aroma. There is also a funky sweetness to the ale's scent which I find enticing. There is a slight bit of the smell of Belgian yeast to the ale, but not as much as I would have expected.

    Bedlam has a medium body with a medium amount of carbonation. The ale has a somewhat high alcohol content at 7.5% ABV. There is no alcohol character to the beer, however.

Looks peaceful enough to me...

    The Belgian IPA first hits your tongue with a citrusy bitterness from the hops, followed by sweet flavors of the malts and tropical fruits. There is also a slight bit of the Belgian yeast's flavor, though it blends extremely well with the other IPA flavors.

     I don't really see why the beer is named Bedlam. While the Belgian flavors definitely change the IPA's character, the mix is actually quite pleasant. Nothing is overpowering in the beer, though the name seems to suggest otherwise. I read on Ale Asylum's website that Bedlam was an experiment by the brewmaster, and that he was only going to make one batch if he found that it wasn't to his liking. I can only assume that the crew over at Ale Asylum were so overjoyed at the beer's great taste that they began to riot and extreme chaos ensued.

    I really feel that Bedlam is a unique ale. The mix of styles works extremely well and makes for a Belgian style that I can really get behind. I suppose that the somewhat fruity character of Belgian yeast should be an obvious partner to the tropical fruit and citrus flavors provided by hops, but I was definitely skeptical at first. The beer also gets points for using the Diablo 2 video game font on the label.

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Wolfenstein - Xbox 360

    Wolfenstein is a First-Person shooter developed by Raven Software and id Software. The Wolfenstein series is generally held in high regard as the first game in the series, Wolfenstein 3D (1992), basically introduced the world to the FPS. Released in 2009, Wolfenstein is the sequel to 2001's Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This modern rendition of the series includes all the Nazi destruction of the previous games as well as new occult powers to wield while battling the Third Reich.