Nier - Xbox 360

    Nier is an Action Role Playing Game created by Cavia and published by Square Enix. The game saw release in 2010 on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. With a mixture of witty banter, mature story themes, and numerous references to other game series and styles, Nier is an incredibly enjoyable adventure.

Half Cycle IPA - Flat 12 Bierwerks

    Half Cycle IPA is an India Pale Ale created by Flat 12 Bierwerks which is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. I purchased a growler of this beer from Flat 12's taproom on a recent visit to Indianapolis. In addition to making good beer, Flat 12 is also a nice relaxing place to enjoy friends and conversation!

    Half Cycle pours a golden-orange color with a small white head on top. Once the head diminishes, lacing can be seen on the glass where the froth once was.

    The IPA's scent is mainly that of the beer's hops. Citrus and pine scents dominate with an almost earthy note beneath them. There is some sweetness to the scent as well. The beer's smell makes me think of a hayfield just after the rain with its sweet grassyness and earthy undertones.

    Half Cycle is medium bodied with a low level of carbonation. The hops oil in the beer gives it an almost oily mouthfeel.

    Unsurprisingly, Half Cycle IPA hits hard with bitter hops flavors. As in the scent, citrus and pine flavors dominate the beer. While Half Cycle is very bitter, a bit of sweetness in the beer keeps the bitterness from being unpleasant. The ale features lots of great hops flavor, and shows once again that Indiana brewers know how to do hops.

    For some reason, the name Half Cycle makes me think of doing laundry. The way my mind works leads me to wonder if Flat 12 named their beer due to its effectiveness as a laundry detergent. Use "x" name brand detergent, it takes an entire cycle or more to get your clothes clean. Use Flat 12's IPA, your clothes come out as clean as the day you bought them and smelling fresh like lemons and pine after just one half of a cycle. (Amulets and Ale does not recommend using beer as detergent in any situation. Not only would it likely leave your clothes smelling like you rolled around on the floor of a bar, but it is also a horrible waste of good beer.)

    My visit to Flat 12 Bierwerks really impressed me. For a relatively new brewery, Flat 12 really has a nice set-up and some very good beers. Half Cycle IPA is probably my favorite beer that they make, and really is a great India Pale Ale. While the beer definitely sits on the more bitter side of IPAs, it still manages to not be just another novelty "lets see how bitter we can make our beer at the cost of good flavor" IPA, which I feel are becoming far too prevalent in the craft brewing community.

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Retro Review! Live-A-Live - Super Nintendo

    Live A Live is a Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG) created by Square. The game only saw a release on the Super Famicom in 1994 and was never officially available outside of Japan. An unofficial fan translation allows non-Japanese speaking gamers to enjoy the JRPG. It's really too bad that the game never saw an English release, as it presents some unique ideas in game design as well as a large amount of humor and enjoyable gameplay.

Wee Mac - Sun King Brewing Company

    Wee Mac is a Scottish Style Ale created by Sun king Brewing Company which is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wee Mac is one of the three standard beers that Sun King makes year-round. I purchased a growler of this beer when I visited the brewery this past weekend. It is notable that Sun King's beers appear in cans, as opposed to the nearly standard bottles. This is a new trend that I highly approve of.

    Wee Mac pours a reddish-brown color, which is almost ruby in hue. There is around one finger of khaki head that forms after pouring. Unfortunately I took a picture of the beer after the head dissipated.

    The Scottish Style Ale smells sweetly of caramel and toffee. There is a noticeably toastyness to the malts smelled.

   The Ale is thin bodied with a huge level of carbonation. Together, the body and carbonation make for a foamy, yet creamy mouthfeel. At 5.4% ABV, Wee Mac presents no alcohol character whatsoever.

This growler actually looks like it's growling!

    Sun King's Scottish Ale is quite sweet. Toffee and caramel notes are present just as the nose suggested. There is not nearly as much roasty flavor as the scent hinted at, however. There is an almost earthy flavor to the ale which might well be smoked peat, which is used in some renditions of the Scottish Style Ales. There is a sweet, maltyness that lingers long after the beer is swallowed.

    It is a little known fact that Wee Mac is actually a character from a Scottish legend. The legend speaks of a tiny man named Macinzie who saves a highland village from an English raid using only his wits and a wooden fork. Needless to say, it is a forking bloody battle. In fact, at the time the English uniform consisted of pure white pants and jackets. After Wee Mac destroyed the raiders, their jackets were so bloody that they were stained completely red. The English army from then on changed their uniforms to red coats and white pants in remembrance of their fallen brethren. (Note, the facts of this story have not been verified)

    Wee Mac is a more lightly flavored Scottish Style ale than others I have had in the past. I expect this style of ale to be a little bit fuller bodied and flavored. While I do think that this is probably the best beer brewed by Sun King, I definitely don't think that it is a mind-blowing Scottish Ale.

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April Fools! Bud Light - Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

    Here is is folks, a monster of a beer among mere villagers. Bud Light is a Light Lager brewed by the great people at Anheuser-Busch, Inc. located in St. Louis, Missouri. Bud Light is probably the best known beer in the US, and likely the most popular as well. Lets see if the beer can live up to its massive reputation!

    Bud Light pours a pale straw-gold color. The bright hue reminds me of the fairy tale in which Rumplestiltskin spins straw into gold. This is exactly what the brewers did with this beer. A rich foamy head forms right at pouring before retreating back into the glass as if the bubbles themselves cannot wait to get at the liquid gold.

    The Light Lager smells wonderfully light and slightly sweet, as if the purest water were graced with a slight touch of malts and the leaf of a hops flower were gently swirled on the surface of the beer.

    Bud Light has the light, delicate body of a Russian ballet dancer. If the ancient gods of Greece drank, this would be their water. The bubbles dance about your tongue like thousands of tiny pleasure sprites. The experience can barely be conveyed through words.

Ambrosia of the gods.

    The beer has such a light flavor that it is as though you are drinking an ancient healing tea, and surely this beer must have its own healing properties! I have never tasted something so refreshing. Subtle malt flavors play contrast to the light flavors of a mountain stream with only the slightest hops flavor coming through, as if the grass growing beside the stream donated some of their herbal freshness to the brew.

    I cannot imagine a beer that I would rather enjoy on a hot summer day. A lot of people will argue with me, but I honestly find that Bud Light is the best summer re-hydration drink on earth. Keep your iced tea, lemonade, sports drinks, I'll always choose to drink this liquid gold.

    I can only imagine that this beer was named for a master brewer named Bud. There must have been a day of brilliance in his life that he came up with this beer. You could say that a light bulb appeared over his head and the greatest beer on earth was born. This is where the name came from, Bud's Light. The apostrophe and the s were later removed as they made marketing a little more difficult, since everyone who tries this beer wants to believe that it is his or her own, not some guy named Bud's.

    Overall, Bud Light pleases me like no craft brew ever could. When it's hot outside and you're thirsty, nothing is better than popping open one of these great inventions of mankind. I would highly recommend this beer to anyone on earth. If aliens came down right now, I'd recommend it to them as well. It would be the most peaceful encounter ever and they would surely marvel at what great creators of art humans are. A great beer all around!

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