Daily Archive for January 3rd, 2008

Victory Winter Seasonals

Published on January 3, 2008 in Ale, Beer and Review. Closed

I’ve had 2 of Victory’s winter seasonals so far… Storm King Stout and Old Horizontal Barleywine. Unfortunately, I think they both need aging before they’re really good. I liked them both, but they seemed like they could both use some good mellowing out for a bit.

The Storm King Stout is their Russian Imperial Stout. It’s a thick, full bodied dark black stout with a tan head. Has a nice roasted flavor, with a lot of hops, but the bitterness, both from the hops and the roasted/coffee flavors could use some mellowing. I bought a 6 pack and have had 2 of them. I’m planning on aging at least 2 of them for a year and the other 2 I might hang on to even longer. It has a “best by” date of 9/25/2012. Apparently, they expect it to last a while. I don’t think I’ll hang onto them that long, but I will definitely hang onto them for a while.

The Old Horizontal is their American Barleywine. It’s a full bodied reddish amber color beer with an oily feel to it. It’s almost a little too oily and thick for my tastes. There’s a flavor to it that I just can’t put my finger on. I, honestly, wasn’t overly crazy about it, but I also wasn’t overly disappointed either. I think with some aging it can mellow out a bit. There were a bit too many hops flavors coming through and towards the end the alcohol really came through. Both of those should mellow out in a year or 2. This also had a “best by” date of 2012, and at 11% ABV, it should be just fine 5 years from now. As I only bought one of them, I’ll have to buy a couple more to age. Hopefully Nikki’s still has this one.

Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve

Published on January 3, 2008 in Ale, Beer and Review. Closed

Last night I decided to pop open my bottle of Rogue’s Santa’s Private Reserve. It’s a Red Ale that pours a nice reddish copper color with a thick white head. The beer has a nice piney scent to it and the flavor is similar. It’s got a nice hops/malt balance with some piney hops notes and maybe a very slight caramel malt flavor. I wasn’t really drinking it for review, but I really enjoyed it and I’m not normally a fan of Red Ales.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!

Published on January 3, 2008 in Gadgets, Gaming, Review, Technology and Wii. Closed

Since I’ve gotten a couple comments patiently waiting for my post on my Nintendo Wii and the new games I just got, here it goes…

I got a Wii last January on a very cold (about 14 degrees) Sunday morning. I stood in line outside a Target for about 30-45 minutes until a store employee came out and gave us all numbers (in order of our line) so we could wait in our cars until the store opened at 7am (I got there around 6). I got my Wii that day, but couldn’t get another remote as they were all out. For kicks, I drove by the Best Buy next door, which wasn’t opening until 9 or 10 and told the people (about 10 of them) waiting that Target had about 50 Wiis and there were only about 25-30 people in line. They didn’t want to lose their spot, so they continued to wait another 2-3 hours for Best Buy to open.

I love my Wii. It’s the first video game console I’ve owned since my Sega Genesis (2nd Generation, smaller form factor). Before that I had an original Nintendo Entertainment System and an Atari 2600 (that was actually my father’s purchase when I was very very young). Susan loves it and she isn’t big on video games. Obviously, I have Wii Sports, which comes with it. I love it and have gotten quite good at tennis. I need to start playing the other ones more often and increase my level on those.

We purchased Rayman Raving Rabbids shortly after we got the Wii. Susan loved the game at my brother’s and really wanted it. We both just beat it a week or 2 ago. It’s a ton of fun and still fun even after you beat it, playing the minigames. For Christmas, my mother gave Susan Rayman 2. It’s a bit different, but it’s still a ton of fun. I recommend both of them to anyone just getting a Wii.

I was given The Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess for Christmas before I got my Wii. I played it for a while, but have grown bored with it. It’s a lot of the same thing over and over again. Eventually, I’ll pick it up and beat it, but I have since received Super Mario Galaxy, another adventure game that’s a whole lot more fun and nowhere near as repetitive as Zelda. If you like adventure games, I highly recommend Super Mario Galaxy. It’s a top notch game and a ton of fun without being overly complicated (there were too many secret moves and stuff in Zelda).

I had bought WarioWare Smooth Moves at one point to have a game to play with Susan when she came home for her spring break last year. It’s a great party game and the minigames in it are just completely wacky. This is the one game that uses the remote and nunchuck for everything they can do.

Finally, to purchase a third remote, I decided to buy WiiPlay, which comes with a remote. It’s a collection of minigames that’s kinda fun when you’re bored. I haven’t played a whole lot of them, but they’re neat.

My brother, who got his Wii before Christmas in 2006, has a couple other games that I found really fun. Mario Party 8, a board game, is a pretty fun party game. Some of it’s kind of boring and lame, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. Excite Truck is a game we rented a while ago that my brother bought. It’s a ton of fun, though I was hoping it’d be like Excite Bike (for NES) which allowed you to build your own course. Regardless, it’s a fun and challenging racing game. Finally, the last time we were there, he had Big Brain Academy, which he rented. While it sounds like it might be boring, it was actually quite fun and very challenging. It’s a bunch of “tests” that you race with someone else (at least in the mode we were playing). It really makes you think, but you have to be able to think on your toes. It’s a great game to keep your brain active.

And I can’t have a post about the Wii without mentioning the one game that I can’t wait to get. Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be released on February 10 (at least that’s what they’re saying right now). I can’t wait for it to be released as it’s supposed to allow for online play. I also want Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, which looks like a lot of fun. And Wii Fit was announced a while back looks really cool and should help with the weight loss.