Beer Review 61 // Resting Brew Face by Mikkeller

So my bad. Haven't reviewed a beer since July. Don't worry though as I have been drinking plenty. I could make lame promises of posting more but I feel that would be a lie. I need time to post as well as being in the right frame of mind. So until that becomes more readily available we will have to make do with random batch blogging.

Now back to the beer. I recently travelled to Albany NY state and came across Oliver's Beverage. Now this place is well worth a visit and had a crazy amount of beers on it shelves. After a good hour of walking and looking I settled on buying a load of Mikkeller and Evil Twin beers. So for a little while the beer reviews will be all about these breweries.

Details

Name: Resting Brew Face
Style: NEDIPA ( New England Double India Pale Ale).
Brewery: Mikkeller San Diego
Country: USA San Diego
ABV: 9%
Commercial Fluff: "RBF was created to be a reflection of the epitome of New England style IPA’s. Without the use of any bittering hops, the beer’s juicy hop aroma prominently features sweet, tropical melon characteristics that are supported well by a slightly robust body.  This particular batch finally reached it's proper gravity so expect the deliciousness of past batches but with an extra kick."


Own Opinion

Label: Henry and Sally have the perfect faces going on. It is a great label perfect for the beer name.
Pour: Thick, orange, full white head. Looks chewy.
Aroma: Tropical juice bomb, peach, pineapple, guava. So much fruit.
Taste: Sweet, orange peel, grapefruit, pineapple. Quite bitter finish.
Would I buy it again: Yes! This was a great beer, if I knew how good it was going to be I would have bought more than can. One to look out for.

Book Review 32 // Rebel Winter by Steve Parker

Well that didn't take long! In less than a week I completed book Seventeen of my Books of 2018 challenge. Now was it because it was a epic book or a short read? Guess we need to look at the stats first:

Book Stats

Title: Rebel Winter

Author: Steve Parker

Publisher: Black Library

Format: Paperback

Page Count:

Commercial Fluff: On the brutal battlefields of the 41st Millennium, the life of an Imperial Guardsman is harsh and short. On the snowy wastes of Danik's World, a regiment of Vostroyans is ordered to hold their ground to protect the retreat of other Imperial forces. When their own orders come to move back, they discover they have been stranded behind enemy lines. Cold, hungry and running out of supplies, trapped between rebel forces and hordes of orks, can the Guardsmen ever fight their way back to safety?

Review

This book I discovered in my Mum's house after a resent visit back home. I remember buying it way back in the day because I wanted a Vostroyan army for 40k. For those not familiar with 40k: Vostroyans are an Imperial Guard force from the setting of Warhammer 40k. They hail from a factory world (imagine no grass, just factory after factory) and they specialise in urban warfare and have a lot of similar qualities to Eastern Europe and Russian culture. Now lift all those qualities and throw them on a world suffering from a never ending winter, due to volcano eruptions. These guys are not in their comfort zone.

The story beings in a Courtroom with the main character on trial following his latest military campaign. Through this character's memories we are then transported back to the campaign to experience it first hand. We learn of how this once populous world suffered a natural disaster that plunged it into the never ending winter. We also find out that due to a lack of aid, there was a military coup that has lead to this war. Here enters the Vostroyans, believing themselves to be superior they land planetside to crush the coup. Only problem is the rebels retreat north forcing the Vostroyans to begin a war of occupation. Slowly as the war grinds on the Vostroyans spread further out securing abandoned towns and looking after refugees. It is at this point a new foe enters the war, mankind's oldest enemy Orks. Throughout the book it is hinted whether the Orks arrived by chance or did the rebels invite them? Either way it doesn't really matter as the story progresses the Orks become more of a background occupational hazard. The Vostroyans themselves are well rounded characters but with there being a whole company of them it is hard to truly care for them and you ultimately end up worrying about only three or four of them.

In a classic war/action adventure the Vostroyan Company is cut off and must fight it's way across an unforgiving landscape hounded by Orks and rebels. We meet characters and then watch them die, we experience heroic levels of bravery on one page then never hear of a character again. Overall a few negatives but I did enjoy this book, hence why I finished it so fast. Ultimately it felt like an intro novel and the ending left the tale unfinished. How does the war end? Why are the Orks there? Why is the ********* so creepy? What happened next to the survivors?

Unfortunately it seems like we never find out as eleven years have passed with no follow up.

This book is the perfect train read and I recommend to fans of 40k. Especially Vostroyan fans. Next on my reading list: The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. 

Also if you use it I have started up on Good Reads so join me over there: Beers with Peps

As always thanks for reading this.

Book Review 31 // Scourge the Heretic by Sandy Mitchell

Welcome to September! Now the summer holidays are over and the children are heading back to school. Soon leaves will change to Orange and my favourite season will be upon us Autumn. I was lucky enough to enjoy a quick weekend break recently, during this time I was able to finish book sixteen in my Books of 2018!

Unsurprisingly I am delving into the Grim Dark worlds of 40k. It's just a franchise I really enjoy, be it the sci-fi or just the wide scope for adventure it just works. So without further ado let us jump in:

Book Stats

Title: Scourge the Heretic

Author: Sandy Mitchell

Publisher: Black Library

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 416 pages

Commercial Fluff:

When an Ordo Hereticus warband is sent to investigate an inter-planetary people-trafficking operation, they soon find something much more sinister than people being smuggled…

Review

So let's begin with some basics. This tale is set-up in a sector of the galaxy known as Calixis. Those who are new to 40k may not know about it, but it is an area designed purely for the 40K roleplaying game Dark Heresy (a now defunked Fantasy Flight Game). The idea behind the game was to be a character who worked as a henchmen for a powerful inquisitor. Here enters this book.

The way the story is written and portrayed is almost like a game written up into fan fiction. The team (aka player characters) are sent in to investigate a smuggling ring and as they discover more, the more the story unfolds. What should be a straight go in and bust the bad guys suddenly becomes a full on detective series that could span the entire sector.

The cast of characters is the classic character archetypes: A Psychic (Wizard), An Arbite (Leader Warrior), Two Guardsmen (archer and Barbarian), Assassin (Rogue) and a Techpriest (Priest), led by an all powerful Inquisitor (NPC). As the story progresses we get weird love stories, backgrounds and and some pretty well thought out characters.

The planet the adventure is set on is the best part for me. I love the idea of deep mines that a mutant population work over, a population prone to psykers, a military prison under attack and rich nobles lording it over everyone in their noble household made of glass to make the most of the weak sunlight.

Throughout the book there are hints of bigger plots and sinister villains and we are left with a story designed to be spread over at least one or two more books. With a pretty open ending we are left wondering what will happen next, unfortunately the second book is extremely hard to find. Overall an okay read that can lead you to a lot of fun playing Dark Heresy and I hope to one day find the second book.

End of Summer

We just came back from our final Summer trip of 2018!

The Road to Burlington is stunning.

Over the Labor Day weekend we travelled from Ottawa to Albany to Boston to Burlington to Ottawa. It was a great way to end what has been a busy and hot summer!

After crossing the oh so friendly border into the USA we arrived at Albany NY. First time here and realistically the last. Very much a working town and though I'm sure there are nice parts we didn't really get to see that side. We arrived early evening visited a grocery store and then Oliver's Beer Store. This place was the highlight, just row upon row of beers. I found a huge stockpile of Evil Twin and could have blown the whole budget there.

Then we were onto to Boston to stay with family. I love Boston, the only thing I need to locate is a model nerd shop and then I would most likely never leave. We explored Trillium and Fort Point along with Jamaica Plains, then Saturday we chilled hard playing a couple of Board games. Sunday was all about the food with brunch in Jamaica Plains, then beers, pasta and snacks at the family home, along with a three hour epic game of Catan.

Monday (labor) day rolled round and we journeyed to Burlington. Once more a City I love to visit, great breweries and coffee shops. Here we visited a few beer stops and drank loads of coffee..Waking Tuesday marked the end of the adventure as we headed back to Ottawa.

But now the leaves are turning orange, the temperatures start to fall back to a liveable amount. Which means only one thing time to kick the hobby into action. Here are the plans for the cooler months:

1) Kill Team - I've got some built but now it's time to paint them. This project is mostly to distract me from Aeldari and paint something different, this may also involve a gaming board.

Cult of the Kraken arises. 

2) Aeldari - I want to get the Spirit Host finished and a full list written out and then get the Eldritch Raiders started (aiming 1000pts).

Classic tiger stripes heading this way.

3) Drukari - Wych Cult here we come! This is a bold new project starting with 1000pts and going up!

Technically Storm Guardians but you get the idea.

So what is everyone else's plans for the cooler months? Drop me a comment as I want to know.