Turning Point Pulpatine Stout (The Wee Beer Shop) By @SpectreUK

I love Comic Cons. I can't help going to the odd one now and then, not only to fuel my inner geek, but also to sell my products for my slowly growing toy business called Popular Toys Emporium. My stall does quite well at Comic Cons, whereas at the more inclusive toy fairs for the vintage toy collectors, it struggles at little.

There are always lots of characters wondering around Comic Cons wearing costumes they have worked exceptionally hard to make them as authentic as possible. These costumes are always very impressive. If you stop one of these characters they will very happily tell you every aspect of their outfit, where they bought different parts and even what movies each part represents. I have seen an Emperor Palpatine at a few of these Comic Cons, not to mention a very pesky Jawa, who wonders around trying to lift toys when no one is looking.

This Pulpatine imperial stout reminds me of the sheer hard work these people put into their character costumes, due to the fact that there are so many detailed ingredients. There is peach, plum, charred nectarine, and beech smoked malts in the ingredients, as well as hops and oats, which should provide quite the taste sensation.

On opening the can there was a sumptuous fruity aroma of plums mixed with citrus from the nectarine and hops, cushioned by rich smoky chocolate malt. Gosh, I could spend all night smelling this imperial stout. However, I have an Indian takeaway on route, so I'm looking forward to washing down my Sheikh Kebabs, and Lamb Rogan Josh with chips. I know, but I've never been much of a rice lover, and I do love a curry and chips.

On taste this almost black Pulpatine imperial stout was too good to put down. There was instant fruitiness from the plums, which reminded me of the plum porters I love so much. There was a tartness to this plum flavour too, from the added nectarines and crisp citrus hops. The sweet velvety smokiness of the chocolate malt followed on from this, with a touch of peach into the aftertaste. Simply gorgeous. I will have to pick up a few more of these cans, but not in the far, far, future.

Tymbark Cherry Drink (Morrisons) by @Cinabar

I saw this fun-looking cherry drink as a newly listed item on the online supermarket, and it sounded like a nice new soft drink to cool us down on a hot day. Well, the weather didn’t come through, but we still gave it a try on a rather damp and wet day for August. I went to open it, and I have to say that I thought the lid was cool, it looks like a bottle top, but it has its own ring pull on the side. The drink didn’t fizz, and that was the first time I realised it was a still drink.

It is a very bright red in colour, which does look fun. The flavour is lovely, it is very fruity and nice and sweet. I liked the taste, and the cherry was strong and refreshing. There is a hint of apple too, which adds a little smoothness to the taste. It is easy to sip and goes too quickly due to the lack of bubbles, but it certainly was refreshing. The weather may not have provided the sunshine, but when it does, this would be the perfect soft drink for barbecues.

Plant, The Bar (Choc & Raspberry) [@NLi10]

Protein bars are nothing new, but now there is a definite attempt to make them less synthetically and to have at least some real vitamins available.  Here we have The Bar, Plant - which is vegetarian friendly (which I guess means it's not suitable for Vegans). 

Here are the nutrients contained in The Plant Bar - and it's a Holland & Barrett special - no wonder I've not seen these around.  Once opened consume immediately - probably because like a lot of these things it just absorbs all the moisture.

But Plant The Bar actually looks reasonably appetising, and that might be real chocolate on the outside!

And on top of the Bar, there is a layer of the chosen flavour - meaning they can just use the same mix for the base on these and add some jam so that it's not entirely protein and has some flavour variety.

And overall - it's pretty successful.  Like most of these things your body won't process this efficiently and you'll just excrete it (unless you are doing some fantastic work-outs that causes your body to digest protein at a magically faster rate), and you'd be much better off consuming plants that contain the amino acids that your body actually uses to build proteins (broccoli) as happens in all mammals.

But - as a 'gym snack' this is pretty decent - but remember to have a lot of water on standby so you don't dehydrate as a result.

Ticket Alcohol Free Beers - Saffron and Lemongrass (Ticket) By @SpectreUK

Cinabar enters the odd competition draw now and then. Sometimes she wins something, most of the time she doesn't. This time she's won something odd. These Ticket Alcohol Free Beers have odd flavours, both of which have saffron in their ingredients, the pale ale a little more saffron than the lager, whereas the lager has lemongrass as its predominant flavour.

I thought putting lemongrass in a beer would most likely make it taste like washing up liquid. Fortunately I was wrong on that assumption and have found that Asian cuisine, such as Thai curries and Chinese takeaways go well with this not too fizzy lager. Golden in colour, Ticket's alcohol free lager with lemongrass, had a not too overwhelming flavour of lemongrass, followed by a light spiciness from the saffron and complementing hops, with the sweetness of malted barley into the aftertaste. Bizarrely this lager also went well with the bread, cheese and cold meats I have as a Sunday night treat. Although I usually have a big glass of Port or a triple Southern Comfort or rum and lemonade.

The saffron infused pale ale had lavender and orange added in during the brewing. I couldn't help but feel that there was too many complex flavours in this pale ale. Although it still went well with cheese meals, I couldn't find that it went well with anything else or on its own. The spices from the saffron, floral notes from the lavender and citrus from the orange plus the hops seemed to battle each other within each mouthful. Instead wiping out the sweet malted barley and producing a very maize type flavour. A flavour I don't particularly like in beer, and will be glad when I don't have anymore left to slowly drink away.

Mcvities Hobnobs Coconut Macaroon Flapjacks (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I spotted these in the supermarket and thought I’d give them a try. They were also on a club card price of just £1, so that helped with the temptation. The first thing I notice, and I’m not sure how well it shows up on the photo, is that these are small bars, very small bars. The box they are in is bigger than them, and the wrapper they are in is also baggy on them. 

 

I gave one a try, and I did like the flavour. They aren’t as sweet as traditional flapjacks, but there is still a nice oat flavour with a hint of syrup. Wholesome but mild. The coconut is a bit too mild too, but it is present if you look for it.

In conclusion, these are pleasant enough but not that exciting. I started off disappointed by how small they were, and then the flavour could have been so much more. They were drying out for a drizzle of chocolate.