Put my Mosaic Double IPA and my French Saison on tap tonight. What superb beers they are! (Excuse my modesty!) The Mosaic is really hoppy and so nice I think I might make this my house brew. The Saison is really unique. Not so hoppy, but really quite spicy with a background earthy taste. Just what you would imagine from a farmhouse brewer. Both these recipes were derived from the Gordon Strong book “Modern Homebrew Recipes” and I pay tribute to the man’s talent.

I’ve had a massive brewing session before the weather starts to get too warm and my cellar bar is now very well stocked. The pictures show that I’ve not much space for more, although I want to brew two cornies of a special mild before spring is gone. Here you can see conditioning two cornies of Sorachi French Saison (6.7ABV), two cornies of Mosaic Double IPA (8.6%) and two cornies of Oatmeal Stout (6.2%ABV). On tap already are a special bitter (5.4%ABV) and an IPA (7.0%ABV). As well as kegging the aforementioned, each of the brews had 10L bottled in 500ml bottles. What you can’t see in the corner is 30L of Imperial Brown Stout (10.0%ABV), which needs another 6 months of aging before I bottle it. All were made on my 50L Braumeister over the last 4 weeks, which is a testament of how much quicker the BM is compared to my 3V system.

Including other bottled ales I now have about 300L of beer in stock, so I think I deserve a well earned rest throughout the coming months. Once the mild is done and dusted I think my next brewing session will not be until the winter now.

Nothing to do with beer or brewing, but I just have to get this off my chest. Had to pick up my daughter and her two kids from Heathrow airport early this morning at 07:00. Years since I’ve been there. What a dirty, disgusting, and overcrowded place it is. The roads into it and the parking are a nightmare. How on earth can they consider adding an extra runway when it is such a chaotic madness? Any more increase in traffic there, both airline and cars accessing it, will only make it worse. This cannot be the way a modern airport is meant to run. I think I agree with Boris, we need to start again and create a purpose-built modern airport that can cope, instead of just muddling along and hoping it will all work out in the end. Heathrow is just too big, too nasty, and in the wrong place.