I forgot to hold the little Olympic flag ceremony - you know the one at the end when the old city passes the games on to the new city when all the volunteers run around with big flags in patters you can't quite associate with a theme or, really, even a pattern all to the strained sounds of a minor central European symphony orchestra.

What has that got to do with mild? Well, as follow-up to last Friday's session on dubbels, Jay of the Brookston Beer Bulletin has announced that Session the Third, #3 in the series for those who are counting will be about that gentle English style, the pint of mild. And I forgot to tell you it was his turn.

Paul likes milds. Unlike Paul but like most of those of you in North America - or at least those without without a great-uncle in a Welsh coal miner's choir - I have only had a few milds and, perhaps unlike most of you, I made most of those that I've had. When I had an acre garden, I used to down this light refreshing brew by the jug, condemning it to its stereotype as the labouring man's beer. I think the only commercial example I have had from an American craft brewer is Harbor Lighthouse Ale by Bar Harbor Brewing of Maine. Here in the Great White North I once ran into a pint of the stuff in downtown Toronto, of all places, in January 2005. I never knew that accountants and insurance men needed its restorative powers but that just shows how ignorant I am.

That is it. I have no idea where I will meet my next. Will it have to be that batch I brewed on the weekend? Could be...if the yeast ever takes. Twenty-four hours and not a peep or a bubble. If you need to know more about mild over, say, the next few weeks you could do worse than get yourself a copy of Mild Ale: History, Brewing, Techniques, Recipes by David Sutula #15 in the Classic Beer Style Series.