There are a fewer greater things in life than witnessing the pure joy of others. And that is one of the things that makes this beer blogging stuff so fun. Look at that picture above of Stonch and his pals. My immediate reaction was to whip myself into motion and start the process of bottling the mild that I have had sitting around in the secondary for a few weeks. Pure inspiration - both of the inspired and inspiring types, too:
Yesterday, a group of us sat in the sun on Clerkenwell Green (which hasn't been green for centuries) and drank the barrel dry...At one point a tramp came over with a glass he'd found and asked if he could have a drink. He had a few sips and declared that it was better than what he normally drinks, before helping himself to a top-up and wandering off toward Holborn, pint in hand.Performance art meets brewing.
And Stonch in London is not alone in a weekend of discovery. Knut found a small supply of traditionally made Norwegian ale:
Traditionally, farms in the barely-growing areas of Norway used to brew their own beer for different seasons – for the hay harvest, for Christmas, for baptisms and for funerals. There are even laws from medieval times giving fines for those who did not brew the appropriate beer.
I was, at least, also moving with the time of the seasons, stuck in the garden and the shed all weekend making a hiding out place for myself...oh, and the tools as well...so gave less of myself to beer than I might have. But now, full of focus and renewal, I will bottle that mild and maybe make another all-mash brew next weekend now that the radishes and sugar snap peas are in the sheep manured soil.Update: And so I did, as illustrated. A very light mild with an OG of 1.040 and a FG of 1.020. Not sweet, however, plenty of grain so there is hope. (13 x 650 ml) + (1 x 1 litre) = 9.45 litres of 2.6% ale.
