The Merciful Merchant

Sometimes it is very easy to be exceptionally critical of the beers that one brews. I have an idealised beer in my head when I construct a recipe, I don’t set out to brew any old pint, I want my Ordinary bitter to be the most refreshing complex sessionable bitter I have ever tasted, I want my Best to give me sustenance after a long day at work, I want to drink my Mild all night and never get bored, I want my Winter Warmer to fortify me against the cold like a fine glass of port, I want my IPA to be stunningly hoppy and yet eternally drinkable, and I want my Imperial Stout to be the night cap that leaves all others for dust. Sometimes in the quest for these things you forget that the less than perfect beer you are brewing is in fact pretty bloody good, sometimes it takes someone else’s evaluation of ones beer to remind one of that.

When I visited Auckland recently I packed 2 flasks on my imperial stout, The Merchant of the Devil. One was for Martin and one was for Alex and Greig. The flasks were filled from kegs of last years vintage that are sitting conditioning and awaiting bottling.

Alex, Greig and Martin seemed to enjoy the beer with Martin posting an enthusiastically positive review of it on his Electric Landlord blog, you can check it out here. I’m glade you liked it folks cheers for the feedback.