I got my Easter Courage brew bottled yesterday. It finished at a final gravity of 1.012, which is identical to the previous brew I made with the same yeast (Mangrove Jack’s Newcastle Dark Ale); that’s quite high and above the nominal target but it means that the resulting brew will be a little lower in alcohol and have a slightly sweeter, fuller body, neither of which are bad things in my book.

I got twelve bottles of the stuff and I will try to leave it for a week or two before I start sampling. It certainly seems to have been more successful than last year’s attempt, which ended up as slug bait. In fact, I’m looking forward to this one (and I’m already cooking up a cunning plan for the next brew).