After multiple years and over 50 episodes Cal and Mike have decided to shake things up a bit with a brand new season and a brand new format. But before starting that we thought we'd tie up some of the loose ends of Season 1 by trying some of our finished brews.

In this Final Gravity Extravaganza we combine the self indulgence of the Christmas Special with our Final Gravity sections at the end of episodes to give you our tastings and thoughts on:

American Stout (episode 46)
Session Märzen (episode 48)
Belgian Tripel (episode 49) and even talk about the episode that never was, a Tonka Bean Birthday Cake Imperial Stout that would have been episode 50.

Find out what went right, what went wrong and what we learned by brewing.

See you all in a few weeks for the start of Season 2!

If you're a fan of strong beers and have an appreciation of subtle and easy drinking complexity, then a Belgian Tripel will always be a great beer to grab. A simple recipe and malt bill combines with delicate and delicious yeast esters to make a pale beer style that is famous worldwide.

We brew one ourselves then try these commercial examples:

Chimay - Tripel - https://chimay.com/us/

St. Bernardus - Tripel - https://www.sintbernardus.be/

Karmeliet - Tripel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosteels_Brewery#Tripel_Karmeliet

FINAL GRAVITY

We also try the Fruited Porter brewed in Episode 47. Find out what went right, what went wrong and what we learned by brewing.

If you're interested in brewing the beer in this episode, you can find the recipe at https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/

Oktoberfest didn't really happen for many of us this year, so why not bring a little bit of that celebratory spirit into your homes regardless. Märzens are crisp refreshing amber lagers with a easy dry biscuity finish, and go perfect at this time of year. Mike decided to do a session version of this famous yearly style as well as dipping his toes into the complex world of decoction mashes!

We tried very hard but couldn't find any Märzens to try, and so ended up going on an impromptu "journey". In this tasty meander we tried:

Warka - "Strong" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warka_Brewery
Eight Arch - Little Dragon - https://www.8archbrewing.co.uk/
Steam Town - "Disco Town" - https://www.steamtownbrewco.co.uk/
Triple fff - "Gilbert White" - https://www.triplefff.com/

There are reasons for all of these, trust us, but you're gonna have to listen to the episode to find out why!

If you're interested in brewing this recipe for yourself, you can find it at https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/