Marduk is our second stout, the first being Black No.1 in January, and although the basic recipe is similar we have learned the lessons of last time and cut out the crystal malt - there really is no need, not even in stout! We’ve used "full-colour" 5EBC Fawcett’s Maris Otter this time and mixed in Roast Barley, Chocolate Malt for colour, Caramalt for body, Malted Oats for smooth mouthfeel and texture plus 5kg of Demerera and Muscovado sugar for... well, whatever that brings to the party!

Hop-wise we have used, in addition to half a kilo of Magnum for bittering, UK hops in the form of the delicious and sadly all-too-rare Bramling Cross which will give a berryish, fruity and juicy bramble aroma / flavour to the brew plus, as is our wont, we’ve dry-hopped it with Bramling Cross too just to be sure there’s enough hop character in there! The hop rate is almost double the last stout at nearly 4kg in a 6BBL brew and we’ve very high hopes for this one indeed...