Brew 200 was ‘Omega’ and it was the last commercial beer from Watsons Brewery, as the early-retirement project came to an end as the wife and I both embraced full retirement and the state pension.
It was an imperial dark mild, at 6.7% and it was at the Colchester & NE Essex CAMRA Winter Real Ale & Cider Festival at the end of January 2026.
Recipe-wise the base malt was mild ale malt. If you’re doing a mild, I reckon it’s worth the effort using a mild ale malt. According to Fawcett’s ‘It is kilned darker than pale malt and produces a sweeter wort. Roasted at a lower temperature to keep the diastatic enzymes’. So there.
Speciality malts were
* Carafa Special III to get the beer black. Black I tell you. Roast Barley is the more common choice for this purpose in dark beers, but Carafa is less bitter and astringent.
* Chocolate malt, as dark milds should have a touch of chocolate about them
* Dark crystal malt. There are a whole range of dark crystal malts, and for milds and porters I’d go for a standard one, but for big old impy stouts I’d go for Simpsons Double Roast Crystal for added oomph.
* Chit malt. Really good for getting body into a beer, I do hate a thin stout, porter or mild. Also good for head retention.
* Dark Munich malt. For a substantial beer, a bit of munich just gives an extra bit of depth.
* Torrefied what. For head retention.
* Rolled Oats. Just a bit for creaminess.
Bramling Cross hops. And a robust yeast – I used either Nottingham Ale Yeast or Big Bold Ale Yeast to chew through my dark beers.
Mash at 68c, and ferment at 18c. Give it plenty of time in the ferment, I generally gave strong dark beers 10 days in the fermenter. And once racked, give it plenty of time to carbonate and mature. You can’t rush a good dark beer. You *can* rush a poor dark beer : I recall one small Essex brewery (no longer in business) saying that they had just finished racking a stout and it was off to pubs the following week.