Well saisoned

Partizan season: one you could drink
between Christmas bashes

Brought to you by Mick Sheridan

Inspiration's been in short supply today. As hard to find as hen's teeth-shaped rocking horse shit. Throw tired and bored into the mix and it's a wonder I can be arsed to type anything at all.

But having pulled today's beer from the calendar this morning - another saison in in the season of goodwill to all men – I've had an inkling this bottle will turn things around for the better.

Partizan Brewing – a small outfit based round the corner from one of the most threatening-looking pubs in Bermondsey – has been knocking out some terrific beers over the last few years, many of them really inventive saisons. I also love the fact he's using Kernel Brewery's old equipment, on which I've brewed a couple of times.

So I guess that makes me a bit biased, which seems kind of apposite for a brewery bearing such a name.

Mostly, today has been about completing tiny little tasks to satisfy an overly finicky client. Much like yesterday and the day before really. It looked up when the creative director suggested a lunchtime pint, though. A welcome punctuation – semicolon I reckon – that signalled a gradual improvement in the day's complexion.

This lightening of mood led to an inspired decision – tea at Brockley's Rock, probably South East London's finest chippy. I'm now suitably reclined on a seat, patting the medicine ball that is my tummy and about to tuck in to another great product of South East London (via northern France/Wallonia).

Hmm. That rocking horse shit down there sure is a funny shape.

Beer: Partizan Saison Lemongrass

Strength: A frankly slacking 3.8%

Smell: A more concentrated alcoholic Lempsip than yesterday's saison

Tasting notes: Oh, the sheer and unadulterated joy that lifts the senses and glides effortlessly across your tongue as if an accomplished ballroom dancer sashaying 'cross the floor. This is terrific; the kind of beer that could persuade you you were in another country or, err, season. One to banish any trace of winter blues and ennui. One that brings sunlight where there was once only grey and misery. One that, frankly, I wish I'd bought a whole crate of. Delicious. 

Session factor: Higher than Christopher Mayhew.

Arbitrary score: 1754
Sponsor: Mick Sheridan