If I’m being honest, I had never heard of the C ale until very recently. My friend Steve, a brewer of classic and historic beers, over in the UK told me about it because he knows of my loves of English style beers.
(you can find him on twitter: @BeerNouveau or Mastodon: @beernouveau@mastodon.beer)

The Beer:

Legend has it it arrived in the 1920s and was gone by the 1960s. It was born in Manchester, and as far as I know that is where it lived, and eventually died. According to Steve: “It’s a weird style, very similar to a cross between a mild and an Premium bitter, so it’s a bit like a slightly sweet ESB.”

Steve says this a little different from the traditional version but much easier (hah!) to make as it’s not faffing with awkward ingredients… (His words not mine, though faffing sounds like a word that needs more traction) anyway here’s the details:
Grain Bill:
Chevallier (sub Plumage Archer, Golden Promise, or Hannah, basically a heritage grain) 62%
Maris Otter : 20%
Pilsner (high enzyme) : 10%
Dark Crystal (400 lovibond) : 4%
Black : 4%

Mash with all but the Black malt, then when it comes to sparging, recirculate to drop the temperature down, then add the black malt, and fly sparge across to the kettle. OG should be 1.055

Hops:
Fuggle @ 60 to 17 IBU
Fuggle @ 10 to 2 IBU

Yeast:
Nottingham/ English Ale / S-04

FG:@ 1.012

I had trouble getting my hands on anything but Golden Promise, so that is what I used as my base. I went with a local yeast manufacturer, Escarpment Labs for my yeast, choosing their English Ale II which according to their website:
“Works great as a house yeast for English and American styles. English Ale II is a very versatile yeast that can be used in many different types of beer, including most American and British styles.”
which I can attest to as I’ve used it quite a few times and it is a nice easy workhorse of a yeast

I also reached out a a friend and very talented artist David Buist for the label design. He knocked it out of the park, as usual. so Without further adieu I present:

My Brew Day

If you want to see Steve brewing this here is his original video on it:

Critical Hit Brewing is no more. The Legal Entity that was Critical Hit Brewing Incorporated has been laid to rest. Moving forward all my home brewing adventures will be done under the name Cthulhu House Brewing. The king is dead. Long live the king!

^{ph’nglui mglw’nafh Brewthulhu Cthulhu House Brewing wgah’nagl fhtagn}

So to go along with the new identity, I created a new page , new logo, and a new slogan.

So, now we’ll see what happens here.