Beer Review: Layer Cake...

Brewdog's marshmallow and chocolate stout is a cheeky 7 per cent. It sounds utterly luxurious and decadent and it certainly hits all the right flavour notes. But it's not anything exceptional or truly memorable. The brewery's Jet Black Heart, for example, had a much more rounded flavour and was a much less fussy drink at a cheaper price.

Expert summary: It's the work colleague you always assumed would be a good laugh on a night out. But while a decent time was had by all, in the cold light of day the evening was just OK and you wouldn't be in a rush to repeat the experience.

Lockdown News: Part XXV...

I've been drinking during lockdown. Not to major excess. The family ghost of alcoholism has been well and truly exorcised. But a cheeky beer most evenings has sated me and taken the edge off, with the number sometimes going up to three on weekends. Crazy guy, eh!

But I've just had two consecutive days without booze for the first time in a few months, and I woke with no fuzziness and a sharp mind at 6am. So I got up and did things straight off the bat. No need to get into the garden and hit the punchbag fo 45 minutes to wake up and normalise.

This feeling is like the first time I smoked dope. It was so new and wonderful and liberating. After 11 months in lockdown of one sort or another, these feelings of clarity and sobriety feel very similar to that. It's a sensation revelation.

Sober is the new drunk.