Marc Ollosson

I have only written one book and to be honest, I didn't intend on writing that one; it just sort of turned out that way!

I used to own a homebrew shop in Bridgend, South Wales, and in the course of selling kits I came across weird ingredients in the wholesaler's catalogue, so I ordered them in and they sold. The problem was people then asked for advice and I had no idea what they were talking about- and trust me for a retailer not to know how to support his customers, is not just a disaster but an embarrassment.

Diving in the deep end is always the best way for me to learn. In a short time I had mashed a few beers and they were good! Now I could not only sell the grain; I could talk about the grain, and the techniques. Success!! Or so I thought...

It unravelled due to a few die-hard customers who were brewing at least 3 times a month, maybe 4. 25kg of grain to these guys was chicken feed. Problem is, when you brew that much, you tend to run out of recipes, and these guys had brewed all recipes from Dave Lines and both Graham Wheeler's books. They asked if I could supply recipes; the suggestion of 'why not pick one brew you really like and brew lots of it?' didn't go down well.

One computer program later and countless debugging sessions, and I'd come up a system to create the recipes. BORIS was born! (Beer Only Recipe Information System)

Between us, we tried & brewed a lot of recipes! After about 3 years and countless hangovers (all purely in the name of research, you understand) someone said we'd brewed over 200 recipes- some of them more than twice and some never to darken the inside of a boiler again. It was suggested I put them all in to a book. I wasn't sure as I thought 'who would buy it?' I was a nobody who just ran a homebrew shop & what did I know about recipe books? But people kept on at me, and telling me it was just stupid not to pass on the recipes- especially as by now they had been brewed countless times and were, in all fairness, tried, tested and really good!

So that is how the book that was never supposed to be came to be.

Sadly, very sadly, we had to close the shop and eventually moved to Norfolk where I now work for a large employer. I do still miss those halcyon days of brewing & running the shop.

I'm still amazed the book got published and that so many people bought the original from all over the world. I still struggle with the concept that my recipes are brewed in over 20 different countries. To have one of your recipes described as near-legendary, and have it win awards, is a very surreal experience. I was just a retailer, in a small Welsh town, who created and tested recipes, and never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever get that accolade

Yet here I am 16 years down the line with a 2nd edition due out.

If you've bought the book, then a huge thank you to you; I truly appreciate it. If you've not got a copy yet... it's a reasonable price, you know :-) Every recipe has now been tested by thousands of brewers like yourself.

Now, I spend my time working, drinking lots of coffee (too much if you believe some of my colleagues), filling my spare time with riding a motorbike, and enjoying the company of my wonderful wife, Karen.