Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 9.7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our wild black beer spent 18 months in oak before being aged for a further 6 months on local elderberries. The result is reminiscent of a deep, earthy Burgundy.
My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1
Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 15th February 2021, and with a best before date of 15th February 2031. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice deep dark purple colour with a two finger purple head that had good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, dark berries, raisin, earthy, oak, woody.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, dark berries, blackberry, blackcurrant, raisin, earthy, woody, oak, a touch of chocolate, with red wine vinous notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’m not sure what elderberries tastes like, but there’s lots of good dark berry flavours here. There’s a good balance of fruit, dark malt, earthy, woody and vinous that gives it good complexity, and the ABV is also well hidden, such that you don’t notice it at all.