Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 9%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Mills Brewing make beer with minimal modern intervention, relying on local wild yeast cultures and the influence of nature to ferment.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Islay Brut is a blend of four barrels from three separate worts produced in March, May, and August 2018. One of the brews fermented in two small Islay whisky barrels, imparting aromas of maritime peat. The blend was refermented with golden caster sugar to produce a strong and dry beer. Finally, it received a large dose of primings to produce a Champagne type carbonation. Serve at fridge temperature.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.4
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in August 2020, with a best before date of August 2030. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that had good retention and eventually settled to a fluffy cap, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Grapes, peat, leather, with oak and lemon zest creeping through.
Taste: Light sour, tart, super lemon candies, grape, oak, peat, with light mineral notes.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: I think you have to like peat to enjoy this, and luckily I do. It’s really well balanced as the peat is obviously there, but it doesn’t overpower everything else. The champagne like effervescent carbonation was also enjoyable, while the 9% abv was well hidden.