Category Archives: Brewer

Mills Still

Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 4.2%
Style: Wild Ale
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) Still is a single barrel bottling of four year old beer, brewed in March 2018. The wort was made using a turbid mash and underwent an extended boil with large quantities of aged hops. After two nights in our coolship, the wort was transferred to a single 500 litre barrel for four years fermentation and maturation. The resulting beer was bottled still without carbonation.

My rating: 3-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in March 2022, with a best before date of March 2032. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear copper orange colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Funky, oak, orange zest, and green apple.
Taste: Funky, tart, sour, cheesy, leather, light apricot, with a citrus zesty bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with no carbonation.
Overall: Aroma was nice, but I definitely missed the carbonation, which I feel affected the taste and the overall experience for me, but as per the name, I knew what I was getting into.

Oud Beersel Sparkling Infused Winter Lambiek

Brewery: Brouwerij Oud Beersel
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7.2%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Bottled 5 years before best before date

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Lambic infused with pine bud.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, with a best before date of 8th May 2026. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A clear golden orange colour with a one finger white head that had good retention, and eventually settled to a thin cap while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet tea, woody, oak, pine, lemon zest, light funk.
Taste: Sweet, sour, bitter, lemon tea, pine, wood, oak, citrus zest, with some light funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Wow, this one surprised me. I really enjoyed this. Sweet, sour, and bitter, this tea, citrus and piney flavours just work for me.

8 Wired Oude Imperiale

Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 8%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: Spontaneous fermented sour ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A very special “Imperial Geuze” inspired blend of selected barrels from our library. One third each of spontaneously fermented 8, 6 and, 4 year old barrels create a perfect marriage of funk, fruit, acidity and Sherry-like aged flavours.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A clear golden orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a nice fluffy cap while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, musty, damp wood, oak, vanilla, with notes of orange, and citrus zest.
Taste: Light sour, tart, apricot, orange, funky, musty, damp wood, oak, with light citrus zesty sweetness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It was enjoyable while being oak and funk forward.

Belle-Vue Sélection Lambic

Brewery: Belle-Vue
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.2%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze

Brewer Description: (from bottle) 1999 vintage.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, 1999 vintage, bottle no. 05590, with a notched best before date of December 2005. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A clear bright copper orange colour with no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, funky, barnyard, musty, damp wood, apple, citrus, orange, vinegar, with maybe some berry notes.
Taste: Tart, sour, apple, apple cider vinegar, mixed berries, lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: This was interesting, and I probably want to say, past it’s prime, although unfortunately I don’t really have a reference point since this is the first one I’ve tried. But there was still some nice flavours going on. Worth a try, especially for those that enjoy gueuze like I do.

Tilquin Oude Pinot Meunier À l’ancienne

Brewery: Gueuzerie Tilquin
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7.9%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: 2020-2021

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Beer of spontaneous fermentation, the Old Pinot Meunier Tilquin is made from the fermentation of 250g of grapes by liter of lambic. The grapes were grown biodynamically by our neighbours at Domaine W. Unfiltered and unpasteurized, this beer is refermented in the bottle.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, with a neck label of 2020-2021, and a best before date of 11th March 2031. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice looking pinkish orange colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention, but eventually settled to a ring around the glass while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Grape skin, grape, funky, oak, with green and citrus zesty notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, funky, grape skin, grapes, grapefruit, citrus zest, oak, earthy, with light gooseberry notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Loved the appearance of this beer. The aroma and taste was interesting, but it was definitely more green and earthy than expected. It’s good, but not one of my favourites of the grape lambics from Tilquin.