Category Archives: Wild Ale

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, England, Mills Brewing, Wild Ale

Mills Running Beer

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 5.5%
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) This beer is a blend of four brews produced in November 2018, January/March 2019 and May 2020. The worts were made using malted rye and aged hops. They fermented and matured in a mixture of oak barrels previously used by French Burgundy wine and American Bourbon whiskey producers. Running beer was the first recipe we designed for Mills Brewing. This is blend eight.

We still have no set recipe for Running Beer, but blend to a similar flavour profile each time. We produce a variety of worts and welcome the natural variation we are given by the barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.82
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, blend eight, bottled in November 2021, with a best before date of November 2031. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour, with a two finger white head that had good retention and settled to a nice thin cap and good lacing.
Aroma: Funky, farmhouse, wood, apple, lemon zest, and slight whisky notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, funky, musty, green apple, lemon zest, lightly vinous, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Interesting aroma and flavours, maybe not my favourite, but it does work.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Chien Bleu, Switzerland, Wild Ale

Chien Bleu Giotto

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Brewery: Chien Bleu
Country: Switzerland
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: 660 bottles

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Giotto is a blend of three beers with red fruits. We have blended 60% young prune beer with 20% grape beer (pinot noir) and 20% spontaneous cherry beer from 2019.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.83
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, with a best before date of June 2023. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A not so appealing hazy pinkish brown colour, with a half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving some decent lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, mainly prunes and cherry, funky, light wood, and a touch vinous.
Taste: Lightly tart, prunes, cherry, red wine vinous, light funk, with notes of wood.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The unappealing look of the pour made me check the photos on Untappd, and there seems to be quite a bit of inconsistency from the murky pinkish brown, like my pour, to a more appealing burgundy red, which is unfortunate. The aroma and flavours were better than it looked though, and made for some easy drinking.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Czech Republic, Métaphore, Wild Ale

Métaphore Here and Now: Cherry

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Brewery: Métaphore
Country: Czech Republic
ABV: 7.3%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Batch L19

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A coolshipped and spontaneously fermented beer aged in oak barrel for 16 months and then aged for 12 months on fresh, local sour cherries. Unblended from a single barrel. This beer represents the singular magic of one night, captured and shaped by, in this bottle. It is meant to reflect the place, people and occasion of its birth. An attempt to capture a true imprint of one day – inimitable and unrepeatable

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

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, batch L19, with a best before date of 1st September 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice deep ruby red colour with a one finger pinkish head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Cherry skin, leather, vanilla, with notes of marzipan, almond, and cinnamon.
Taste: Sweet and sour, cherry pie, cherry skin, leather, light funk, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: While my description of the aroma sounds like my thing, it was strangely just average and a little on the weak side. However, the flavours more than made up for this as there was a good balance between sweet and sour with very nice cherry pie notes. Just easy and enjoyable to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Jelly King Cranberry & Tangerine

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.6%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-hopped sour ale w/ fruit

Brewer Description: (from website) Jelly King combines bright and juicy hop aromatics with a refreshingly tart base, and is bursting with notes of fuzzy peach, tangerine, and grapefruit. This limited edition Jelly King variant was conditioned on loads of cranberry and tangerine purée.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.46
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 8th February 2022. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A darkish but very orange colour with a one finger off white head that dissipated quickly to nothing and left very sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Cordial like. Tangerine forward, apricot, grapefruit zest, with maybe notes of cranberry.
Taste: Sweet and sour, tart, tangerine, candied grapefruit, nectarine, and a hint of cranberry if any.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Not a complex beer, but the aroma and flavours do work for me. It went down really easy and was enjoyable. A thirst quencher for a hot day.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, England, Mills Brewing, Wild Ale

Mills Table Beer

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 3%
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) Table Beer is a blend of two different worts produced in February 2020 using traditional turbid mashing. Rye, oat and barley malts were mashed and seven year old Hallertau Hersbrucker hops were used in the boil. The worts were fermented together with our house culture of yeast and bacteria in a stainless steel vessel (a first for us) to keep the delicate aromatics as fresh as possible. After 18 months the beer was dry-hopped with whole-cone Polish Magnum.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in August 2021, with a best before date of August 2026. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice slightly hazy golden straw yellow colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Tropical fruity, mango, lychee, citrus, lemon zest, with some light funk in the background.
Taste: Sour, citrusy, lemon, lemon zest, with grainy wheat notes on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate spritzy carbonation.
Overall: Super refreshing and just drinks really easy. An enjoyable palate cleanser.