Category Archives: Wild Ale

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

Mills Still

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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.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Double A Brewing, Russia, Wild Ale

Double A Geuzelique

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Brewery: Double A Brewing
Country: Russia
ABV: 7%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Ageing time – 3 years. 650 bottles produced

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour ale aged in oak with fresh basil.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.71
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 375ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 12th September 2021. Poured into a red wine glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark copper colour with a very thin off white head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, basil, red berries, oak, with notes of vinegar.
Taste: Sweet, a touch sour, basil, red berries, with a touch of oak and balsamic vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: The basil is strong and obvious, but each sip makes me think of pesto, which while not bad, was a little too savoury for me.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Double A Brewing, Russia, Wild Ale

Double A Munt & Dragon

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Brewery: Double A Brewing
Country: Russia
ABV: 7%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Ageing time – 3 years. 650 bottles produced

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour ale aged in oak with mint and estragon.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.62
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 375ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 1st September 2021. Poured into a red wine glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark golden orange colour with a thin white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Mint, tarragon, acetone, nail varnish, with notes of oak.
Taste: Sweet and sour, mint, tarragon, oak, with a touch of vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: An interesting use of herbs, as the mint and tarragon come through nicely. However, I’m not sure why, but there was a strong acetone/nail varnish aroma that was quite overpowering and definitely a bit distracting from the rest of the beer.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Wild Ale

Garage Project Oh What a Lovely Day Let’s Go Out and Pick Some… Blackberry

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 7.4%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Foraged flowers, spontaneous ferment 2020 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The concept is simple. Freshly foraged blackberry flowers are plunged into a light golden wort creating a spontaneous fermentation using only the wild yeast present on flowers. Aged in oak and refermented on blackberry fruit, the result is a delightfully tart, vibrant red sparkling beer bursting with wild berry flavour.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.25
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled on 16th September 2020. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice clear red colour with a slight purple hue, and a one finger white head that had decent retention and settled to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Funky, tart, blackberry, oak, with notes of lemon zest.
Taste: Much like the aroma, funky, tart, blackberry, apricot, oak, and lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was good. I’m not sure how much the blackberry flowers actually contributed, but the blackberry fruit came through nicely, and there was balance between the funk, sourness and acidity.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, England, Mills Brewing, Wild Ale

Mills Picture Pot Blend 3

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 6%
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) Picture Pot was made from a blend of three brews produced in January and November 2019. Fermentation took place in Californian Chardonnay and Herefordshire cider barrels. The resulting blend was dry hopped with whole leaf Loral and Enigma. Drink young for fresh hop aromatics and aged for increased brettanomyces funk.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.5
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in April 2021, with a best before date of April 2026. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention and eventually settled to a nice fluffy cap, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Green apple, grapefruit peel, white wine grapes, vinous, grape gummy candy, light berry notes, oak, citrus zest.
Taste: Light to moderate tart and sourness, white wine grapes, grape gummy candy, light oak, citrus zest, and a touch of funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Really nice aroma and flavours, and just so easy and enjoyable to drink. This is great to drink right now, but I wish I had another bottle to age since I do enjoy funk, and it would have been interesting to see how this ages.