Tag Archives: barrel aged

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

Mills Vienna

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 4%
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) Vienna is a single barrel bottling made from one brew in May 2019. We made a turbid wort with Vienna malt, rye and raw barley. Solevian hops, both aged and fresh, were added during the boil. Fermentation and maturation took place in a well travelled 500 litre butt which was previously used for sherry, Scotch whisky and Herefordshire cider. The beer was bottled after 30 months in barrel, then conditioned slowly over winter.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.44
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in November 2021, with a best before date of November 2031. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear golden colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and eventually settled to a thin cap while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, sweet apple, lemon zest, oak.
Taste: Tart, light to moderate sour, lemon, apple, funk, oak.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate spritzy carbonation.
Overall: Light, balanced, refreshing, with enjoyable aroma and flavours.

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

Mills Chuckleberry

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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) This beer is a blend of two brews produced in June and September 2019. They were made from a turbid wort, using rye malt and aged hops. Fermentation and maturation took place in red Bordeaux barrels. The resulting blend was added to a large quantity of locally grown chuckleberries to referment for five months. The beer then conditioned in bottle for a further three months before release.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in November 2021, with a best before date of November 2026. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice reddish dark magenta colour with a two finger pinkish head that had decent retention while eventually settling to a ring around the glass and leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, gooseberry, redcurrant, red wine grapes, funk, wood, and a splash of blackcurrant.
Taste: What you’d expect from the aroma, tart, light to moderate sour, gooseberry, redcurrant, funk, earthy, wood, and blackcurrant notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Balanced and easy drinking, and my first time trying something with chuckleberry in it.

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.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Cerveza Granizo, Chile, Stout - Imperial

Granizo Foxy Lady

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Brewery: Cerveza Granizo
Country: Chile
ABV: 11.5%
Style: Stout – Imperial
Other Notes: Hot Imperial Stout matured in wine barrels

Brewer Description: (from can in Spanish) La unión entre una dominante cerveza negra y un rebelde ají putamadre, da a luz a Foxy Lady, una Hot Imperial Stout! Disfruta notas de pimienta, ají, café y madera que se funden con el calor del putamadre que perdura por unos segundos. No la olvidarás!

(translated to English) The union between a dominant black beer and a rebellious putamadre chili, gives birth to Foxy Lady, a Hot Imperial Stout! She enjoys notes of pepper, chili, coffee and wood that blend with the heat of the putamadre that lasts for a few seconds. You won’t forget her!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 15th February 2022, with a best before date of 15th February 2025. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a nice one finger tanned brown head that had great retention and left lots of lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, dark chocolate, coffee, chili pepper, with slight vinous notes.
Taste: Creamy, roasty, bitter notes, dark chocolate, coffee, pepper, chili, light spice, with slight vinous notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Was hoping for more chili spice as it was definitely more muted than I thought it would be, and maybe softer carbonation. But the base was good and the barrel notes did go nicely with what chili I could feel.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Funky Fluid, Poland, Porter - Baltic

Funky Fluid Leviathan Pedro Ximenez Barrel Aged

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Brewery: Funky Fluid
Country: Poland
ABV: 11%
Style: Porter – Baltic
Other Notes: Coconut flakes and cocoa nibs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) We’ve put Leviathan, our Imperial Rye Baltic Porter with coconut and cocoa nibs, into Pedro Ximenez sherry barrels. The outcome exceptionally full of flavour chocolate monster, enriched with sherry notes, bringing to mind dried fruit and muscovado sugar.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.13
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml red waxed bottle, with a best before date of 30th December 2023. Poured into what I guess is a water glass (being all that I could find at the hotel late at night).
Appearance: Poured a dark cola brown in colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Coconut, milk chocolate, dark fruit, raisins, prune, with maybe a hint of vanilla.
Taste: Moderate sweetness, dessert like, chocolate, raisins, prunes, coconut, vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Rich, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable sipper that was rich, but surprisingly not too sweet. Although the barrel influence didn’t seem too apparent, there was lots of good coconut, chocolate and dark fruit notes.