Tag Archives: England

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

Mills x Nevel Dinkum

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Brewery: Mills Brewing x Nevel
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. Nevel Artisan Ales brew wild beer in Nijmegen with local, organic and foraged ingredients

Brewer Description: (from bottle) In April 2019 we brewed a rich, copper wort with locally picked blackberry leaves in the boil. Both brewery’s mixed cultures were used to ferment the wort in red wine barrels for 12 months. The resulting beer was blended with another reddish beer from August 2018. The beer was then dry hopped with whole leaf Huell Melon, Belma, Cascade and Citra.

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

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in April 2020, with a best before date of April 2030. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy copper colour with a big three finger beige head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, grape, unripe berries, leafy, earthy, lemon zest, with notes of caramel.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, grape, melon and berry notes, leafy, oak, citrusy, lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Complex and balanced aroma and flavours just made it extremely easy drinking and enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, England, Farmhouse Saison, Mills Brewing

Mills Saison Hallertau

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 5.6%
Style: Farmhouse Saison
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) Saison Hallertau is a blend of four barrels from three worts brewed in January, March and August 2019. It was dry hopped with whole leaf Hallertau Blanc, Mandarina Bavaria and Fuggles. This beer is a bitter amber saison with a good balance of malt, yeast and hop flavour.

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

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in July 2020, with a best before date of July 2030. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Citrus rind, orange, funky, hay, damp wood, with some light stone fruit notes.
Taste: Similar to what you’d expect from the aroma, lightly bitter, orange, mandarin, citrus peel, funky, hay, musty, damp wood, and light tropical stone fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable and very drinkable, nice solid funky saison.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Burning Sky Brewery, England, Farmhouse Saison - Fruit

Burning Sky Saison de Pêche

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Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 6.3%
Style: Farmhouse Saison – Fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A special release of our Saison Provision, this beer was aged on a mix of whole yellow and white peaches for three months. Delicious redolent fruit flavours married with our classic house acidity gives us a beer to truly savour.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.8
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 19th April 2021, with a best before date of 19th April 2031. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very slightly hazy golden colour with a two finger white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: A bit muted, but it’s lightly tart, lightly funky, with notes of peach and lime zest.
Taste: Sour, tart, peach, apricot, minerals, with a light funky background.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I really enjoyed Saison Provision, and I also like peaches, so perhaps my hopes were too high. It just didn’t quite come together as good as I hoped it would, as both the aroma and flavours were kind of muted.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Burning Sky Brewery, England, Farmhouse Saison

Burning Sky Saison Anniversaire 2020

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Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Farmhouse Saison
Other Notes: Adjunct – Pink peppercorn, grains of paradise and caraway seeds

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brewed just once a year, Anniversaire is a celebration of everything we at Burning Sky love about saisons. Lightly spiced in the boil, this special edition beer was fermented and aged entirely in French Chardonnay barriques using our house saison and a blend of wild yeast strains.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.1
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 21st September 2020, and with a best before date of 21st September 2030. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice slightly hazy golden colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention while leaving lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, vinous, grape, white wine, lemon zest, straw, with light floral notes.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, funky, floral, lemon zest, white wine vinous, woody, lightly floral, and a slightly spicy peppery finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Good balance of sour, funk and citrus fruit. The Chardonnay barrel was a little light overall, and I think if it was stronger, it would have been very interesting. Still a very easy drinking beer, that was especially good on a hot summer, but rainy day.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Burning Sky Brewery, England, Wild Ale

Burning Sky Elderberry Monolith

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Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 9.7%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our wild black beer spent 18 months in oak before being aged for a further 6 months on local elderberries. The result is reminiscent of a deep, earthy Burgundy.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 15th February 2021, and with a best before date of 15th February 2031. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice deep dark purple colour with a two finger purple head that had good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, dark berries, raisin, earthy, oak, woody.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, dark berries, blackberry, blackcurrant, raisin, earthy, woody, oak, a touch of chocolate, with red wine vinous notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’m not sure what elderberries tastes like, but there’s lots of good dark berry flavours here. There’s a good balance of fruit, dark malt, earthy, woody and vinous that gives it good complexity, and the ABV is also well hidden, such that you don’t notice it at all.