George Gale Festival Mild

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Cask@GBBF2007. Very dark amber colour, close to black. Small brown head. Aroma is roasted malts, fruits, raisins and some slight vanillaish notes. Flavour is the same thing along with burnt wet wood. Excellent balance.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle conditioned. Very dark opaque brown with a thick beige head. Sweet fruity, lightly roasted and malty aroma. Flavours are blackcurrent, other fruits, malts and some light bitterness. Smooth, some carbonation. I like it, but I’m not sure it’s a mild.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

The aroma is strong and of chocolate and roasted malts with maybe some whiskey characteristics as well as some raisin and very faint bitter. The appearance is of black coffee but a very nice chestnut to mahogany in color when held to the light with a massive, carbonated head on top that is bubbly and discipates very slowly and is light-brown in color. The mouthfeel is medium in body with nice malty complexity with pretty decent balance with a pallet that is solid and wet-like and coats well. The flavor is very malty with sweetness as well as creamy and of roasted and chocolate malt with earthy overtones with an aftertaste that is smooth and almost silky and tasty with a finish that is wet but turns slightly dry with hints of coffee present. Overall, this is a good beer and very filling with a nice malty backbone with some nice and slight bitter in the flavor; I like this solid mild ale.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Bottle conditioned, a dusty 500 ml bottle at Plan B, Copenhagen, august 2005 - "best before" date was Oct. 2004! Tasted definitely a bit "off". Black colour, low head. Weak roasty aroma and flavour. Sourish and thin. Very disappointing, as my expectations were high. Will need to rerate a fresh bottle or cask.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Wow, this one was a dark one. Dark brown. Wow, this one poured with the most humungous head you can get (only a few others have poured like this). I simply couldn't get it in the glass without pouring about 7-10 times. Pillowly and long lasting head with definite lacing action. Aroma was malty. Flavor was the strongest molasses flavor I've ever had in a beer (if pumpkin ales can be pumpkin pie in a bottle, this was shoo-fly pie in a bottle). Fairly sweet with some dark fruits and light spicing. Alcohol at only 4.8% was not well hidding, as this one was a tad rough, but very enjoyable. Heavy mouthfeel.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Very good, the highlight of an otherwise dull evening of beer tasting. Pours rich mahogony in color, dark aromas cascade from the glass settling like mist near my hands. So rarely can one actually see an aroma, but you can if you look hard enough with this one. I especially enjoyed the annis-like hints in the flavor. Very nice, would have this one again.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

A case where over-carbonation more-or-less ruining an otherwise fine bottle-conditioned ale. Had this in my cellar for a few months, and then chilled in my `fridge for a few hours. Once opened, it was like Mt St Helens -- much foam spewed all over. Once half of the bottle was expended, it took quit a bit of effort to get a half-pint's worth a beer into a glass.

Was all that worth it? Well, yeah, I guess so. I'm not all the familar with Mild Ales, but I do know Brown Ales (which I'm told is six-of-one, half-dozen-of-another in the U.K., depending on if it's in a bottle or not)..., and this is indeed a nice and tasty Mild / Brown Ale.

Malty, complex, mildly fruity (raisins?), some interesting bitterness and aroma hops -- all make this quite interesting. In fact, I can see this being a very nice session ale, since it's only 4.8%ABV.

But with the carbonation so over-the-top, mouthfell and overall drinkability suffer. Probably much better from a firkin, IMO.
//TB

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

dark brown colour, little brown-tainted foam, earthy maltiness, some prune, low carbonation, light-bodied, slightly sour, dry and moderately malty finish - subtle but too light for my taste