Gales Millennium Brew

Formerly brewed at Gales
Style: English Strong Ale
Horndean, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

Corked bottle, purchased in Florida and lugged all the back to the prairies. Very lackluster pour, hazy medium amber, flat, no head formation at all. Bad start! Aroma is not good either: sour apple, vinegar, cooked noodle broth. Blah. Palate is tangy sour cider vinegar, broth, cheese rind, with residual hop oil bitterness at the end. This is a dead beer, an off bottle for sure. Too bad.

Corked bottle (was a bitch to open, btw, and disintegration didn’t help) brewed for the year 2000 (but in the year 1997, as per the bottle) and consumed here on my own personal decision day in January 2011. So we’ll say thirteen years old, conservatively. Heavy toffee and light acetone, honey/mead mixed with heavy wine qualities and a touch of sherry and vinegar, strong alcohol. Light tar light cardamom with cherry, caramel with rich fruit (on the prune-y side) and very abundant maple syrup. Murky, oily brown pour with an occasional bubble here and there but no had, basically flat. Oily feel (thin and whisky-like), gently warming with just a hint of ash in the aftertaste. Smooth! Taste is unfortunately very muddled, some refined, velvety alcohol and tart character in with light earthy brown malt and molasses and much-lessened maple. Squeezed apple juice on the side. On the whole, manages to retain some mellow dignity, despite the sliminess, but one is left to wonder if this beer was suitable for aging in the first place (and why real corks are used for experiments designed to aged); it certainly hasn’t stood the test of time very well.

Bottle on 09/15/2010 to celebrate Butters 2000th rating. Very clear copper body with a very small frothy white head. Sweet floral and earthy aroma with some tart notes. Surprisingly pleasant tart fruit and earthy malt flavor, lots of rich fruit. Medium light body with moderately low carbonation. I’m sure this wasn’t supposed to be a sour beer, but I like the way it works out.

Bottle courtesy of maniac on the occasion of my 2000th rating. Pretty fitting actually. Wow. What an unexpected surprise! Pours a very clear amber with quickfading ring of clearish head. Nose is clean but with a fading tart dull cherry notes, almost bretty. Flavor exemplifies this even more - tart cherry, very acidic, and some soy saucy characteristics. Very clean sour. It’s actually very enjoyable as a sour. Pretty damn awesome for a 13 year old beer!

Found this in my local bottle shop. Let’s see what 13 years does for a beer. Vinous cashew and must nose, with caramel undercurrents. Dingy brown, thin yellow head, poor retention. Persimmon with caramel hints. Alcohol burn that is only slightly out of place. Not great and probably too old.

Bottle, dirty brown pour with a few loose bubbles around the edges, aroma of balsamic vinegar, toffee, butterscotch, flavors of shoe leather, watery fruit, stale bready malt

Millennium was brewed during Gales 150th Anniversary year of 1997...

1/25/2010: George Gale & Co. LTD Millennium Brew - Ale brewed for the year 2000... Aroma: Orange blossom honey; strong mead; toffee; dry sherry. Appearance: Mostly opaque amber color; no carbonation. Flavor: Very vineous and slightly dry at first, yet bright and fruity - kind of like a cross between Shiraz and Riesling wine; thin toffee maltiness in the middle, strong alcohol in the finish, but not quite burning; surprisingly there are only hints of oxidation and cork with some weak vinegar notes; green apple starts to dominate when warmer. Palate: Medium-light; somewhat thin. Overall: Not terrible, but not that great either.

275 ml - 9.3 fl. oz. CORKED bottle ( 10% Alc./Vol. ). Rating #120 for this beer.

I aged this one a lot. Thick tar like color, but thin. Lots of resin molasses in the flavor and nose. Rated 4/5/10