Holdens Black Country Mild

Brewed by Holdens
Style: Mild Ale
Dudley, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Bottle. Chestnut, slim tan head. Enticing coffee cake, Crunchie and chargrilled vegetable aroma; coffee buttercream flavour with a mellow roasted finish hinting at burnt cake, nuts and Marmite. Burnt plastic hints drag it down a notch. Mild, with hints of character.

Brown 500ml bottle, best before the end of Aug 2011, drank and reviewed mid July 2011. What a lovely beer, just as good as it’s cask conditioned version. Looks and tastes great, the head producing some heavy lacing as the beer level sank. Just a joy to drink and for more information read my cask review because the bottles are super too. Second part of my writings: Cask Pint: Reviewed at the excellent White Hart pub in Shifnal, Shropshire (Sep 2007). Good ruby red dark colour with a biege foaming head which stayed the distance. The beer was pulled into a pint sleeved glass. I just stared at it for a good minute, because it looked so fine. Chocolate malty aroma, burnt toast as well. The taste followed the smell, chocolate and toasty, the hops used are fuggles, but I couldn’t detect any hop flavours. The beers flavours hung around in the mouth and it is quiet thick and heavy for a 3.7% English Mild. Very drinkable, this isn’t the first time I have had this beer and I was surprised to find I hadn’t reviewed it, or any of Holdens beers before.

On cask at The Congress, Longton. Pours red brown. A hint of chocolate and caramel, nuts and very pleasant indeed. A decent mild.

UPDATED: DEC 12, 2011 Deep red chestnut colour, thin head. Sweet smoky malt aroma. Quite biscuity with hints of honey: malt loaf and sugar puffs. Sweet in flavour too with only the slightest bitterness. A little light on the palate but pleasant and easy to drink.

Gravity cask at the Wandsworth Halloween BF 2011. Pours dark brown with a small, white foam head. Toasty malt nose, hints of caramel. Light to medium sweet flavor, toasty malts, bread, light grass, light cocoa. Light to medium bodied with fine, tingly carbonation. Faintly dry finish, light roast, light cocoa, mild dark sugars.

500ml bottle. Pours a really dark brown with a medium head. Aroma is milk chocolate and roasted malt. A hint of chocolate to start. Roasted malt on the lasting finish.

Gift from The Brit. Reddish brown pour with a grainy/ roasted taste and butter like aroma. It was ok.

Cask at The Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak, London. Dark brown, almost no head. Chocolate aroma. Good chocolate flavours, hint of roast. Watery body. Drinkable.

Cask at GBBF ’09, dark brown with a yellowish head. A sweetish malt nose. Lightly toasted, sweet toffee and earthy. Also slightly medicinal.

Cask. Low but lasting white fluffy head. Clear very dark ruby body. Weak aroma, actually I could not smell anything. Mild sweet weak caramel cocoa flavor. Low carbonation. Long sweet aftertaste.