Moorhouses Black Cat (Bottle)

Brewed by Moorhouses
Style: Mild Ale
Burnley, England

Bottle: Deep ruby brown hue. Small off-white head. Aromas of coffee, roasty grain, cocoa. These flavors carry over to the palate, but with not much else. Thin, somewhat bland and one dimensional. Drinkable, no doubt, but nothing spectacular. Hey, a mild mild.

Bottled. Pours black with just a hint of red. Off-white head. Lager-ish aroma with coffee notes. The flavor is very subdued with some coffee and smoke flavors. Very fizzy mouthfeel. Yeasty aftertaste. Becomes better as it warms. Not at all a bad beer but I’d rather drink something else.

Bottle poured a deep red/brown with a quickly diminishing head. Bready aromas with dark fruits. Coffee flavors with a weak, watery mouthfeel that went to an instantly metalic finish. Not bad for a "black ale"... mediocre as a porter which is what I think it was striving to be.

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Bottle: Brown cola hue with a small but lasting frothy off-white head and very good lace. The aroma has notes of apple and raisin, smoky malts, earthy yeast esters, floral hops, and cavandish pipe tobacco. The taste mildly malty with tones of toast and chocolate, hints of coffee, fruit and smoke. Overall, pleasureable but not outstanding. I would have guess this a Schwarzbier or Brown Ale in style, but whatever...

I am rerating after a few years. My notes are almost the same. Solid beer. A medium light tan head. The body is a very deep amber that is almost black. The aroma is light iced tea with some milk chocolate and a hint of tobacco. The taste is strong iced tea with some earthy mushrooms and nuts. A little bit of milk chocolate. Lots of character showing how nice a mild can taste. Refreshing and slightly dry.

Pours dark black with light tan head. Nose is of robust malt sweetness. Flavor is much of the same wth trace chocolate and roasted nuttyness. Light to medium mouthfeel with slight dry finish.

(16.9 oz bottle: $2.50 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) This dark English ale is vaguely reminiscent of an English stout, but the flavor is much lighter. The malt is chocolaty and mildly sweet. Minimal hops has almost no impact on the beer. The roasted malt is mildly bitter, but the smokiness is quite prevalent in the finish. Sweet, oatmeal nose is less aromatic than Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, but is along the same lines. The palate is smooth and a bit thinner than I thought it might be, but this isn’t supposed to have a big huge mouthfeel anyway. Dark brown and opaque except near the edges. Bubbly, light tan head is kind of short lived, fading to a thick film with some large bubbles in two islands plus in a ring around the edge of the glass. A few streaks of lace here and there. Pretty mellow overall, but it has a nice, pleasant flavor and nose and is very enjoyable.

From A Bottle.I got the chocolate and berry flavours,some coffee,dry fizzy finish.