Triangle Mild
Triangle Brewing Company

On-tap at Tyler's in Durham, NC.

Pint is filled with a dusty, golden-brown colored ale capped by a thin sheet of eggshell foam. Minimal lacing, but decent retention. The aroma was quite appealing, and perhpas the highlight of the beer, with notes of toffee, plum, raisin, and buttery, wet leather.

The taste...well...it was interesting, to say the very least. I can't say I flat out enjoyed the flavor, and here's why: it tasted like fruit-flavored chewing tobacco. Imagine putting in a big lip of apple or peach flavored Skoal. Gross, right? Well, although this beer didn't overwhelmingly taste like either of those, once its sweet, fruity tobacco notes began reminding me of the few times in college I'd tried snuff, there was no going back. The mouthfeel started crisp, but finished a bit too dry for my liking. Decenly carbonated and a bitter finish rounded out the experience. I probably would not have this again, but it certainly was an interesting creation by the good folks at Triangle.

From growler purchased at brewery.

Excited to hear a local brewery brewing an English Dark Mild Ale. I haven't remembered seeing this style brewed locally here before. Unfortunatley, this might wind up being a one off, due to the high end price of the malt used in this one. Oh well, here we go.

Pours chestnut copper, thin head dissapates quickly with minimal lacing. Lively carbonation is present. Aroma's of caramel, toffee and some light earthy vegetal hop aroma's. Taste is toasted malt flavor with some tabbacco like qualities to it, a little toffee and caramel moves in mid palate. Finishes with just a small amount of bitterness. Thin but lively carbonation, goes down effortlessly. Quite refreshing. This is a real nice easy drinker. Not much to contemplate here flavor wise, just a really approachable session beer. Put this in the beer to have when you having more than one category. Would make a nice beer to offer your visiting BMC crowd.

Give this a try while you still can. A great style, that's not brewed enough around here.

Nice job Triangle, I hope you do this again sometime. **Hint- Dry hopped on cask at one of your local cask events.

Currently (as of 3/5/08) on tap at Tyler's Taproom in Durham.

From Tyler's menu: "Brewed in the English tradition, this mild ale combines the domestic and imported malts to provide a chestnut, chewed [sic?] ale of unusual complexity."

This was a pleasant surprise, as I was looking for a nice, mild beer to accompany my lunch, and locally-made brews are always a great option. Its dark amber hue is certainly inviting; the lean, snow-white head doesn't make an impression, but my hunch is that's typical of the style. Light aroma of roasted malts peek through the otherwise unremarkable smell. Its flavors are mild, with a distinct malty nuttiness detected after an initial sweetness on the very front. The lingering aftertaste combines that same nuttiness with a larger-than-expected hoppy bitterness.

This is a very approachable beer; the low ABV and mild flavors would seem to please many casual beer drinkers, and its "drinkability" is high due to those same factors. I'm looking forward to having another in the near future.

Poured from a 64 oz growler, from the brewery

A: Pours a clear deep amber copper in hue, bit of pale golden hues throughout, under an inch of white head. Some hints of lace and a ring of lasting head.

S: Smells of sweet and caramel malt, a fleeting aroma of earthy and lightly citrus hop, hint of toffee, some butter.

T: Malty, a little bit of sweetness, toasted malt, a hint of tobacco with a malty finish.

M/D: Medium bodied, low carbonation, really spot on for the style I think. Drinkabililty is pretty good, I mean, it's a 4% mild, it can only go down smooth.

I have to say though, even at 4%, there seems to be some hints of alcohol here at lower temps in both the taste and smell. It goes away as the temp increases and I can't really tell if it was just something I was confusing, so I'm not really taking away from the scores.