Black Dog Mild
Elgood and Sons Ltd

 

Reluctant to rate this from the bottle because mild only really works on cask, but what the hey.

A: Lovely big light beige head and black body.
S: Loads of fudge.
T: The aromas betray this dry and fizzy beer. Very one-dimensional. Slight citric aftertaste.
O: A very good brewery but not a great beer. Sure it's much better on cask though.

On gravity at Belfast Beer Fest, ‘14.
Ruby chocolate with finger of tawny froth. 4
Raisin, autumn leaf, and carob nose. 3.75
Light Maltesers up front, a bit of fig, some mulchy English hop finish. 3.75
Molasses-tar paper finish and slight anise linger.
Lt-med, round, smooth. 4

Raisinettes! Subtle all around. Clean and easy, if a bit dull. 4

Cask. Very dark brown. Thick frothy head. Light brown bubbles rising gently to the surface.
Mild aroma of toasted malt and toffee.
Malt again, sweet at the beginning and finishing with non assuming bitterness.
Thin but representative of a traditional low abv mild.
A decent mild with high drinkability.

 

Extremely dark mahogany, almost black. Thin, almost non-existent head. Light toffee, plums and mild roasted malts in the nose.

Nice malty body. Hints of milk chocolate and toffee in there. Light hop profile. Nice creaminess to it, rounded out by a light bitterness in the end.

Lighter body, but by no means thin. Pleasant, light carbonation. A great session mild.

Mahogany cola brown, verging on a color that would demand use of the descriptor "black." On top there's an ivory head, smooth, poofy, and pretty strong. The nose is typical of a mild, with rye bread, toasted marshmallow, and candied nuts, but not much else going on except a sweet touch of dates and honey, plus a hint of coconut. Somewhat citric hops combine with the dark sugars to suggest cola. The flavor is also typical, moderately sweet and dominated by raisins, oak, and brown bread, but nicely balanced by an uncharacteristically firm smack of hops. Soft, smooth, lightness all around helps tie everything together and adds to drinkability. This is a good mild - nothing really special in the bottle, but I'd like very much to try it on cask sometime.

275 mL bottle poured into a glass.

Dark colored brew, almost cola-like, as someone noted below. Light carbonation yields a modest head with fizzy bubbles.

Smell is very mild, with the roasted malt coming through.

Taste is very nice. The roasted malt yields a balanced bitter-sweetness that is near a porter but not as full-flavored. The sweetness (almost tangy) and bitterness combined seem to grow stronger further down the glass, which is the only weak point for me in taste--it's a bit too much.

Nice mouthfeel. Unique in that light/fizzy but dark taste and feel.

Very drinkable, would definitely get again. But the increasing bitter-sweetness quality made it less appealing as I went down. Low ABV makes for a nice chill drink.

GOt this at the Cracked Kettle in Amsterdam

From a bottle into a Pint Glass

APPEARANCE: Pours dark mahogany, almost black, and pretty clear. One finger tan head slowly dissipates into a film. No carbonation or bubbles evident. Some lacing. After a few minutes it starts to look rather flat.

SMELL: Some roasted malt and dark fruit in the nose, but rather weak and bland.

TASTE: Some roasted malts with a sweetish malt aftertaste, which unfortunately hits too hard after a second and then lingers a little too long. Not bad, but a bit too bland and one dimensional.

PALATE: Medium thin body with low end carbonation. Goes down very smooth with no bite. Finishes pretty dry. Palate is fine, but a little too thin for my liking.

OVERALL: A decent drinkable beer, but not all that enjoyable. Fine, but not memorable, and certainly not something I'd seek out.

BB 28/07/09, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pours a dark brown body with a little mahogany shades; creamy light-tan head retains the thickness pretty well, on top of unknown carbonation level.
S: dense brown sugar, red date puree, a light touch of dark sweet chocolates as well as burnt malt come with a faint dusty note from the froth, while a fine sour touch remains in the background constantly.
T: a deep-running flow of dark malts, black sugar, with a fine touch of sourness of dark fruits gradually yields to a lightly dryish burnt-malty and semi-chewy bitter aftertaste, suggesting some earthy/herbal hops, lingering but muted fruity dark malt as well as lightly sour pale malt in the finish.
M&D: although it's quite light on the palate, it never goes thin throughout the drink, while the carbonation is so mild that a relatively fresh mouthfeel manages to stay. Overall, a moderately hoppy and semi-dry palate lends a healthy support for the major theme of delicious black- and treacly maltiness, while the sweet edge is firmly in control for the sake of balance. A good quality Dark Mild in a bottle for sure, though it can't beat the cask-conditioned sister-version in any way.

Purchased at Cambridge Wine Merchants.

Appearance: a little on the darker, garnet side of cola in terms of color, fluffy off-white head which fades quickly but leaves behind nice lacing.

Smell: dark fruit, brown sugar, and some burnt malt.

Taste: iced coffee, with borwn sugar and date, but not as intense as that sounds. good mild

Mouthfeel: just a little thinner than your average american porter, but without feeling watered-down

Drinkability: good. manages to be an easy-drinking "dark" beer, without tasting insipidly cola-like, like some (bad) american porters

What can I say about such a wonderful example of its type? It really is a superb beer and well worthy of having held the Champion Beer of Britain title.
Black as sin with a contrasting head , lovely aroma and when it reaches the mouth the beer simply punches out of its weight.Just overflowing with all sorts of flavours. And dinkability? About as good as you can get.I've put that to the test a few times :-)

Brown 500ml bottle, best before Feb 2008, drank April 2007.

Very surprised to see this in bottle form, and in London, so I bought two bottles.

Poured into a pint ' Old Speckled Hen' vase type glass.

The beer looked fantastic, deep ruby black with a fine biege head of foam.

The aroma is of roasted and toasted malts, they overpower anything and everything else that may be trying to get into the air.

The taste is fine, again the burnt malt flavours take over. This isn't delicate, this is a proud dark mild.

Sadly the mouthfel lets it down somewhat, not watery, but not as lasting or powerful as you would expect from the initial taste.

Glad I found it in bottle form, I must have a cask one again soon. One of the best dark milds around in the UK.

Cask conditioned at the Alexandra Hotel ("The Alex"), Derby. Very dark ruby colour, nearly black. Low thick head. Aroma of leather and roasted malts. Very smooth and drinkable with a well balanced roastiness. Coffee elements. A truly enjoyable dark mild!