Stargazer Summer Ale
Mill Street Brew Pub

Draft: Poured a clear light copper color ale with a small foamy head with limited retention and no lacing. Aroma of light grainy cereal notes is OK. Taste is also dominated by grainy cereal notes with light dry hops notes and a watery thin finish. Body is light with OK carbonation. I didn’t think the malt bill was really that great and finish is too watery even for style.

 

 

Appearance: Produced barely a half pinky of head that disappeared almost immediately and thus did not lace at all. The body is a clear, pale copper color that also boasts little in the way of carbonation. There's just not enough going on here.

Smell: Hard water mineral notes, reminiscent of pale ale with floral hop and caramel malt background. I was really expecting a bit more of a caramel presence here, which warming does help bring out.

Taste: The mineral presence really dominates this beer, and to be honest I don't know why it's there. It's drowning out a weak caramel malt, some light apple and plum yeast notes and some floral hopping. Thankfully that presence isn't overpowering, but regrettably it instead makes to beer come across as watered down.

Mouthfeel: The aftertaste, unsurprisingly consists of that hard water mineral note, which thankfully doesn't linger. The carbonation is far lower then I'd like it to be, what little transitioning I can catch behind the mineral curtain seems decent but all in all, it fails to impress.

Drinkability: The only thing this beer has going for it, is that it is relatively mild. You can put it back easy, but that's not necessarily a good thing, and certainly not for the seasonal offering this beer is. The extreme light body and general dullness may make it easy to drink, but makes drinking a second undesirable.

Final Thoughts: I'm not really sure exactly what Mill St. was trying to go for on this one. If they were aiming at a traditional english bitter, I think this would be a flop. There's not nearly enough malt to make it worthwhile. If it was going for something more like a yeastier fruiter light summer quaffer...that too doesn't quite hit the mark either. My biggest issue is that it has too many light lager characteristics for my liking, specifically, it's dull to the taste but easy to put back, it's ridiculously light bodied and tastes designed for mindless chugging. Pass this one like you'd pass a horse drawn carriage on the highway.

I was pleasantly surprise. Clean easy drinking taste, refreshing, hops and fruity notes, very light, but full flavour. Pours a light copper colour. I would defiantly buy it again.

This bodied, slightly metallic, gently bitter finish. Gentle maly nose. A light going bitter for those who like the style. I prefer them with a softer mouthfeel.

 

 

 

 

355 ml bottle served just above fridge temperature and poured into a bone shaker snifter. Purchased as part of the Mill Street summer pack.

Appearance - mostly clear copper coloured beer with honey hues. Small finger of white head is piped but disintegrates in no time.

Smell - dark fruit, some plums and prunes with hints of Apple and pear. Quite fruity with a subtle malt background.

Taste - grainy flavor, quite mild again with some fruity and herbal flavours. Herbs, pear and plum in the back ground.

Mouthfeel - light mouthfeel, easy to drink and nice carbonation.

Overall - a nice easy to drink summer ale that doesn't lack anything, but with all it's subtlety and mildness leaves something to be desired. Glad I tried it but wouldn't pick this up again, unless part of a tasters pack.

 

 

 

355 mL bottle included in their Summer 2015 sampler pack; bottled May 28 2015 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a clear orange-amber, producing one finger of bubbly, off-white, rather short-lived head. After a couple minutes' time has passed, the cap has been replaced with a frothy, foamy collar and a few scant patches of lace. The aroma is unassuming and decidedly English in nature - flavours of toffee sweetness, toasted bread and biscuits, with hints of orchard fruit and grassy, leafy hops. Nicely balanced and approachable, but not too exciting.

And that spirit carries over into the flavour profile - it's well-made, and quite flavourful for a light ale, but this isn't the sort of brew that is going to have most BAs jumping for joy. Bready, doughy malts and toffee sweetness, with notes of toasted biscuit. The hops start to deliver in the latter half, providing hints of grassy hay and a leafy, weakly earthy bitterness that effectively dries out the palate, leaving a mostly-clean aftertaste behind following each sip. Light-bodied, with relatively high carbonation levels that prickle the palate and provide this pale ale with a relatively crisp, lively mouthfeel. Very refreshing, and highly drinkable.

Final Grade: 3.69, a worthy B grade. Mill Street's Stargazer Summer Ale isn't going to turn many heads - but on the flip side of that coin, I can't find too many things to complain about here, either. It's a highly quaffable, English-style session ale that is delightfully mild-flavoured and well-balanced. Given how Mill Street usually handles these seasonals/one-offs, I doubt I'll be seeing this outside of their sampler packs - but if it were priced sensibly, I could see this one entering my rotation.

 

 

355ml bottle, from the current Mill Street mixed-pack - they describe it as an 'English-style summer "session" ale'.

This beer pours a clear, medium copper amber hue, with three fingers of puffy, broadly foamy, and a wee bit creamy off-white head, which leaves some dissipating cloud lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

It smells of semi-sweet, doughy pale and caramel malt, a muddled apple and pear fruitiness, mild hard water metallic notes, and earthy, leafy, and floral noble hops. The taste is bready, grainy pale malt, a further touch of untethered caramel sweetness, red apple skins, stone paths after the rain, and a steady leafy, weedy, and floral hop bitterness.

The carbonation is quite light on its feet, manifesting in a genial frothiness for the most part, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, just a tiny earthy bitterness playing the part of the pea. It finishes well off-dry, a lingering bready malt flexing its sturdy backbone.

Not quite sure how to classify this one, as 'English summer ale' doesn't register here - so, since it's English (in style), pale, mild (in alcohol), and certainly an ale, I rest my case. As for the actual brew, it is indeed easy-drinking, adequately flavourful, and much closer to the 'session' ideal than most out there claiming as such right now.