Dirt Edition 2
Mills Brewing

Dirt is our spontaneously fermented take on the red-brown beers of Flanders, such as the famed beers of Rodenbach and our more modern favourite from Brouwerij 't Verzet.

Classically, these beers are not made with spontaneous fermentation, but with an initial ale yeast fermentation, followed by extensive oak ageing with lactic and acetic acid producing bacteria. Dirt's spontaneous fermentation and ensuing long maturation on the gross lees is more akin to the lambic producers of the Senne Valley. So this beer sits, production and flavour -wise, somewhere between those two great brewing traditions.

This second blend comes seven years after our first. The grists consisted of malted and flaked barley, rye, and a large addition of crystal malt. Twelve year old Citra hops were add during a long boil. The resulting beer is a blend of two and three year old beers fermented and matured in old White Burgundy barrels.

With little hop character or bitterness, the key for this beer was to find a fine balance between the rich sweet malts, with the acidity of the fermentation. The correct balance of lactic and acetic acid is critical and is one of the reasons it has taken so long to release a second batch of this beer.