Woild Moild
Wolf Brewery Ltd.

Sample at GBBF Winter. Mahogany pour, ring of bubbly head. Aroma is light roasty malts and mild sweetness. Taste is malty, sweet, cola flavors. Thin feel

 

Almost perfectly the color of cola, with a dullish ivory-beige head with fair retention. Winsome aroma features chestnuts, autumn leaves, dates, apples, and toffee. Likewise the flavor is fully fruity and quite caramel-sweet, but also well balanced by a permeating hop character that is more spicy than outright bitter. There is also a vaguely herbal vanilla character reminiscent of root beer. Quite quick, almost fizzy on the palate and immaculately dry - quite a good quaffer, if not anything out of the ordinary. I'd like to try it on cask.

Purchased at the Sainsbury's supermarket, coming in a 500ml brown bottle, not bottle-conditioned; BB May 2010, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: the colour comes a deeply dark russet brown with good clarity, semi-lively carbonation and a dark beige creamy froth that lasts decently well.
S: a contrast b/w dustiness, clean sour fruits, sweet black sugar and chocolate malts upfront actually makes the aroma rather enticing; given a swirl, toffee-ish sweetness (with a touch of cream), red beans, and sweetened chestnuts all spring to mind. Overall the level of sweet black sugar is in line with what a traditional Mild tends to highlight, but the clean flow of sour fruitiness also adds a little bit more excitement.
T: the lightly effervescent swallow of sweet dark malts is quickly ensued by black sugar, sweet dates & mashed red beans, lightly sour berries, and somewhat negligible hop bitterness. The aftertaste seems to show a slightly chewy palate (not unlike roast tea leaves) as of contribution of hops, but only just, while a sweet herbal undertone also lingers, ringing a bell of Chinese herbal jelly made of Mesona. BTW, the finish is slightly metallic, too.
M&D: if considering it a Dark Mild, somehow the malt body is lighter than usual and so is the black-sugar input; yet the fruity influence overall is quite important to make it drinkable, considering an alc. level much higher than most modern take on the style. Lightly effervescent, o.k. on the palate and not overly light-bodied, this is a drinkable pint but not very delicious, alas. Comparing this beer note with my previous encounter with the cask version, I got a feeling that the bottled version is very very different (i.e. so much less nice) indeed.