What happened to Goose Island Mild Winter?

I was just on their website today, it is no longer listed on the website as one of their beers. I saw they just released the Ten Hills (fresh hop?) pale ale, which seems to be replacing it, along with a regular release of Sixth Day. I like Mild Winter, though I think it be really good if it was a little heftier and boozier

 

I would respectfully disagree with this statement based on the fact that it is a Mild. Mild beers aren't supposed to whack you over the head with booze

 

Maybe GI felt having Mild Winter hurt their sales of Nut Brown Ale

 

Sixth Day replaced their Christmas Ale for sure. I'm thinking they discontinued their Mild Winter to help with the sale o Sixth Day, which I must say is quite tasty. I'm not sure if Sixth Day will age like the Christmas does. The Sixth Day seems to have more spice in it than the Christmas. The Ten Hills is also very tasty. Very well balanced and easy to drink, but the hop presence is there for sure.

 

I missed Mild Winter last year, too, much to my dismay. I come across so few Mild-style brews that losing one of 'em is equivalent to losing fifteen IPAs.

 

At 8.3%, I imagine it ought to lay down well.

Is this a play on the whole Winter Seasonals must have spices fun? 'Cause Sixth Day has no spices in its recipe.

Well balanced? I think we have different dictionaries.

 

Do I also see Summertime in the Blasts from the Past listing at Goose's web site? Retiring that would make me very sad.

 

I got a lot of cinnamon and clove notes on it. A lot more than I did on the Christmas Ale. I was surprised to find no actual listing of that in the recipe. And in terms of the pale ale, I felt it drank quite nice.

 

I agree with you on this one. I will be very bummed if this one does not come back. Its such a nice refreshing beer.

 

Mild beers were originally named as such because they were mild in hops and hop bitterness, not necessarily mild in ABV.

From Ron Pattinson's research:

 

Probably the hops and/or yeast. Not familiar with Pilgrim or Celeia hops.

It may well have been nice to your palate, but it leans heavy on hop character in both flavor and bitterness... drinking one right now, and I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the Perle, Cascade, Saaz blend. Though they are US grown versions of the 2 European strains, so that could be tweaking my tongue.

 

Perfect for its namesake. My summer grilling would not be the same.

 

I'm actually drinking a 2012 Christmas after seeing this thread so cheers!

I will say you're not the first person to tell me that. It also probably doesn't help that I have been drinking IPA's recently like they're going out of style, so switching to the Ten Hills seemed a lot lighter. I have one left so I'm going to need to crack one open and give it another shot.

 

That would certainly adjust your palate. Probably very different hops too.

 

not really. mild simply means its fresh period. nothing more. of course that is from amber gold and black.
and its a historic reference. what it means today is anyone guess.

sadly MJ got it wrong.

 

But not necessarily "mild in alcohol." Though there are many that are that as well, it's just not a hard and fast rule.

 

I brewed a 10% mild from Ron's book Mild.

 

Mild meant mild acidity (sourness) meaning it had to be fresh as this was prepasteurization. The alternative to mild was old, meaning it was more likely to be sour (because bacteria had time to procreate). There were indeed milds as strong as today's imperial stouts, because mild had nothing to do with abv or gravity.

 

Goose Island is remaking its seasonal rotations. "Ten Hills" will now be the rotating surname for each season. But, there will be different beers for each season. Example : Ten Hills Pale Ale. Thats the current. Next season may be: Ten Hills Saison. Summer Time is no longer. It will be replaced with a new beer: "Ten Hills X" (X is whatever they choose to name it).