Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild

Brewed by Sarah Hughes
Style: Mild Ale
Dudley, England

This is one weird beer. First it overflowed the glass I poured it into...no, it exploded like a volcano while overflowing. Lots of bubble with this one. Light fruit smell. Taste starts off decent, with a taste of plums and raisins, then falls apart. There is a sour taste on the finish like wine gone bad. Not again for this guy.

Strong sour aroma upon cracking the bottle. Big Tan fluffy head - deep deep ruby red in color. I really like the sour crisp yet malty flavor. Nearly stout like in finish.

I am personally liking this a lot..it is very interesting. Sourish plum, citrus, as others have noted, also serious woodiness. Crisp and clean; very little roastiness. A delight. With lemon juice and black pepper, I am marinating my big-ass birthday steak in some of this...then slow-cooking it.

Had this on cask a while back. I like most of these traditional "working class" british styles, and this is no exception. Very dark red-brown, with little head. Way more complex than i was expecting, very smooth and creamy, with a bit of roasted malts in the finish. Hops are light and unobtrusive. I’d love to try this bottled, but haven’t seen it anywhere.

Very dark brown with virtually no head. Sweet and sour malt aroma. The body is very thin and watery. Some oaky and fruity notes, but nothing really shows up until the finish when it sours almost like a Flanders red and ends with a weak distant flavor of roasted malt about ten seconds after swallowing. Not really worth the price, but an interesting style nonetheless.

Bottle conditioned. Deep ruby red colour, poor head and a low but fine condition. Little apparent yeast in the bottle. Fruity nose with hints of roast malts. Butterscotch, woodiness and a vinous fruit note are all apparent in the mouth. Finish is soft malty sweet with a hint of oakiness and little apparent alcohol.

Nice and mild with complex spicing. Slightly medicinal flavor that gets kicked away by the whiskey barrel finish.

Bottle. An adorable old lady. Deep, dark, delicious and just bursting with heady, fruity, complex flavours. Mild beers are designed to be refreshing - therefore they have a light body and almost no hop bitterness. The alcohol is normally low, but can be high if it is used to enhance the complex malt body rather than give an alcohol kick - this mild does just that. This is a splendid example of a classic English mild. This is a brilliant beer in its own right. Dark Ruby? Damn right! [4.2]
Re-rate. Gravity Cask, Kent Beer Festival, with Duff & Nuffield. Muddy brown colour. Sweet up front followed by a complex journey of leather, rancid bacon, wood, red wine, all sorts of stuff. [4.2]