Bottle. I see that Newcastle put black ale on the label. Must be because most Americans don’t really appreciate mild ales. I myself love mild ales and think this is a really good one. Deep brown, tan head. Very mild roasted aroma and taste. It is really good for the style.

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 8/31/2014. Pours crystal clear deep reddish brown color with a 2 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of caramel, cocoa, coffee, brown sugar, toast, dark bread, light raisin/plum, herbal, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, earthy hops, and light-moderate fruity yeast notes; with solid strength. Taste of caramel, cocoa, coffee, toast, brown sugar, dark bread, light raisin/plum, herbal, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, cocoa, coffee, toast, brown sugar, dark bread, light raisin/plum, herbal, and yeast/roasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, earthy hops, and light-moderate fruity yeast flavors; with a great bitterness/sweetness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, fairly creamy, and slightly chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming present after the finish as expected of 4.2%. Overall this is a nice English dark mild ale style. All around good robustness, complexity, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, earthy hops, and light-moderate fruity yeast flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. A nicely enjoyable offering.

Drought. Reddish brown with creamy beige head, vanilla-nuts aroma, low carbonation, fruity taste, thin body, abrupt finish. A bit weak but not bad.

bottle - Pours clear, dark red with a tense light tan head. There’s a mild roast malt aroma. The flavor is roast malt with maybe a hint of coffee and a lingering roasty finish. Medium bodied. Drinkable. It’s okay, better than some of this brewery’s recent efforts.

New Beer Distributors, NYC ($1.95): Pours dark brown with a beige head. Aroma is malty chocolate, some sugar, and a hint of fruitiness. Taste is slightly sweet and quite malty. Easy to drink and certainly inoffensive. Not bad at all.

12oz bottle. Some black licorice in the aroma. Light to medium bodied, pretty straight up. Filtered amber-brown body. Not unlike a true English Mild in some respects, but cheap and neutered. Brown chocolate, doughy malt notes. Something about it is just too thin, lifeless. Odd fruity ale tones too. A weird beer for sure. Let it sit out for 20 minutes...gets better as it breathes.

The appearance has a dark somewhat brown close to black colored body with a slight transparency to it. There is a nice mushroom capping one finger white foamy head that concaves to a lumpy looking valley inside the glass. Lacing is extremely thick and sticking to the sides of the glass
The smell is nutty, malty, woody, and bready all combined and leading into a dried roastiness.
The taste is malty sweet with a light woody nuttiness trying to come in. There is a roasty woody aftertaste with a dry sweet finish.
On the palate, it sits light on the body and comes across pretty sessionable. Carbonation is very smooth, hmmmm...I actually haven’t had too many English Dark Milds in my life, so I like the fact how it runs as smooth as it does and doesn’t leave much harshness.
Overall, hmmmm...not a bad beer, sounds like one I could definitely do with some fish n’ chips.

Smell is sterile and fresh. From a bottle pour is a good looking dark beer. Friendly attitude without being too far over the top. Not really as mild as i would think a mild ale should be but it certainly has it finer points during the session. Goes down fairly easy. Has personality. Borders on crafty beer but still has some of that BMC proprietress in there. Yes refined enough to be smoother but tries to be more than that. Good co2 all around. Evolves into a pretty good overall beer experience.