Tag: Malt Spirit

12 Drams of Christmas #2: Mighty Oak Wilde Spirit

Number two in my Christmas rundown, and probably no surprise after my last post, is Mighty Oak’s Wilde Spirit (40%). For those coming here without reading that entry first, Wilde Spirit is distilled from the Maldon, Essex-based Mighty Oak Brewery’s Oscar Wilde mild (3.7%) beer at the English Spirit Distillery in Cambridgeshire, after which it appears to receive a dose of rapid wood ageing gaining an attractive honeyish sheen on the way.

Continue reading “12 Drams of Christmas #2: Mighty Oak Wilde Spirit”

Mighty Oak: Free Beer and the Spirit of Oscar Wilde (Mild)

The last day of November took me to Essex brewer Mighty Oak’s annual free beer open day at its brewery in Maldon, to the east of Chelmsford. The event provides a showcase for the brewery’s wares – including selected barrels of its regular brews and an extensive lineup of seasonal specials – designed to create good will and to help secure take out orders of 36 pint pins and 18 pint mini pins for Christmas.

Both looked to be well on the way to selling out by the time I left, so the effort was clearly a worthwhile one. I didn’t myself end up walking away with an order for Bingle Jells, Rockin’ Reindeer or one of the seven other Christmas ales on offer (I’m not convinced that Yellow Snow was an obvious draw, though the beer itself was more than decent). What I did walk away with was rather more unexpected. Continue reading “Mighty Oak: Free Beer and the Spirit of Oscar Wilde (Mild)”