Storm Éowyn might be blowing up a gale outside, but it is surprisingly mild indoors.  Perhaps, too mild.

The last time I had a pint of Mild my complaint was that it was too strong; today, if anything my Mild is too mild.

Joseph Holt Mild is 3.2% ABV, a nice dark colour, a good yeasty head––don’t mind that––but rather tasteless.  Beer flavoured water.  It seems a rather harsh description, but that is how it seemed to me.  It is a shame.  Perhaps my expectations were set to high given its promising appearance.  The same complaint has often been raised about me.

C’est la vie.

It is a good solid name, though: Joseph Holt.  Sounds like a Victorian industrialist, which is pretty much what he was, establishing a brewery in Manchester in 1849, which has remained in family hands ever since.

I am happy to concede that I was expecting too much of my pint of Mild.  I should have remembered good, old-fashioned Northern honesty and plain-speaking.  To borrow an advertising slogan from another Northern institution, my pint of Joseph Holt Mild did “exactly what is said on the can”.

© Beery Sue

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