# Greene King Xx Mild



## ausdb (26/6/05)

I had a few drinks at Durty Nellys in Perth tonight with some friends, they had Greene Kings XX Mild as the featured beer so I had a few pints as I am interested in brewing a mild as session/spacer beer. For a beer of such low strength (3%) it was remarkably tasty and beats the hell out of drinking mega swill mid strength crap if you had to drive like I did.

From Green Kings site I managed to get this info
"Greene King XX Mild is a fine, dark, mild ale with a distinctive taste (3% abv) and delicate aroma. It draws its characteristics from a special blend of black and crystal malts to give a burnt, roasted flavour while the delicate hint of hops in the nose comes from the Northdown variety. "

It was on nitro pour with the guiness and in comparison is a bit lighter in colour (amber tinge) and the head seemed to be a bit lighter. You could taste a little bit of the black malt but it was not overpowering and it was reasonably malty for its strength. The only downside was $6 a pint is a bit rough for 3% beer!!

Cheers ausdb :beer:


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## barfridge (26/6/05)

I had a pint of this myself tonight, at the moon and sixpence in the city. As a drivers beer it in fast becoming my favourite, easily beating Rogers for flavour and body.

I'm really impressed how much flavour they can pack into such a light beer.


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## Guest Lurker (26/6/05)

I agree it has a huge malt flavour for the alcohol. But Goat had to finish my pint for me! I really dont like coffee and I got a very strong coffee taste from the dark malts.


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## Sean (26/6/05)

I've only ever had it in cask form, where it's a fine example of a South of England mild when on good form, but very delicate and easy to spoil.

While I understand the necessity for kegging it for export, putting it (or any other beer from S.E. England) through a nitro dispense should be a crime punishable by death - it should be served with little or no head, thereby keeping all the volatile flavours in the beer.


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## ausdb (26/6/05)

Guest Lurker said:


> I agree it has a huge malt flavour for the alcohol. But Goat had to finish my pint for me! I really dont like coffee and I got a very strong coffee taste from the dark malts.
> [post="65036"][/post]​



Bar I like Rodgers a lot as well especially as a driving beer.

I have VTPA's copy of designing great beers at the moment so had a read of the mild/brown ale section this morning. It notes that there are two schjools of thought with milds base plus crystal and dark malts or just base plus chocolate. What is a good substitution for Northdown?

Cheers ausdb


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## Sean (27/6/05)

ausdb said:


> Guest Lurker said:
> 
> 
> > I agree it has a huge malt flavour for the alcohol. But Goat had to finish my pint for me! I really dont like coffee and I got a very strong coffee taste from the dark malts.
> ...


Personally I tend to crystal + choc, but mild is (in reality) a suprisingly diverse style. (Note that many of the best commercial milds use nothing darker than crystal and get all their dark colours from caramel.)

I'm not aware of anything that subsitutes well for Northdown. Northern Brewer, from which it's derived, is probably the closest but it's not a good match. Personally I love Northdown and hate N. Brewer (go figure), so if Northdown isn't available go with any decent English aroma hop.


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## Weizguy (27/6/05)

ausdb said:


> <chopped> What is a good substitution for Northdown?
> 
> Cheers ausdb
> </chopped>
> [post="65062"][/post]​



I quote here from the Hopunion pdf. An excellent reference, if it's not already in our AHB reference section.

*General Trade Perception* A true dual-purpose hop with moderate bittering
potential and excellent flavor/aroma charteristics.

*Possible Substitutions* UK Challenger, Northern Brewer

BTW Northdown plugs are available in Oz, coz I have used 'em in my (recently bottled, and as yet untasted) Fullers London Pride clone.

Seth out


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## ausdb (27/6/05)

Weizguy said:


> I quote here from the Hopunion pdf. An excellent reference, if it's not already in our AHB reference section.



Cheers weizguy thats an excellent reference

I have some N brewer, EKGs and fuggles so will have crack with those as I dont really need to buy another hop variety at the moment. I might even split the batch and use cascade/ centennial with Wy1056 to try and get a rodgers style beer out of it too.


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