Fox Nina’s Mild

First published in BEER May 2008 as part of a piece about Norfolk milds. More Norfolk milds in previous post.

ABV: 3.9 per cent
Origin: Heacham
Website: www.foxbrewery.co.uk  

Fox Nina's Mild

A more traditional example of vertical integration [than with Uncle Stuart’s in the previous post] can be found at Heacham, a village on the Wash in northwest Norfolk which is also famous for its lavender. Here the Fox Brewery has been supplying ales to the Fox and Hounds pub since 2002, when the new owners of the pub found a new use for an empty outbuilding, though its large and varied bottled range is also available more widely.

Nina’s Mild is made from Maris Otter pale, crystal and toasted malt from the celebrated Branthill Farm, a little way east along the coast. It’s a dark red-brown beer with a thick and rocky fawn head, and a malty, gently roasty and spicy aroma with black coffee hints.

A slightly thin palate has plenty of chocolate and fruit, with more pronounced, but not overbearing, smoky and roasty notes on the finish. The smokiness is a reminder of what rustic English beer might have tasted like in the days before modern malting, when brown malt kilned over wood or straw was the principle brewing grain. Late fruit and chocolate notes tail an interesting beer which remains easily quaffable despite the intensity of its flavours.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/fox-ninas-mild/51826/