Once upon a time in rural Taranaki an unemployed Mike Johnson, a home brewer of twelve years experience, had a dream. A seemingly impossible dream, but a dream made possible with the help of local business, family and friends. Mike's dream "WHITE CLIFFS BREWING CO", began trading in September 1989.

The original batch brew capacity of 600 litres was made by modifying dairy equipment for brewing and using ex hotel horizontal bulk beer storage tanks for conditioning. More recently the conditioning tanks have been converted to 1000 litre vertical tanks enabling the brew capacity to increase to 1000 litres.

Mikes Mild Ale

Style: In order to understand the character which this beer is trying to achieve, it is important to know the English definition of a Mild Ale:
An ale of low gravity and hop rate, hence rounder, usually slightly sweeter and distinctly less bitter on the palate and in aroma than more highly hopped 'bitters'
Whilst this beer is technically a lager (i.e. brewed with a bottom-fermenting yeast) and therefore not an 'ale' it is otherwise a reasonably accurate representation of the English style . Indeed Michael Jackson commented during his recent visit to New Zealand   'Seems like a light porter, not top-fermenting, but within the parameters of a mild.

Appearance: Dark brown with reddish, copper hues.

Bouquet: Restrained but well-balanced (for the style) Aromas include smokiness from the roasted malts, slight toffeeish sweetness from the crystal malt and a very delicate floral aroma from the late hopping.

Palate: The sweetness of the Pilsener and crystal malts is balanced by the drier, toastiness of the darker malt , roast barley and gentle hop bitterness. the beer is lagered (matured) for a generous (by modern standards) six to eight weeks which gives the beer a fine natural condition (carbonation). This long maturation means that the beer has less residual sweetness (and body) than many English 'milds' but it is by no means assertively dry.

Body: Light-bodied (but not thin).

Finish: Pleasant lengthy finish with roast malt flavours.
 
General comments
Given that this beer is neither filtered or pasteurised (both processes which remove flavour and aroma components from a beer) small traces of live yeast will continue to ferment in the beer in bottles or kegs. For this reason it is vitally important that the beer is consumed fresh and that any storage is conducted at a constant and cool temperature. (Lengthy or warm storage will inevitably alter the character of the beer, rendering it drier and arguably less pleasant.)

Well cared-for examples of 'natural' beers such as Mike's Mild offer a fullness and complexity of flavour which often comes as quite a shock to drinkers weaned on bland mainstream products. All in all, I find the beer a very pleasant drink which stands head and shoulders clear of the usual caramel coloured and sugar-sweetened 'darks'.