Mighty Oaks Brewing Company, Essex, UK
Just a few short weeks ago at the Great British Beer Festival, the supreme beer champion
of 2011 was announced and the winner was ‘Oscar Wilde’, a beer produced by the Mighty Oak Brewing Company in Maldon, in rural Essex, located in the East of England.
Described as a “wonderfully mellow, nutty, morish dark mild. Brewed using Maris Otter Pale, Crystal and Black malts and gently hopped with Challenger”, it is not the only beer from this brewery to be a previous award winner so here’s a brief history of Mighty Oaks.
A relatively young brewery, it was founded just down the road in Brentwood in 1996, not a location one might immediately associate with the production of top quality real ale but nonetheless that is exactly what it managed. It’s first beer, Burntwood Bitter, was an early CAMRA award winner – Champion Beer of East Anglia 1999/2004 and Champion Beer of Great Britain Best Bitter 2005 – and was largely regarded as one of the finest beers in the country during its production.
Maldon Gold
Following Mighty Oaks move to Maldon in 2001, the brewery began to produce the 3.8% Maldon Gold, one of its consistently high selling brews to this day and the winner of Champion Golden Ale of Britain in 2007. Another early award winner was the current champion, Oscar Wilde (3.7%), which scooped the Champion Mild of Britain in 1996. Also part of Mighty Oaks permanent range are its IPA (3.5%), Captain Bob (3.8%) and Simply The Best (4.4%).
Like most breweries it also produces seasonal specials, in fact a different one every month, each with an imaginative name. January’s Ford Prefect (3.9%), June’s Morris Traveller (3.8%) and September’s Four Door Saloon (4.0%) stand out.
For a small brewery it produces an impressive range of beers and adds a selection of one-off specials to its roster. Bog Snorkeller (4.8%) and Toe Wrestler (4.4%) are just a small selection of those which have been produced by this impressive brewery.
