Beer connoisseur and passionate pub campaigner Mark gives us his decision on the tastiest beer he has sampled in the last seven days.

Mark has been highlighting the values of Britain’s favourite drink for many years. He is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers. Follow @realaleupnorth on Twitter.

This week’s beer highlight came courtesy of an iconic mild style beer from the Rudgate Brewery based in York. The style is an often misunderstood and undervalued ale. Thankfully, it has been enjoying quite a renaissance in recent years.

Rudgate Ruby Mild (4.4%) is certainly one beer that has invigorated the category over the last couple of decades. It was crowned Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival in 2009.

It has a most attractive dark chestnut presentation, with a quite tight, beige head. The aroma has a delightful nutty malt and rich, fruity (plums) bouquet. The palate is stunningly complex, summoning flavours of roasted malt, dark fruits and subtle, spicy hops. I also identified a light cola flavoured note too. A perfectly balanced bittersweet marriage.

The drying finish had more dark, stone fruit, moderate hop bitterness, and some soft, spicy warmth.

Rudgate Ruby Mild is a rich, deep-flavoured, thirst-quenching, brewing masterpiece. A lip-smacking, dark mild ale, that was in exceptional condition at the Hare and Hounds, Padiham.