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22-02-2010, 08:12
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It's almost March. Time to start getting ready for Mild Month. Let's kick off with a description of Mild from the 1950's.



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S30ruQCPpeI/AAAAAAAAGmE/S4Ohfz2-KS4/s320/Taylor_Walker_Nut_Brown_Ale_1958.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CHrKKDU9290/S30ruQCPpeI/AAAAAAAAGmE/S4Ohfz2-KS4/s1600-h/Taylor_Walker_Nut_Brown_Ale_1958.jpg)

"Mild beer is usually the cheapest available in any bar. In some parts of the country it can still be bought for under a shilling a pint. Before we started rearming against Hitlerism, fourpence a pint was a common bar price. Some bars will not serve mild. This is not due either to snobbery or a desire on the part of the publican to make more profit by selling more costly beer. It is an unquestionable fact that there is not a great demand for mild beer in the saloon bars of some public houses. A barrel of mild must be consumed within a few days and slow sales mean sour and spoilt beer.

All public bars and most saloon bars sell a good mild beer, which is an honest drink with a soft sweet flavour that goes down very well if it is served at the right temperature, but there is nothing more unpleasant than rather warm mild on a hot day.

Mild beers are usually rather lightly hopped, and in some districts, including London, rather sweet. The dgree of sweetness will differ from brewery to brewery. Most mild beers will range from 1030º to 1033º with about three per cent of alcohol by volume, though some are very much weaker. London milds are dark in colour; in the country the colour varies, and some breweries produce both a dark and a light mild.

Best mild has a higher gravity from 1033º to 1040º, with the same general characteristics, and may be on sale alone or as an alternative to ordinary mild. Some brewers give their best mild special names: Whitbread's have Treble X, Watney's a XX and Taylor, Walker's a Main Line.
. . .

Mild beer grists may be of up to two-thirds pale ale malt, and the balance a blend, in almost equal proportions, of amber malt and sugar."
"The Book Of Beer" by Andrew Campbell, 1956, pages 84-85.
How accurate is Andrew Campbell's description? Let's take a look at some real beers of the period:



Draught Mild Ales in the mid 1950's
Year
Brewer
Beer


Price
size


FG


OG


Colour


ABV
Atten-uation
1954
Barclay Perkins
XX


14d
pint


1005.2


1029.4


17 + 40


3.14


82.31%
1953
Beasley
X


13d
pint




1031.5


116




1953
Benskins
X


13d
pint




1031.5


84




1953
Cannon
X


13d
pint




1031.8


96




1953
Charrington
X


14d
pint




1032.6


108




1954
Charrington
Ale


1/1d
pint


1009.6


1030.7


19 + 40


2.73


68.73%
1954
Courage
Ale


1/2d
pint


1006.2


1032.6


20 + 40


3.43


80.98%
1955
Hancock, Cardiff
Dark Malt


pint




1032








1955
Hancock, Cardiff
XXXX


pint




1031








1953
Ind Coope
X


14d
pint




1033.4


100




1954
Ind Coope
Strong Mild Ale


1/7d
pint


1010.7


1043.5


17 + 40


4.26


75.40%
1953
Mann Crossman
Best Ale


1/2d
pint


1009.2


1032.9


17 + 40


3.07


72.04%
1954
Meux
Mild Ale


1/2d
pint


1007.3


1031.2


120


3.10


76.60%
1953
Taylor Walker
X


13d
pint




1030.3


116




1953
Taylor Walker
X


13d
pint




1032.7


96




1953
Tetley
X


13d
pint




1031.4


58




1955
Thwaites
Mild Ale


1/4d
pint


1006.1


1032.2


40


3.39


81.06%
1953
Tollemache
X


16d
pint




1037.7


144




1954
Truman
LM


14d
pint


1007.8


1034


14 + 40


3.40


77.06%
1953
Watney
Ale


1/2d
pint


1010.1


1033


14 + 40


2.96


69.39%
1953
Watney
X


14d
pint




1031.7


110




1954
Watney
XX


1/2d
pint


1011.4


1032.3


17 + 40


2.70


64.71%
1953
Wenlock
Amber Ale


1/2d
pint


1006.5


1031.6


15 + 40


3.26


79.43%
1954
Whitbread
Best Ale


1/2d
pint


1009.9


1032.9


16 + 40


2.98


69.91%
1954
Whitbread
XXX


14d
pint




1037.6


140




1955
Whitbread
Best Ale






1009.5


1030.4


95


2.70


68.75%
1955
Whitbread
XXX






1010


1034.8


115


3.21


71.26%
1953
Wm. Younger
X


14d
pint




1033.3


82




1955
Wm. Younger
X


14d
pint




1030.2


96




1955
Worthington
Special Mild Ale


1/7d
pint


1007.9


1036.9


85


3.77


78.59%
1953
Young & Co
X


13d
pint




1030.7


60




Sources:
Whitbread Gravity Book
Truman Gravity Book
“Cardiff Pubs and Breweries” by Brian Glover, 2005. pages 97-101
Whitbread brewing records.


Considering breweries were pretty secretive about gravities, I don't think he did a bad job. Standard Milds were indeed around 1030. He was a little optimistic about the gravity of London Best Milds, which were only a couple of degrees stronger than ordinary Mild. But there were indeed a few Milds even of 1040 and above.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5445569787371915337-4192517002130235543?l=barclayperkins.blogspot.com


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