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02-10-2015, 09:41
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/10/why-brew-gose-instead-of-mild/)
This is not only old, it's really old. Please explain why British brewers are making Gose after they invented this? pic.twitter.com/wsX5nZFnsd (http://t.co/wsX5nZFnsd)
— PrettyBeer (@PrettyBeer) October 1, 2015 (https://twitter.com/PrettyBeer/status/649392005559242752)
There’s a simple answer to this question: because no-one in Britain actually likes mild. Of course that’s not quite true — a few people are obsessive about it, and quite a few others like the occasional pint for a change. In the Midlands through to the North West, it seems there are even some regular mild drinkers left.
In general, though, it’s a style that the Campaign for Real Ale has been trying to get people excited about for 40 years with little success (http://boakandbailey.com/2013/04/month-of-mild-origins/). First wave CAMRA members prefered cult bitters; in more recent years, they’ve turned their attention to*hoppy golden ales.
And many (most?) post-2005 craft beer enthusiasts think like Tony Naylor (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/may/08/craft-beer-mild-robinsons-campaign-for-real-ale-camra)*— what’s the point of it?
[Mild] as it developed in the 20th century, was a low-strength (around 3%), very-lightly hopped beer, that became a staple thirst-quencher for miners, factory workers and anyone keen to sink eight pints and still get up for their shift the next morning… Flavours…*were deliberately dialled-down to an innocuous level. Even its most misty-eyed fans admit that this was a beer designed to be undemanding, easy drinking.
They’ve got a point, too: if ‘connoisseurs’ rejected*Foster’s lager and Watney’s Red because they were weak, sweet, bland and fizzy, then mild’s only point of superiority is that it isn’t usually highly-carbonated. Not much of a sales pitch.
“But no-one likes Gose either!” That might well be true but, if they dislike Gose, it’s because it tastes weird, which is preferable in marketing terms to tasting bland. And, as it’s usually bottled or kegged, not that many people have to like it for it to be worth brewing or stocking. Cask mild, on the other hand, needs a few people to drink several pints a night if it’s to be any good at all.
Nor does it help that lots of milds are, regrettably, bloody awful. We do like mild (mostly, it must be said, for sentimental reasons) but even we struggle with pints of sweet bland bitter dyed black with caramel or, worse, mislabelled, watery stouts that taste like the rinsings from a dirty coffee percolator.
We’d love to see more mild around — we can go months without a taste of the stuff — but let’s not kid ourselves that, if only, say, Magic Rock would make one, it could be cool again.
Why Brew Gose Instead of Mild? (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/10/why-brew-gose-instead-of-mild/) from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007 (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/10/why-brew-gose-instead-of-mild/)
This is not only old, it's really old. Please explain why British brewers are making Gose after they invented this? pic.twitter.com/wsX5nZFnsd (http://t.co/wsX5nZFnsd)
— PrettyBeer (@PrettyBeer) October 1, 2015 (https://twitter.com/PrettyBeer/status/649392005559242752)
There’s a simple answer to this question: because no-one in Britain actually likes mild. Of course that’s not quite true — a few people are obsessive about it, and quite a few others like the occasional pint for a change. In the Midlands through to the North West, it seems there are even some regular mild drinkers left.
In general, though, it’s a style that the Campaign for Real Ale has been trying to get people excited about for 40 years with little success (http://boakandbailey.com/2013/04/month-of-mild-origins/). First wave CAMRA members prefered cult bitters; in more recent years, they’ve turned their attention to*hoppy golden ales.
And many (most?) post-2005 craft beer enthusiasts think like Tony Naylor (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/may/08/craft-beer-mild-robinsons-campaign-for-real-ale-camra)*— what’s the point of it?
[Mild] as it developed in the 20th century, was a low-strength (around 3%), very-lightly hopped beer, that became a staple thirst-quencher for miners, factory workers and anyone keen to sink eight pints and still get up for their shift the next morning… Flavours…*were deliberately dialled-down to an innocuous level. Even its most misty-eyed fans admit that this was a beer designed to be undemanding, easy drinking.
They’ve got a point, too: if ‘connoisseurs’ rejected*Foster’s lager and Watney’s Red because they were weak, sweet, bland and fizzy, then mild’s only point of superiority is that it isn’t usually highly-carbonated. Not much of a sales pitch.
“But no-one likes Gose either!” That might well be true but, if they dislike Gose, it’s because it tastes weird, which is preferable in marketing terms to tasting bland. And, as it’s usually bottled or kegged, not that many people have to like it for it to be worth brewing or stocking. Cask mild, on the other hand, needs a few people to drink several pints a night if it’s to be any good at all.
Nor does it help that lots of milds are, regrettably, bloody awful. We do like mild (mostly, it must be said, for sentimental reasons) but even we struggle with pints of sweet bland bitter dyed black with caramel or, worse, mislabelled, watery stouts that taste like the rinsings from a dirty coffee percolator.
We’d love to see more mild around — we can go months without a taste of the stuff — but let’s not kid ourselves that, if only, say, Magic Rock would make one, it could be cool again.
Why Brew Gose Instead of Mild? (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/10/why-brew-gose-instead-of-mild/) from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007 (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/10/why-brew-gose-instead-of-mild/)