Whatever happened to Mild

[sco...@vax.sbu.ac.uk]

There seems to be a lot of talk on this news group about porters and stouts.
These styles of beer seem to have gone through a bit of a revival in the
States. In the UK, stout never went away. One style of beer which seems to be
disappearing from the map here is Mild. I remember when I first started
drinking beer it was readily available. Dark in colour and malty in flavour,
but thirst quenching and light in alcahol, it was a great favourite of mine and
usually very reasonably priced. Now that we are seeing a revival of porter
here in the UK as well - my favourite is the Pilgrim Porter from Reigate
Brewing, closely followed by Young's Porter, will we see a Mild revival. I
haven't even SEEN a pint of Greene King XX Dark Mild in years let alone had a
pint (apparently its still brewed).

Always interested in what folk in other countries drink, I was wondering if
this style of beer is available over the pond. For UK readers, do you know if
its still available anywhere (in South West London).

Tony Scott South Bank University, London sco...@vax.sbu.ac.uk

[Rob Bradley]

In article <1993Mar31....@vax.sbu.ac.uk> sco...@vax.sbu.ac.uk writes:
>
>Always interested in what folk in other countries drink, I was wondering if
>this style of beer is available over the pond. For UK readers, do you know if
>its still available anywhere (in South West London).
>

I guess Carlisle counts as northwest London, doesn't it :-)

Seriously, Tony, mild ale is available but very rare in the US, and
I've never seen it in Canada. A few brewpubs might brew it, and
Goose Island in Chicago took a bronze in the GABF (Great American
Beer Festival) with a mild. There is also an interesting bottled
beer form Grant's in Wahcington (state, not DC) called, oddly
enough, Grant's Celtic Ale. It has the gravity (1034) and appearance
of a mild, but is very hoppy. To the best of my knowledge, it
has nothing to do with celts.
--
Rob Bradley --> bra...@adx.adelphi.edu <-- "For a quart of ale
Dept of Math & Computer Science (516)877-4496 is a dish for a king."
Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530 William Shakespeare

[u...@dlva.dl.ac.uk]

Mild is staging a spirited come-back, especially in the SE.

Bass are now marketing Highgate Mild from Walsall as Highgate Dark.
Fullers have reintroduced their Hock mild on an experimental basis.
Many of the smaller brewers have started brewing milds.

This change seems to be on the back of a general revival of dark beers -
porters, stouts etc. and an attempt to get away from the cloth-cap and
whippet image by not calling the beers mild :-).

Up here, (and in the Midlands), mild never really went away - it just
slowly lost volumes. However, the decline has been halted and in some
areas reversed. It is believed that price sensitivity is the key here -
aswell as the dark beer revival. Here in Warrington, Tetleys brew 6
milds out of a total of 15 beers ! ( Tetley Mild, Tetley Dark, Walker
Mild, Holt Plant & Deakin Mild, Greenalls Mild, Shipstones Mild).

Ah well, must go and walk the whippet !

Cheers,
Mark
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[John Biggs]

sco...@vax.sbu.ac.uk writes:

> Now that we are seeing a revival of porter here in the UK as well - my
> favourite is the Pilgrim Porter from Reigate Brewing, closely followed
> by Young's Porter, will we see a Mild revival.

Well, I am afraid you missed the Mild revival as it preceded the
current Porter revival. There are several pubs here in Cambridge which
routinely carry Mild not to mention the one or two really good pubs
that have a different Mild on each week usually from a small brewery.

> I haven't even SEEN a pint of Greene King XX Dark Mild in years
> let alone had a pint (apparently its still brewed).

Grenne King XX is, not surprisingly) available in quite a few pubs in
and around Cambridge. But do you remember Greene King's KK Mild which
used to be brewed at the Biggleswade brewery before it was
discontinued. A couple of years back I went on a Greene King brewery
visit and when I asked about the availability KK mild a representative
told me that it had never existed and that I must mean XX Mild. When
I got home and checked in an old copy of the Good Beer Guide (1983)
sure enough there was KK Mild.

--John
--
--John (jbi...@armltd.co.uk)