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Mild is one of the
most traditional beer styles which is enjoying a revival in
today's real ale market. Usually dark brown in colour, due to
the use of well-roasted malts or barley it is less hopped than
bitters and often has a chocolatety character with nutty and
burnt flavours.
Cask conditioned Mild is a rarity in a lot
of parts of the country, which is a crying shame, because Mild
is a distinctive and tasty beer. Mild is one of, if not the,
oldest beer styles in the country. Until the 15th century, ale
and mead were the major British brews, both made without hops.
Hops were introduced from Holland, France and Germany after
this time. This also started the trend on reducing the gravity
of ale, as the Hop is also a preservative, and beers had to be
brewed very strongly to try to help preserve them. The hop
also started the rapid decline of mead, which is only made in
a very few places today.
So what is Mild?
It is a beer which has tastes and textures
all it's own. Basically it is a beer that is less hopped than
bitter, etc. The darkness of Dark Milds, such as Greene King
XX Mild, comes from the use of darker malts and/or roasted
barley which are used to compensate for the loss of Hop
character. "Chocolate ", "fruity", "nutty" and "burnt" are all
tastes to be found in the complexity of Milds. However, not
all milds are dark. Yorkshire brewed Timothy Taylors Golden
Best is one of the best examples of a light coloured mild, as
is Bank's Original, the name changed from Mild to try to give
it a more modern image. In Scotland, 60/- ale is similar to
mild (Belhaven's being a good example).
Milds today tend to have an ABV in the 3% to
3.5% range, with of course some notable exceptions. In fact, a
lot of the Microbreweries who try their hand at mild are
bringing the alcohol content back up somewhat! Mild wasn't
always weaker though. In the latter half of the 19th Century,
milds were brewed to about the same strength as bitters as a
response to the demand for a sweeter beer from the working
classes and in those days most bitters were around 6 to 7% ABV.
During the First World War, malt rationing
and pressure from the temperance movement led to brewers
rapidly reduced the strength. Following the Second World War,
as prosperity returned, mild`s popularity as a cheap ale began
to fade, not being helped by being kept badly in run down pubs
as the Big Brewers began to heavily promote their keg lager
brands. Coupled to this was a gradual, but steady decline in
heavy industry in the North and Midlands of Britain, mild`s
great marketplace.
By the 1970s, the keg lager boom had seen
mild's share of the market fall to around 13% and it was a
shame to see a bland gassy and overpriced product, which was
generally weaker than the mild it was trying to oust, succeed
in many cases.
For a list of Local Pubs
selling Mild please click
HERE
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