"New" Mild

The date of this advertisement is vital to understanding it. It comes from the Coventry Evening Telegraph of Saturday 02 March 1918, page 2.

Thanks to the government price controls I know exactly what strength this beer was. Between October 1917 and April 1918, beer that retailed for 5d a pint in the public bar had to be between  1036º and 1042º. After April 1918, that was knocked down to 1030º to 1034º.

That makes this a Government Ale. Not exactly the greatest hit with drinking punters. In most of the country it was a type of watered down Mild Ale which, as the war progressed, became more water than Mild.

They're taking a very upbeat approach to pushing this watery stuff. I guess they had no option. It's not as if breweries had much control over what they brewed, given the level of government interference in the industry.