Thursday 18 April 2013

Mitchell & Butler Mild and Family Ale 1935 - 1993

Thinking. It can be a terrible thing. Posting about Ansell's beers reminded me of M & B, thie duopoly pals in Birmingham. You can probably guess where this is going. Especially if you bothered to read the title of this post.

Remember me saying that I was surprised by how few analyses of Ansell's beers I had? The same isn't true of M & B. I've got so many analyses that they won't fit neatly into a single post. Which is why I'm spinning it out to a series of posts.

I'll be honest about the Family Ale. I'm not quite sure what style you would call it. As it's not far in colour from their Mild Ale, I've lumped it with that.

Which brings me onto another point: the relatively pale colour of both Ansell's and M & B's Mild. 40 EBC is about the colour of Newcastle Brown - the netherworld between pale and dark, in my eyes. It's no surprise that the Milds of the two companies were broadly similar. They were competing head-to-head in the same market.

The gravities track each other in a similar way, around 1038º in the 1950's, 1035-1036º in the 1970's and 1980's. The Keg Mild is obviously simply the Mild kegged. Noy such a shock, really.

By the time I drank M & B Mild, I'm sure it was darker. A typical Dark Mild colour, so about 80-90 EBC. I wonder when it turned darker?

The Brown Ale, you may have noticed, is considerably darker than the Mild. But the gravity is close, so my guess would be that it's the Milds darkened with sugar or caramel.

Mitchell & Butler Mild and Family Ale 1935 - 1993
Year Beer Style Price size package Acidity FG OG colour ABV App. Atten-uation
1935 Family Ale Ale pint bottled 0.05 1008 1040 34 4.2 80.00%
1951 Family Ale Ale 1/1.5d pint bottled 0.04 1007.5 1034.5 30 B 3.5 78.26%
1951 Family Ale Ale 1/2.5d half bottled 0.07 1007.4 1034 28 3.5 78.24%
1953 Family Ale Ale 1/3.5d pint bottled 0.05 1007.3 1033.4 33 B 3.4 78.14%
1955 Sam Brown Brown Ale 11.5d half bottled 0.05 1011.2 1036.9 85 3.3 69.65%
1949 XX Mild 1/6d pint draught 0.05 1003.9 1034.6 35 Brown 4.0 88.73%
1949 Mild Ale Mild 1/1d pint draught 0.1 1003.5 1034.5 38.5 B 4.0 89.86%
1950 Mild Ale Mild 1/1d pint draught 0.04 1005.4 1034.6 37 Brown 3.8 84.39%
1950 Mild Ale Mild 1/5d pint draught 0.05 1003.8 1034.5 38 B 4.0 88.99%
1950 X Mild 15d pint draught 1038.4 41
1961 Keg Mild Mild 19d pint draught 0.04 1009.9 1038.5 45 3.6 74.29%
1962 Keg Mild Mild 22d pint draught 0.05 1007 1038.3 50 3.9 81.72%
1963 Keg Mild Mild 20d pint draught 0.04 1010.2 1037.9 50 3.5 73.09%
1966 Mild Mild 19d pint draught 0.05 1005 1036.9 45 4.0 86.45%
1972 Mild Mild 11-13p pint draught 1009.8 1034.5 3.2 71.59%
1977 Mild Mild pint draught 1034.6
1979 Mild Mild pint draught 1034.6
1981 Mild Mild pint draught 1034.6
1982 Mild Mild pint draught 1036
1983 Mild Mild pint draught 1035
1986 Mild Mild pint draught 1036
1989 Mild Mild pint draught 1009.8 1036 3.4 72.78%
1993 M&B Mild Ale Mild draught 1008.1 1033.5 48 3.3 75.82%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15
1993 Real Ale Drinker's Almanac
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Good Beer Guide 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why were so many Brown Ales called "Sam Brown"?

Steve C said...

A timely post perhaps, seeing as Windsor and Eton have just brewed a version of M&B Mild...

http://www.webrew.co.uk/main/

Ron Pattinson said...

Steve,

that's really cool. Be great to try that beer.