Large London brewery Ordinary Mild Ale 1950 – 1954

You can probably guess from the highly specific title that I’m struggling with my sample size. It’s so large I’ve had to – somewhat arbitrarily – chop it into more manageable chunks.

The first and largest of which is the standard Mild from large London breweries. Of which there were still quite a few in the 1950’s. And all produced Mild. Or to be even more specific, Dark Mild Ale. Because there isn’t a pale one in the list. The lowest colour value is 50, which is a dark amber. Pretty well all the others are dark brown. The average is 106.7. Or quite dark.

The average OG has increased a little -  1.6 points – despite me having stripped out Best Mild to a separate table. So I’d reckon the real increase is more like 2 points. Combine that with a slightly lower average FG and it allows the ABV to tentatively poke its head above 3%. Hurray, you could now actually get drunk on Mild.

A few examples are still under 1030º. But in the case of Ind Coope this can be explained by the fact that they also brewed a stronger Mild. Which appears in a later table.

The price has increased a little, form 12.5d in the late 1940’s to 13.3d. That’s about 6p in modern money. It wouldn’t even get you a sip of Mild today. If you could find Mild, that is. There’s bugger all of it about nowadays.

Large London brewery Ordinary Mild Ale 1950 - 1954
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint d	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1950	Barclay Perkins	Ale	13	0.05	1031.8	1006.8	3.24	78.62%	95
1950	Charrington	MA	12	0.07	1029.6	1007.1	2.92	76.01%	120
1950	Courage	MA	13	0.06	1032.4	1006.7	3.34	79.32%	120
1950	Ind Coope	MA	12	0.07	1027.9	1008.9	2.46	68.10%	67
1950	Mann Crossman	Mild Ale	13	0.07	1031.8	1005.8	3.38	81.76%	95
1950	Meux	XX	12	0.08	1026.9	1005.6	2.76	79.18%	152
1950	Taylor Walker	MA	12.5	0.07	1028.9	1006.1	2.96	78.89%	80
1950	Truman	MA	13	0.07	1031.9	1008	3.10	74.92%	95
1950	Watney	Best Ale	13	0.06	1031.2	1006.3	3.23	79.81%	105
1950	Whitbread	Best Ale	13		1031.7	1010.5	2.80	66.88%	110
1951	Barclay Perkins	Ale	14	0.05	1033.8	1007	3.48	79.29%	120
1951	Charrington	Ale	13	0.07	1033.5	1007.3	3.40	78.21%	110
1951	Courage	Ale	13	0.06	1034.5	1010.3	3.13	70.14%	110
1951	Ind Coope	Ale	12	0.05	1029.4	1008	2.77	72.79%	50
1951	Mann Crossman	Ale	13	0.07	1034.5	1006.5	3.64	81.16%	90
1951	Meux	X	12		1028.96				104
1951	Taylor Walker	Ale	12	0.07	1031.7	1006.9	3.22	78.23%	100
1951	Truman	Ale	13	0.07	1033.9	1006.3	3.59	81.42%	100
1951	Watney	Ale	13	0.08	1032.7	1006	3.47	81.65%	110
1951	Watney	Ale	14	0.08	1032.8	1007.4	3.30	77.44%	105
1951	Whitbread	X	13		1031.3				96
1952	Barclay Perkins	X	14		1031.51				118
1952	Charrington	X	13		1032.61				118
1952	Ind Coope	X	13		1031.1				82
1952	Mann Crossman	X	14		1034.5				108
1952	Meux	X	13		1029.96				152
1952	Taylor Walker	X	13		1030.74				100
1952	Truman	X	14		1033.7				110
1952	Watney	X	14		1032.76				104
1952	Whitbread	X	14		1031.39				114
1953	Barclay Perkins	X	14		1032.11				96
1953	Charrington	X	14		1032.67				128
1953	Courage	X	14		1031.99				124
1953	Ind Coope	X	14		1033.4				100
1953	Mann Crossman	Best Ale	14	0.06	1032.9	1009.2	3.07	72.04%	110
1953	Meux	X	13		1029.25				144
1953	Taylor Walker	X	13		1032.74				96
1953	Truman	Ale	14	0.05	1034	1008.1	3.36	76.18%	90
1953	Watney	Ale	14	0.06	1033	1010.1	2.96	69.39%	95
1953	Whitbread	Best Ale	14	0.05	1032.7	1010.5	2.87	67.89%	100
1954	Barclay Perkins	XX	14	0.06	1029.4	1005.2	3.14	82.31%	110
1954	Charrington	Ale	13	0.08	1030.7	1009.6	2.73	68.73%	120
1954	Courage	Ale	14	0.05	1032.6	1006.2	3.43	80.98%	125
1954	Mann Crossman	X	14	0.06	1032.9	1007.5	3.30	77.20%	115
1954	Meux	Mild Ale	14	0.05	1031.2	1007.3	3.10	76.60%	120
1954	Taylor Walker	T.W.X.	13	0.06	1031.7	1010.3	2.77	67.51%	100
1954	Truman	LM	14	0.05	1034	1007.8	3.40	77.06%	95
1954	Watney	XX	14	0.05	1032.3	1011.4	2.70	64.71%	110
1954	Whitbread	Best Ale	14	0.06	1032.9	1009.9	2.98	69.91%	105
	Average		13.3	0.06	1031.9	1007.8	3.12	75.45%	106.6
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Whitbread brewing records